Sundance: Day 3

1.23.09

Leave before dawn. I actually have a ticket for "The September Issue" but don't get in thanks to all those special pass holders who show up. 100 angry fashion junkies and Park City retirees are turned away.

Barely stay awake for "The Reckoning," a documentary about the International Criminal Court. Learn about crimes about humanity and war crimes in places like Rwanda, Congo, Uganda, and Columbia. Think the U.S. looks pretty shady in refusing to join the ICC. Best part: the sweet old man (what is his name??) who's first trial as an attorney was as a prosecutor at Nuremberg at age 27. Unbelievable. Worst part: the camo-wearing fan gushing at the Q&A. See ijcentral.org for more on the international justice movement.

"Adam" turns the audience into big babies, including that camo-clad doucher again. It's a romance about two neighbors, one of which has Asberger's Syndrome. Best part: Hugh Dancy. Worst part: the tinge of Lifetime Movie Networkishness. "Adam" will come out later this year via Fox Searchlight.

I giggle and grin all the way through "Paper Heart," the project of that stoner girlfriend from Knocked Up, Christine Yi, who is on a search to make sense of her disbelief in love. It's part documentary footage and part narrative about a budding romance between her and Michael Cera. Completely hilarious and touching. Best part: Charylyne and the kids at the playground in Atlanta questioning each other, and pretty much every other second of the film. Worst part: that Michael Cera is actually dating Charlyne Yi in real life instead of me. "Paper Heart" has distribution; please do see it when it comes out.

It is a slow year at Sundance. Only sighting today: Greg of Misshapes. He stands next to me in line forever, and I still don't talk to him. Meanwhile, a friend sits next to David Bowie in a screening.