Authors — Lucas McNelly

A YEAR WITHOUT RENT IN PARK CITY: “WELCOME TO PINE HILL” AND “COMFORTING SKIN”

There isn’t really a press lounge at Slamdance. There’s a Filmmaker Lounge, which is open sometimes, and there’s a Carhartt Lounge, which is open sometimes, and there’s a couple of comfortable chairs in the hallways, which are empty sometimes. Other than that, you’re kind of on your own. But if you can get in the Filmmaker Lounge, it’s probably the best place to get some work done, even though the wifi isn’t very good. You end up overhearing a lot of interviews this way. Some people like that. I don’t. It’s the worst kind of spoiler. Invariably, you’ll find yourself […]
by Lucas McNelly on Jan 31, 2012
A YEAR WITHOUT RENT IN PARK CITY: “OK, GOOD” AND “HEAVY GIRLS”

One of the trickier things about reviewing movies at a festival is that your identity isn’t exactly a secret. You’ve got a press pass with your name and the name of your outlet on it, so a lot of conversations you have with filmmakers revolve around that very fact. Or you end up in a long conversation at the Kickstarter party with the director of a film you hated. But my philosophy is if you can’t stand face-to-face with someone and defend your opinion of their work, then you have no business telling it to anyone else. Comments and critiques […]
by Lucas McNelly on Jan 27, 2012
A YEAR WITHOUT RENT IN PARK CITY: FRANK RINALDI’S “SUNDOWNING”

The first 70 minutes or so of Frank Rinaldi’s Sundowning is a fascinating film, a creepy-as-fuck, measured look at some sort of mental breakdown. It’s the kind of film where you sit there for the entire time thinking to yourself, “I have no fucking clue what’s going on in this film, but I’m pretty sure the director does.” And that’s great. You don’t always have to know what’s going on, as long as the audience feels like they’re in capable hands. Shannon Fitzpatrick stars as Shannon, a woman that’s apparently being kept in an apartment by Susan (Susan Chau), a […]
by Lucas McNelly on Jan 24, 2012
A YEAR WITHOUT RENT IN PARK CITY: JAMES STENSON’S “KELLY”

23 January; 1:13am Probably the best thing I saw all day was a missed FG. Being from Maine means you’re pretty much going to be a fan of the Patriots, even though they were terrible for my entire childhood. The first thing I put on my schedule was the AFC Championship game and as soon as my first screening ended, I made it goal number 1 to find a TV. Luckily the Carhartt Lounge had TVs running, and chili, and a bar serving bloody mary’s. Apparently it was a Slamdance/Carhartt staff party, but if you show up before they start […]
by Lucas McNelly on Jan 23, 2012
A YEAR WITHOUT RENT IN PARK CITY: ANDREW EDISON’S “BINDLESTIFFS”

While on the plane to Salt Lake City, it occurred to me that it might be fun to do Park City coverage as a live blog from the perspective of someone who’s never been there before. I have a press pass for Slamdance, so I’m mostly covering that. 22 January; 2:18am When I arrived in Park City, all anyone was talking about was how there was a complete lack of snow. Well, today the snow arrived. Man, did it arrive. It snowed pretty much all day. By the time I left to meet Marty Lang for dinner around 5pm, it […]
by Lucas McNelly on Jan 23, 2012
A YEAR WITHOUT RENT IN PARK CITY

While on the plane to Salt Lake City, it occurred to me that it might be fun to do Park City coverage as a live blog from the perspective of someone who’s never been there before. I have a press pass for Slamdance, so I’m mostly covering that. 21 January; 2:36pm Another screening. February (Nick Singer): A short about a guy with some plumbing problems. It’s well-shot, but you really get the sense that it’s more an exercise in cinematography than anything resembling a story. The Sound of Small Things (Peter McLarnan): A film about a marriage in decline, McLarnan’s […]
by Lucas McNelly on Jan 21, 2012
A YEAR WITHOUT RENT, PART SIX

I wasn’t supposed to go to Europe. You can’t really drive there (unless you’re the Muppets) and flights across the pond are expensive, but when a production comes calling, I listen. This one made it easy, asking would I come to the UK if they covered the plane ticket? A no-brainer. Which is how I ended up in Newcastle upon Tyne, a small city near Scotland, serving as gaffer in a country where I have absolutely no idea how the electricity works. And when I ask how much I can put into a circuit, I’m told that, well, that depends […]
by Lucas McNelly on Dec 26, 2011
A YEAR WITHOUT RENT, PART 5

If you take a statistics class (or just take your fantasy baseball team really seriously), one of the first things you learn is that trends are largely a myth. When a team like the Red Sox starts the season 2-13, that’s probably nothing more than a few bad breaks strung together. Given enough time, they’ll right the ship. Unless their third starter is John Lackey. Then all bets are off. Our brains are wired to see patterns where none exist, to take statistical noise and turn it into something it isn’t (there’s a joke in there somewhere about movie critics, […]
by Lucas McNelly on Sep 27, 2011
A YEAR WITHOUT RENT, PART 4

When I was a kid, one of my father’s favorite sayings was, “why don’t you play in the road?” He had two sons close in age who were active and rambunctious and it wasn’t a particularly large house, so any excuse to get us where we could be neither seen nor heard was a good one. And in his defense, it was a pretty quiet country road, so the danger was minimal. I think of this sometimes when I’m on set and a particularly non-essential person is, to put it nicely, in the way. For the sake of simplicity, let’s […]
by Lucas McNelly on Aug 1, 2011
A YEAR WITHOUT RENT, PART 3

Chances are, you’ll never have a reason to drive the long way across Montana. There isn’t much going on up there and, let’s face it, it’s a really long drive. But if you do, make a point to do as much driving as possible during daylight, as the scenery is pretty stunning. You could stop the car every couple of miles, just to take pictures of the view. Before long, you’ll start plotting on how you might be able to embrace your inner Terrence Malick out in the middle of nowhere, shooting only at magic hour. And, hey, there’s a […]
by Lucas McNelly on Jun 13, 2011

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