Sunday and Monday’s Sundance brought warmer temps and some titles we definitely want to talk about. “Tangerine,” the iPhone-shot film about two transgender prostitutes is picking up attention, and the freshest, coolest film yet, “Dope,” sold for $7 million after a bidding war.
After seeing a few smaller indie films during the day, HuffPost Entertainment’s Sasha Bronner and Matthew Jacobs lined up two hours early for the hyped documentary about the Church of Scientology, “Going Clear: Scientology And The Prison Of Belief.” Our collection of thoughts below:
“Going Clear: Scientology And The Prison Of Belief”
Written and directed by Alex Gibney
Author Lawrence Wright is an authority on the world of Scientology. He wrote a groundbreaking article for the New Yorker in 2011 and two years later published his 560-page book, “Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief.” The much-anticipated book (he did more than 200 interviews with current and former Scientologists) chronicles the life story of Scientology’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard, as well as an examination of the inner workings of the church and exposes shocking details about internal abuse and brainwashing.
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Tig Notaro’s career arc has become one of popular culture’s great phenomenons. The 2012 standup act during which Louis C.K., Ed Helms and Bill Burr stood in the wings as she opened her routine with “Thank you, thank you, I have cancer” made her an instant legend. That journey translates excellently to the new documentary that retreads the comedian’s fame yet still feels entirely fresh.
In “Tig,” highlights from Notaro’s standup career offer side-splitting relief and increasingly humane revelations about the funnylady’s psyche. But it’s the lack of tears that Notaro sheds upon receiving one piece of devastating news after the next (her mother’s death, her cancer diagnosis, her struggles to get pregnant) that will have you tearing up. As is true with everything in Notaro’s life, the less she says, the more revealing her personality becomes. The documentary picks up with Notaro preparing for a set that will mark the one-year anniversary of the routine that made her a newfound icon. Sarah Silverman and Zach Galifianakis are with her backstage, just as they are in the hospital where she undergoes treatment without losing her dry wit. From there, we backtrack through her health scares and how it impacts her comedy. Jangled emotions lead to writers’ block, but seeing the process by which Notaro develops her material feels akin to watching a great artist fashion a complicated self-portrait. Her process simply uses keywords to formulate jokes while onstage, and at one low point she feels she’s bombed a routine wherein the words don’t spark much inspiration.
But “Tig” is a class act because it celebrates, even flatters, its subject with an intimacy that feels evenhanded. Notaro has given ample interviews over the past few years, but her humble resilience has never been as pronounced as it is in Kristina Goolsby and Ashley York’s film. This is a movie that will enliven you, entertain you, sadden you and convince you that adversity is not a roadblock. If Tig Notaro can rebound from a double mastectomy to stage a topless set at the New York Comedy Festival, imagine what the rest of us can do. — MJ
