Hasta La Gadget!

Last time on Sundance So Far, we discussed “The Bronze” and other movies that opened the festival. Temperatures dropped to 18 degrees at sundown in Park City, Utah, on Day 2 of Sundance. Parkas were out and crowds were thick at some of the most anticipated films of the opening weekend. The press screening for “Z for Zachariah,” filled up two hours before the film began, and Jason Segel stunned audiences as David Foster Wallace at the world premiere of “The End of the Tour.” We’ll write about both of those films shortly, but here are the other titles HuffPost Entertainment editor Matthew Jacobs and Los Angeles senior editor Sasha Bronner caught on Friday:

“Stockholm, Pennsylvania”
Written and directed by Nikole Beckwith
Starring Saoirse Ronan, Jason Isaacs and Cynthia Nixon

There is more than initially meets the eye in the post-kidnapping drama about a young woman, played by Saoirse Ronan (“The Grand Budapest Hotel”), who is returned to her home after being held captive in a basement for the majority of her life.

Taken from a park when she was 4 years old raised by her kidnapper (played by Jason Isaacs), the extent of what her character knows about the world can be held in the palm of her hand.

The film’s intentional use of claustrophobia does the trick. When Ronan sticks her head out of her bedroom window and, we presume, feels rain for the first time, you too feel her wonder and her innocence.

But this is not an innocent film. Cynthia Nixon, who plays Ronan’s mother, is understandably emotional when her daughter returns home and does her very best to help the family acclimate to their suddenly different circumstances (think “trust falls”). But the people of the town stare. And they discover that their missing daughter doesn’t know when her real birthday is, doesn’t remember them at all and actually thinks that her name is Leia — “named after a Princess,” she tells her parents on her first afternoon home.

The psychological phenomenon Stockholm syndrome describes the common scenario of a captive feeling protective, loving and sympathetic to their captor. Ronan’s character visits the man who took her only once in jail and after telling him that she doesn’t know how to do anything in the real world, she also says she doesn’t know what the worst thing is that’s happened to her — spending her life with him, or spending the rest of it without him.

When she asks if he regrets it, he answers that it takes the same amount of effort to run in place or to run a mile, and he would rather see the mile.

A startling twist (which, of course, we will not ruin for you) turns everything inside out. Filmmaker Nikole Beckwith presents a quiet and powerful debut feature that succeeds in redefining what captivity means as well as tilting the kaleidoscope of identity and love ninety degrees on its side.

Stay tuned: Saoirse Ronan gets more screen time at the festival — she also stars in the 1950s drama “Brooklyn,” written by Nick Hornby, as an Irish-American immigrant attempting to choose between love and her place in the world. — SB

*****

“The Overnight”
Written and directed by Patrick Brice
Starring Taylor Schilling, Adam Scott, Jason Schwartzman and Judith Godrèche

Two delights of Friday’s Sundance came in Patrick Brice’s very funny “The Overnight.” First, Adam Scott and Taylor Schilling, playing a couple looking for friends after moving to Los Angeles, smoke weed with another couple (Jason Schwartzman and Judith Godrèche) who invite them over for what appears to be an innocent playdate for their children. They are a riot as bumbling stoners who conjure up a candidness foreign to their lives as young parents during what turns out to be a quite propulsive gathering. Later, Scott and Schwartzman prance around naked for a solid chunk of the film, for reasons I’d rather you discover on your own. Just know that both actors wear prosthetics, and the size of the genitals on display is an uproarious part of the plot.

