An appreciation of the young turks who took hold of Hollywood in the nineties: from P. T. Anderson to Spike Jonze to the godfather of them all, Steven Soderbergh
Hollywood is undergoing a renaissance, spawned by a vanguard of auteurs who for more than a decade have managed to turn La-La Land upside down. With films like Boogie Nights, Rushmore, Being John Malkovich, and Memento, young filmmakers have in many ways forced the major studios to march to the beat of their very different drummer.
In Sundance Kids, James Mottram paints a vibrant portrait of Hollywood as it stands today. Focusing on writers and directors who made their debuts in the nineties, Mottram takes a close look at how these mavericks have impacted the cinematic landscape. He explores the current state of the Hollywood studios; what it can mean now to be “independent” in the wake of mini-majors like Miramax and New Line; the particular influence of uncompromising artists like Steven Soderbergh and Quentin Tarantino; the unique platform provided them by the Sundance Film Festival; the contribution of British filmmakers like Sam Mendes to the mix; and how, for the first time since Paddy Chayefsky, writers such as Charlie Kaufman are becoming household names while playing a key part in the new Hollywood.
James Mottram is a film journalist who writes for a numerous publications, including
The Independent, The Sunday Times (LONDON), and the
Evening Standard. He is also the author of three books:
Public Enemies: The Gangster Movie A-Z (1998),
The Coen Brothers: The Life of the Mind (2000), and
The Making of "Memento" ( Faber, 2002). He lives in London. Hollywood is undergoing a renaissance, spawned by a vanguard of auteurs who for more than a decade have managed to turn La-La Land upside down. With films like
Boogie Nights, Rushmore, Being John Malkovich, and
Memento, young filmmakers have in many ways forced the major studios to march to the beat of their very different drummer.
In
Sundance Kids, James Mottram paints a vibrant portrait of Hollywood as it stands today. Focusing on writers and directors who made their debuts in the nineties, Mottram takes a close look at how these mavericks have impacted the cinematic landscape. He explores the current state of the Hollywood studios; what it can mean now to be “independent” in the wake of mini-majors like Miramax and New Line; the particular influence of uncompromising artists like Steven Soderbergh and Quentin Tarantino; the unique platform provided them by the Sundance Film Festival; the contribution of British filmmakers like Sam Mendes to the mix; and how, for the first time since Paddy Chayefsky, writers such as Charlie Kaufman are becoming household names while playing a key part in the new Hollywood. "I've never been to Sundance—however, after reading this book, it feels as if I've been there and back. James Mottram makes clear the impact Sundance and all its players has had on the so-called Hollywood studio system, while breaking down the nature and structure of storytelling, something I continually struggle with, and articulating it in a manner that will enable the average movie lover to more fully understand the metaphorical undertones a writer/director is trying to achieve. The result is an enjoyable read, full of a wealth of information that leaves us asking, 'what next?'"—
Milo Addica, Oscar-nominated screenwriter of Monster's Ball“Mottram clearly knows [the] independent filmmaking terrain inside-out and has done his homework, with vast amounts of research interviewing. He has a keen eye for the shared aesthetic propensities of his subjects: playing with structure; fracturing the time-line; employing cinematic self-reflectedness, expositional voice-overs and a sophisticated pop music score . . . A valuable, detailed map to the newest New Wave in Hollywood.”—Phillip Lopate,
The Los Angeles Times Book Review "Mottram covers the same territory Sharon Waxman did in 2005's
Rebels on the Backlot, including extensive considerations of directors Steven Soderbergh and Quentin Tarantino, but the British film journalist adds several filmmakers into the mix, including Sofia Coppola and Wes Anderson, concentrating primarily on hot young talents discovered at the Sundance Film Festival. He's also more interested in what's on the screen than Waxman was, so nearly every chapter has lengthy analyses of the movies discussed. But these interpretive flights distract from the reportage, especially when Mottram dismisses successful directors like Robert Rodriguez (who arguably have taken back Hollywood) because he doesn't consider movies like
Spy Kids mature enough for serious consideration, or when he insists on linking every modern maverick to a counterpart in '70s cinema. He also links some films together by simplistic means, grouping a trilogy of films set in high schools in one chapter and building another chapter around Elmore Leonard adaptations. Mottram does give insight into the career trajectories of a few of his subjects, most notably Soderbergh, David Fincher and Bryan Singer, making his history a useful starting point."—
Publishers Weekly "The 1989 surprise success of Steven Soderbergh's
sex, lies, and videotape after making a splash at the Sundance Film Festival is said by Mottram to have opened the doors to succeeding young Turk directors whose critical breakthroughs prefigured mainstream commercial triumphs. Covering much the same ground that Sharon Waxman did in
Rebels on the Backlot (2005), Mottram makes a broader survey. Whereas Waxman focused on Soderbergh, Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, David Fincher, Spike Jonze, and David O. Russell, Mottram encompasses those six; such peers of theirs as Richard Rodriguez, Richard Linklater, and Alexander Payne; and relative youngsters like Sofia Coppola and Wes Anderson. Mottram also covers the F-64 filmmakers collective, Soderbergh and other directors' abortive effort to maintain artistic control, and screenwriter-auteur Charlie Kaufman. Although Waxman got here first, and Mottram's premise that these mavericks have seized control of the studios is dubious, Mottram's broader scope and greater currency (he touches on Soderbergh's
Bubble, whereas Waxman ends five years earlier, in 2000) gives the nod to
The Sundance Kids."—Gordon Flagg,
Booklist "Film critic Mottram examines how Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival has spawned a distinguished roster of award-winning 'graduates,' e.g., Steven Soderbergh (
Syriana), Quentin Tarantino (
Pulp Fiction), and Wes Anderson (
Rushmore). He assesses their influence on American movies in the last 15 years and compares them to earlier generations of movie rebels, such as those of the French New Wave and of the 1970s American renaissance, making the interesting point that the current Sundance 'kids' have been traumatized and inspired by 9/11 in much the same way that the 1970s mavericks were influenced by Vietnam. Though covering much the same territory as Sharon Waxman's recent
Rebels on the Backlot: Six Maverick Directors and How They Conquered Hollywood, this book offers a wider view and more critical analysis of individual films, including coverage of two female directors, Sofia Coppola (
The Virgin Suicides) and Kimberly Peirce (
Boys Don't Cry). As with
Rebels, the length of
Sundance, plus its dense mix of Hollywood insider information and unfamiliar names, may prove daunting to some readers. Recommended for academic film collections."—Stephen Rees, Levittown Library,
Library Journal "A dissection—unparalleled in its breadth and scope—of American cinema in the 1990s."—
Jake Brook, Black & White (Birmingham) "I've never been to Sundance—however, after reading this book, it feels as if I've been there and back. James Mottram makes clear the impact Sundance and all its players has had on the so-called Hollywood studio system, while breaking down the nature and structure of storytelling, something I continually struggle with, and articulating it in a manner that will enable the average movie lover to more fully understand the metaphorical undertones a writer/director is trying to achieve. The result is an enjoyable read, full of a wealth of information that leaves us asking, 'What next?'"—
Milo Addica, Oscar-nominated screenwriter of Monster's Ball
