David here, bringing you news from Sundance on everyone’s favourite subject… actresses! ‘Under-famous’ actresses, to borrow a phrase from Nathaniel. But that doesn’t mean we don’t love these ladies!
Juno Temple and Kathryn Hahn in 'Afternoon Delight'
Kathryn Hahn zoomed up my favourites list when she delivered such consistent apathetic hilarity in Parks and Recreation last season, and now she might have been given her moment in the sun with a new dramedy about a troubled marriage. Mike Ryan agrees that we’ve waited a while for Hahn’s big moment:
I've often thought that Kathryn Hahn deserves more attention. I think AFTERNOON DELIGHT proves that point. #sundance
— Mike Ryan (@mikeryan) January 22, 2013
Afternoon Delight also stars Juno Temple, who’s apparently in every other movie at Sundance, and playing some sort of sex-imp in them all… [TEMPLE, HAHN, JANUARY JONES & ROBIN WEIGERT after the jump]
- In Contention’s Gregory Ellwood commends Hahn, whose “impressive dramatic performance pulls the picture through most of the rough patches”.
- But Todd McCarthy says “Hahn’s Rachel is too much a sitcom character to be taken seriously as a truly self-reflective soul”
- And Variety’s Alissa Simon takes direct aim at Hahn, whose “performance features much face contorting and hair tossing”. Ouch.
Robin Weigert has a 'Concussion'Robin Weigert, familiar from TV’s Sons of Anarchy and Deadwood, headlines Concussion, an intriguing queer picture where Abby (Weigert) suffers a blow to the head, re-evaluates her picture-perfect home life with wife and kids, and decides to become a prostitute. The Village Voice calls Concussion the “happy surprise” to Afternoon Delight’s “tone-deaf catastrophe”, and even headlines its article saying the film is “why we have a Sundance in the first place”! RADiUS-The Weinstein Co. has already snapped up the rights.
Red Carpet Diary chats with Weigert and co-star Maggie Siff (Mad Men):
Variety’s Rob Nelson has issues with the implausibilities of this “a head injury of a film”, but only has praise for Weigert and her “intelligent screen presence”.
But Peter Knegt sells it best:
CONCUSSION most definitely has the most hot lesbian sex of any film at #Sundance2013 (or maybe any Sundance ever).
— Peter Knegt (@peterknegt) January 19, 2013
Maggie Siff isn’t the only spot for Mad Men fans at Sundance. January Jones is around too, with Sweetwater, in which she plays an ex-prostitute (the unofficial second theme of this post) who takes stylish revenge on a religious zealot who murdered her Mexican husband. From the looks of the poster, it’s a Tarantino-esque revisionist Western; January's get up matches quite well with Django’s blue suit, dontchathink?
click to see the full poster at EW
- Peter Debruge is disappointed, saying that “Jones still feels trapped by the pre-feminist notions that confine her on Mad Men”.
- Todd McCarthy agrees: “most of it feels derivative and generally predictable in its eccentricities”.
Maybe Robin Weigert should’ve taken this role too; that dress is so Calamity Jane. Whipcrack away!