“The Overnight” is just bawdy enough to be something of a sex comedy, but it’s nothing if not a tactful tale of a rowdy, confused couple befriending the innocent newcomers from their neighborhood park. The playdate — billed as a simple pizza night at their palatial home — turns into an all-night affair with increasingly bizarre results. There’s a slight dip in the film’s energy toward the end as the dramatic underpinnings of the foursome’s lives unfold, but it doesn’t take away from the sharp performances and clever writing this film boasts. Now where should we mail our smoke-out invitation for Scott and Schilling? — MJ

*****

“The Witch”
Written and directed by Robert Eggers
Starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Kate Dickie, Ralph Ineson, Harvey Scrimshaw, Lucas Dawson and Ellie Grainger

Today’s horror landscape is bleak. The reliance on gratuitous violence and uninventive scare tactics is more of a nightmare than any of the stories being depicted onscreen. Yet every year a few movies break through the gore to channel the worldly panic that horror is meant to showcase. This year, one of those is “The Witch,” a movie that became one of Day 2’s buzziest Sundance titles. (To wit: A24 is nearing a deal to distribute “The Witch.”)

Set in 1630 New England, “The Witch” is a stylish chiller about a devoutly Christian family whose infant vanishes. Their crops fail and they begin accusing one another of occultism — all while a witch creeps through the depths of the woods that surround their home. The movie seems talky at first, but let these irascible colonials work through their muddy family dynamics, from the mother’s grief-stricken instability to the father’s sympathy for her daughter after his wife accuses her of witchcraft. This is eerie filmmaking at its finest, which is all the more remarkable considering Robert Eggers is a first-time director. By the time their paranoia reaches peak levels, this family of six can barely stomach the sight of one another, so wracked with the panic that haunts their countenance. As if Mark Korven’s strings-heavy score weren’t enough eerie enough, know that the film is pieced together using actual journals (including specific conversations) that chronicled the witchcraft that took place in the 17th century. — MJ

*****

“Ten Thousand Saints”
Written and drected by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini
Starring Ethan Hawke, Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, Emile Hirsch and Emily Mortimer

Who doesn’t want to see Ethan Hawke as a burner, weed-selling, dysfunctional father with a heart of gold? Apparently no one, because the premiere of his new film “Ten Thousand Saints” was sold out Friday evening at the Sundance Film Festival. Hawke stars alongside Emily Mortimer, Hailee Steinfeld, Emile Hirsch and
Asa Butterfield, and is the center of an off-kilter family dealing with an actual tragedy and also the general tragedy of growing up.

Set in the 1980s, first in Vermont and then in the East Village in New York City, the film is dripping with teen angst, drugs and rock and roll. Actually, teen angst, weed, cocaine, mushrooms, plenty of huffing and punk rock, to be exact. There are Hare Krishnas, tattoos, protests in New York City and a genre of the hardcore punk scene called “straight edge” where abstinence and sobriety are encouraged.

The teen stars of the film are its strength, carrying their angst like a heavy duffle bag thrown in the corner of every room they enter. But there is a lot packed into the story and there may just be too many protagonists involved for many viewers’ tastes. We probably aren’t supposed to, but in some ways end up rooting the most for Hawke in all his flawed attempts at being a decent father.

Filmmaking duo Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini work as a team writing, directing and editing and are best known for “American Splendor” (2003), “The Nanny Diaries” (2007) and “Cinema Verite” (2011). The two were nominated for an Academy Award in 2003 for their writing of “American Splendor.”

The writing in “Ten Thousand Saints” gives Hawke room to make audiences laugh with his idea of good parenting and one of the most awkward father-son talks we have seen. In a surprisingly poignant moment, he reveals to his son (played by Butterfield) one of his observations about the world and about family: “Women make their decisions and men are just trying not to be men. The whole system needs looking over.”

Young Millenials will flock to the film if they are looking for an indie, hipster coming of age story with plenty of bad decisions and always, of course, the promise of love. — SB

I am such a good starter. My coach told me, think of it as you are great at getting projects “half done”. But finishing, that is another story. I don’t always have the energy or the time to make that happen. So I started thinking about the times when I DID actually finish something and five common steps arose.

There are many ways to begin to finish a project but my go to is to stop debating. Life is full of so many options that at times they keep me from making a decision on which way I want to go. Once I stop this and finally choose what exactly I am trying to accomplish, I begin to see a tiny light at the end of the “get this done” tunnel.

