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Sundance Sales Go Wild; First Review of Dakota Fanning Movie 'Hounddog'
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
By Roger Friedman
News Tuesday morning of two more sales at Sundance.
“Dedication,” a romantic comedy directed by actor Justin Theroux, is going to The Weinstein Company for an undisclosed amount.
TWC will partner with the smallish First Look Features. The movie stars former teen-queen singer Mandy Moore in her first real adult role.
Moore co-stars with Billy Crudup and Tom Wilkinson, and won raves last night at the premiere for holding her own. She has a movie career now if she wants one.
The other sale of note is a Mexican film called “La Misma Luna,” which The Weinstein Company is buying with Fox Searchlight.
The director, Patricia Riggen, has turned into a hot commodity at Sundance in the last 24 hours as her film not only has a topical side — immigration — but is also a heart-warming saga.
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For TWC, “Luna” makes sense. With a long history at Miramax, Harvey Weinstein is famous for making foreign films into hits, from “Cinema Paradiso” and “Kolya” to “Life is Beautiful.” His “Days of Glory” was nominated for an Oscar Tuesday.
There’s a lot more news from here too that will affect the fall releases and next year’s awards.
Warner Independent surprisingly coughed up $4 million for the very good “Clubland.” If they play their cards right (hint: hire a good outside Oscar wrangler), star Brenda Blethyn will be among next year’s nominees.
And Fox Searchlight, which already has the festival’s best movie, "The Savages," and a great drama coming in March called “The Namesake,” has snapped up Sam Rockwell in "Joshua," as well, and the late Adrienne Shelly’s excellent “Waitress.”
First Review of 'Hounddog'
Certain to be incredibly controversial, Deborah Kampmeier’s movie “Hounddog” finally opened at Sundance last night to the most crowded theater anyone’s seen in a long time.
Right away, I will tell you: 12-year-old Dakota Fanning plays a girl who endures a graphically suggested rape. If that’s not enough, she is also filmed sleeping dreamily while a half dozen real snakes slither all over her.
The rape scene, no matter how it’s spun, is disturbing and unsettling in fictional terms. In real life, though, it’s creepier to think that Dakota’s parents considered this a scene that was appropriate for their daughter.
Of course, when you meet Dakota, she is unusually mature and very precocious. Maybe it’s hard for those around her to recognize that she is only 12, and that though she understands “Hounddog” is fiction, it’s nevertheless happening to her, as it were.
“Hounddog” takes place in rural Tennessee around 1955, when Elvis Presley is just taking off. Dakota’s character, Lewellen, is obsessed with Elvis and sings his songs to anyone who asks her to.
That her moves are suggestive is another matter altogether. The director seems to be implying that Lewellen is almost asking for her rape by a 20-year-old boy who delivers the family’s milk.
It’s either that or Lewellen should be allowed to act seductively without fear of being attacked. Either way, the arguments do not stand up.
A lot of “Hounddog” sounds like it’s an entry in a bad Faulkner contest anyway. All the clichés are there: The runaway mother (or aunt in this case) is played by Robin Wright Penn. David Morse is the hick father with a zero IQ; Piper Laurie, so way over the top it’s not funny, is the sensible, salty grandmother who’s raising the kid.
And of course, there’s a kindly black man who works for the family and shows Lewellen the hidden life of the Negro.
But “Hounddog” is no “The Sound and the Fury.” It just kind of apes that genre of Southern Gothic. The only problem is that this is 20 years later, even though it feels more like 1935 than 1955.
What makes "Hounddog" work on any level is that Dakota Fanning is a gifted actress. She is so good I can imagine the people who made this film thinking that she will be the youngest winner ever of an Oscar. I don’t think so.
Film festivals are composed of insulated audiences. In the real world, what happens to Fanning/Lewellen may not be judged as so cutting edge.
And while Dakota can certainly carry a movie — that much is abundantly clear — why this material looked appealing to her parents is quite troubling.
“Hounddog” is benefited by a beautiful look from cinematographer Ed Lachman (“Far From Heaven”) who’s drenched the whole show in sepia and earthtones.
And then there’s the Elvis Presley soundtrack. “Hound Dog” — written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, two Jewish guys from Brooklyn — is heard in several versions, including the famous hit.
Presley is also heard on other original recordings. I’m surprised the producers got the licenses. It’s quite a coup and no doubt very expensive.
Someone will release “Hounddog,” most certainly, and a debate may — and should — rage on. Whether or not people will want to see it is another story.
Just FYI: At the Q&A, Kampmeier presented a spokeswoman from a rape-and-incest group in a preemptive strike against critics.
At least the producers of “Hounddog” are aware that an uphill battle is facing them. But since the rape in the movie isn’t incest, and since Lewellen never tells anyone about it and the perpetrator isn’t punished, I suspect a raft of experts may not do the trick.
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