SEX, LIES AND SODERBERGH

We were lucky enough to attend the screening of "Sex, Lies and Videotape," at Sundance this week, one of the hottest tickets in town we were told. We waited in line for waitlist tickets 2 and a half hours before the screening, got our numbers, then came back and waited in line again, only to be offered "hard tickets" as they call them, at the last minute. A man peeked his head through the door and flashed a pair of tickets at Derek and I, then numbers 2 and 3 in the line. The single woman in front of us "number 1," told us to go ahead and grab them, and we did... Well tried, at least. A Sundance official jumped between us, "I can't have you selling tickets here, its against policy. You can give them away, but you can't sell them." The man shrugged and turned around, "I was just trying to help someone out," he said as he headed up the stairs towards the ticket holders line. The official then turned to me, which I assumed meant I was about to be scolded for behavior unbecoming a "number 2" waitlister. "You can follow him out, you know." It took me a while to realize what that meant. I was not being ejected for improper behavior, I was being told to follow the guy out of the room to illegally purchase the tickets. I ran. The buzz had been that this was the hardest show to get into. We had heard in the waitlist line that the word was no waitlisters would get in. There were too many industry folk, "pass-holders," and press attending this one.
We thankfully grabbed our tickets and headed in. To our surprise, the theater was empty. We easily sat in the second row, center and looked around the room, incredulous. Where was everyone? We were shocked even further when waitlister "number 68," strolled in and sat down next to us.
What happened, we later found out, was that the paparazzi taking photos of Soderbergh with Andie Macdowell in front of the theater had caused a roadblock which kept many people from entering the theater. Regardless of the attendance we were in for a treat. We watched a copy of the 20 year old Sundance phenomena offered up by Soderbergh himself. The movie held up, though I must admit I don't really remember seeing it before. The performances were great, the dialogue amazing, especially when compared with the crap that has passed for movie dialogue over the last couple of years. After the film we were treated to a wonderful Q & A with Soderbergh, Macdowell, Peter Gallagher and Laura San Giacomo. It felt like we were in on their reunion, witnessing something truly, very special. It was definitely the highlight of our Sundance experience and made for a great finale to our stay.

-Sara