Then I think about the reason behind doing this project and what getting it done would mean to me. The “WHY” behind what I am trying to do is crucial as it provides the fire behind the drive to get something done. I really think that remembering the “WHY” and holding that in your mind’s eye is the key to getting anything accomplished. Once you have that motivation in your mind, you could probably accomplish just about anything.

Along with the “WHY,” I try to simplify what I am trying to accomplish. Since I did so much debating, this project has become complicated in my mind and in reality, there is a simple path to getting it done. I take away what does not need to be part of this project and know I can come back to those other parts another day or with another project. Keeping it simple also means you have the chance to accomplish it and once you do, it will give you confidence and inspiration to fuel you moving to the next and greater project.

Next, I put to work my list making abilities and write down the thing I am trying to accomplish along with listing out the steps I think it will take to get this this project done. I try to write as much of it down as I can as that helps me think about all that there is to accomplish with this project and makes me realize if I am able to write it down, perhaps that means I can get it done too.

Finally and most importantly, I think the number one reason I have finished a project is focus. Nothing else needs to be accomplished. This is your sole goal. You are eating, sleeping, exercising and doing this project. Focusing also means taking away distractions and stopping working on three things at once. When I have focused with laser like precision, I have accomplished things I did not think possible. I became the person of my dreams- the finisher! Most importantly I realized that no matter how good of starter I was, I could also accomplish my goals and make things happen in my world. That builds confidence like you would not believe.

So next time you are stuck in the middle of a half done project, take time to think about these 5 steps and realize your goal is not that far in the distance. With a little clarity, remembering why, simplifying what you are accomplishing, listing out your steps and focusing on getting to the goal, you will be able to finish your next project with ease.

Spending hours laboring over an InDesign template can feel like thankless work, especially when your team of oh-so-gifted writers don’t understand the concept of a word limit. But at least while you’re shedding bitter tears for butchered layouts, these design puns will give you something else to groan about.

Read more…

The following is co-written with Cheryl Grise, EY Global Head of Strategy, and Professor Marc Ventresca, economic sociologist, University of Oxford.

Listen carefully to the buzz during the World Economic Forum annual meeting this week and one thing is abundantly clear: Current global realities have changed the game for most firms. Today, corporate capacity for innovation and transformation is a critical imperative to survive – and to thrive. This is transformation beyond the delivery of better products or services. It is the ability to do business in fundamentally different ways, attuned to these new realities.

In Davos this week, Sir Richard Branson joined Barclay’s CEO Antony Jenkins, Mondelez CEO Irene Rosenfeld, Unilever CEO Paul Polman, Huffington Post President Arianna Huffington and EY Chairman Mark Weinberger for a discussion of purposeful transformation hosted by EY and the University of Oxford Saïd Business School in collaboration with the B Team. During the breakfast we unveiled initial findings from an EY – Oxford research collaboration, observing that senior executives are pioneering a portfolio of new tools and approaches that leverage purpose to spur and sustain innovation and growth.

Our initial results point to the following trends, challenges and benefits of purpose-led transformation:

1. There is an evolving view of the role of the corporation that increasingly emphasizes the corporation as a partner for societal well-being.
In this period of increased inequality and austerity, leaders speak often about the corporation as both a source of shareholder value and a tool for addressing challenges.
For many in our sample, the times point to a historically distinctive moment, when the institutional foundations of the corporation are contested. Their shared voice argues for a view of the corporation as a partner to address global challenges.

Across industries and geographies, this focus is a move beyond harm reduction, or the corporation taking responsibility for externalities, to now having an active role in creating well-being. This tracks key shifts in the role of the corporation: from “value creation for its own sake” to “value creation without harm,” to now actively “building value for and with a wider set of stakeholders.”

2. The corporate dialogue on purpose is louder and is changing.
While “purpose” is certainly not new to conversations about commercial activity, more than ever it is dominating the conversation. Our initial findings reveal that pioneering executives are talking about purpose more and more and in different ways. This idiom is new, and consequential.

