Thursday, January 24 2013, 12:38 PM MST
Sundance Review: Escape from Tomorrow
3.5 out of 5 Stars
Director: Randy Moore
Starring: Roy Abramsohn, Elena Schuber and Katelynn Rodriguez
Category: Next
Recommended to: Those looking for a film that you might only be able to see at Sundance (and oddly enough seems to embody a lot of what the Sundance Experience is).
Escape from Tomorrow has quickly become the most talked about film at the Sundance Film Festival. This is mostly because it was filmed in and around at Disney World in Florida without the theme parks permission. Apparently Disney isnt very pleased and is poised to make sure the film never gets proper distribution (in the digital age theres no question that the film will be available in one form or another). The film is a surreal journey into the psychosis of Jim. Jim is a typical family man with a wife, a son and a daughter. On the last day of his family vacation Jim learns that he has been fired from his job. Not wanting to spoil his familys fun he keeps this to himself. Jim spends most of the day following a pair of French-speaking teenagers around the theme park. He even forces his son to go on Space Mountain just to keep pace with the flirtatious teens. Throw in a lot of social commentary about the happiest place on Earth, some drunken behavior, an hallucination or two and a subplot involving Jim being some sort of lab rat in a hidden laboratory at Epcot. Its as if someone asked Terry Gilliam, David Cronenberg, Milos Forman and Federico Fellini to write a film about a man having a midlife crisis. At times it is brilliant and at other times it is simply bizarre. I think the film, while not perfect, does deserve to be seen.
-Ryan Michael Painter
(Copyright 2013 Sinclair Broadcasting Group.)
Director: Randy Moore
Starring: Roy Abramsohn, Elena Schuber and Katelynn Rodriguez
Category: Next
Recommended to: Those looking for a film that you might only be able to see at Sundance (and oddly enough seems to embody a lot of what the Sundance Experience is).
Escape from Tomorrow has quickly become the most talked about film at the Sundance Film Festival. This is mostly because it was filmed in and around at Disney World in Florida without the theme parks permission. Apparently Disney isnt very pleased and is poised to make sure the film never gets proper distribution (in the digital age theres no question that the film will be available in one form or another). The film is a surreal journey into the psychosis of Jim. Jim is a typical family man with a wife, a son and a daughter. On the last day of his family vacation Jim learns that he has been fired from his job. Not wanting to spoil his familys fun he keeps this to himself. Jim spends most of the day following a pair of French-speaking teenagers around the theme park. He even forces his son to go on Space Mountain just to keep pace with the flirtatious teens. Throw in a lot of social commentary about the happiest place on Earth, some drunken behavior, an hallucination or two and a subplot involving Jim being some sort of lab rat in a hidden laboratory at Epcot. Its as if someone asked Terry Gilliam, David Cronenberg, Milos Forman and Federico Fellini to write a film about a man having a midlife crisis. At times it is brilliant and at other times it is simply bizarre. I think the film, while not perfect, does deserve to be seen.
-Ryan Michael Painter
(Copyright 2013 Sinclair Broadcasting Group.)
