Lee Daniels‘ Push has proven to be one of the most divisive high profile movies at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. Splitting audiences is nothing to new Daniels, whose Shadowboxer remains generally maligned, but Push at least plays well to a good number of people. A heavily stylized account of troubled, overweight Harlem teen Precious (newcomer Gabourey Sidibe), who has been impregnated by her mother’s boyfriend, the movie barrels forward with a frenetic pace.
While some people think Push is too obvious or jarring — I don’t — one performer unarguably reaches her full emotional potential: Mo’Nique, boldly playing against type as Mary, Precious’s crazed single mom. The true villain of the movie, she’s also its tragic centerpiece. The usually, delightfully raunchy comedian turns in a forceful, haunting performance that prompted one audience member, after the premiere on Friday, to ask her what she plans to wear when she wins an Oscar. “Nothing,” she replied. A few days later, over coffee on Main Street, we asked Mo’Nique to elaborate on her dynamic accomplishment.
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Keven McAlester’s second documentary The Dungeon Masters, which takes a look at three people who run Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, was at the Toronto International Film Festival this week. It could have easily been a comedic film, poking fun at people who are generally called geeks or nerds, but it ends up becoming an intimate glimpse of personalities and situations that are often touching and tragic.
I sat down with Keven and talked to him about how he set about making this movie, how he got into documentary filmmaking and working with Lee Daniel, and how he was able to put together such a good look into the D&D lifestyle, despite having never played the game. Read on after the break for the interview.
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The complete slate of non-fiction films to be unveiled at the Toronto International Film Festival has been announced, and there are some interesting bedfellows on the list. Keven McAlester’sThe Dungeon Master must be the hippest nerd doc of all time (or, at least, since Nerdcore Rising. Or We Are Wizards. Or King of Kong. Or…nevermind.) A “whimsical look at three adults deeply involved with Dungeons & Dragons explores how the game affects their lives and relationships,” the film features cinematography by Lee Daniel (he shot Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, as well as McAlester’s Roky Erickson doc, You’re Gonna Miss Me) and music by everyone’s favorite Japanese/Italian art rock band, Blonde Redhead.
Master will be unveiled on the Reel to Reel program, alongside a documentary treatment of Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation called Food Inc; American Swing, about the notorious 1970s sex club Plato’s Retreat; and 18 other new features. Meanwhile, the fest will also host special presentations of Agnes Varda’s Les Plages d’Agnes, described as a “self-portrait via photographs, film clips and some surprising encounters”; and Matt Tyrnauer “fly-on-the-wall exploration” of fashion designer Valentino.
indieWIRE has the full lineup.
