The 2010 Sundance Film Festival opened on Thursday night with a lower profile than in most years partly because the organizers nixed the gala opening – a very good idea, since this has been a perenially weak filim experience.
But it was mainly low key because a lot of people were still missing. The torrential rains in Los Angeles led to the cancellation of flights and frustrated film professionals left to harangue airport personnel.
Meanwhile, Park City was quiet and lovely under a heavy carpet of snow.
The first evening featured two feature films and a menu of shorts. The buzz out of "Howl," a film about Allen Ginsberg starring James Franco as the beat poet (with a strangely wandering accent) was not good, and I’m being kind.