We also observe an expansion from the traditional mission statement that predominantly focused on products and services (what companies do) and attributes such as trustworthiness and timeliness (how they do it) to corporations also articulating a broader purpose that is their reason for being (why they exist).

This trend toward restating a corporation’s identity is grounded in an outward-facing declaration around their role in the global community. On the far end of a spectrum we observe companies fully restating their identity in the marketplace. We find this contemporary usage of “purpose” to be distinctive and promising as a source of corporate action.

3. Executives are using a common language of purpose to engage stakeholders for corporate benefit.
Pioneering CEOs and other senior leaders are speaking a language of purpose that engages employees and customers in new ways, inviting their insights for innovation. This is a language of open-sourced value creation among diverse constituents. It foregrounds “meaning” with an appeal to shared values that invite the extended group of stakeholders – employees, customers, suppliers, regulators and others – to recognize a stake in the growth path of a corporation. Making (shared) meaning in this way is critical work for leaders today.

4. Purpose can be a lever driving innovation and transformation for growth.
These pioneering senior leaders use a language of purpose that links firm innovation and renewal with contributing to addressing significant challenges – or providing for human well-being in ways that go beyond product lines and traditional competition. Taking a view that “purpose drives profits,” they seek to involve existing and new product/service lines in ways that achieve this broader purpose. They are also initiating purpose-led transformation journeys in their organizations, spanning from the brand identity through the business model, across business units and functions.

5. There is an implementation gap: Purpose is underleveraged to focus and drive transformation.
A broad cross-section of business professionals and thought leaders recognize the importance of integrated, humane purpose as a core decision-making lens driving core functions like strategy, business models and talent management. But they also report a gap between this recognition and the policy and practice in their organizations. Our research points to still uncharted territory where purpose reinforces innovation in offerings, business models and governance.
 
Purpose has clear benefits

Today “purpose” and more generally “values” and “meaning” are being considered as a strategic resource. Our initial findings indicate corporations are at various stages of a journey that explores or expands their institutional purpose – and then aligns strategy, business models and processes to execute.

At the organizational level, executives recognize the more immediate benefits, such as providing competitive differentiation and increasing consumer sales and loyalty. It is also recognized as a useful tool to build trust in the wider marketplace.

Embedded into the structure and operating model, institutional purpose may also enhance employee morale, attract talent, increase productivity and decrease attrition.

Importantly, these CEOs anticipate that a purpose-led transformation will enhance organizational agility – i.e., their capacity to adapt to an increasingly dynamic, uncertain and interdependent macro business environment – and do so in a way that engages employees, customers and stakeholders to drive sustainable growth.

These trends and benefits beg two key questions:
Are we making the shift from a burning platform to a burning ambition enabled by a company’s purpose? Will this burning ambition be the new driving force helping corporations continually transform and innovate?

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee said this week that threats against Muslims and Arabs have soared following the release of “American Sniper,” a hugely popular and hugely controversial film.

Threats reported to the civil rights group have tripled since the film’s wide opening over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, the committee told The Guardian. “The last time we saw such a sharp increase was in 2010, around the Ground Zero mosque,” said the group’s national legal and policy director, Abed Ayoub, referring to an Islamic center that was going to be located a few blocks from the World Trade Center site.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee has even sent letters to “American Sniper” star Bradley Cooper and director Clint Eastwood, imploring them “to help reduce the hateful rhetoric,” according to USA Today. The group wrote that it has seen “hundreds of violent messages targeting Arabs and Muslims from moviegoers of the film.”

“With all these threats coming in, we wanted to be proactive,” Samer Khalaf, the committee’s president, told The Huffington Post in discussing his group’s decision to contact Cooper and Eastwood. “When we are not proactive, people end up getting hurt. … We don’t know if somebody’s serious or if somebody’s joking around, so we take all these threats seriously, especially when they’re talking about shooting bullets into someone’s head.”

Khalaf said the group has not heard back from either Cooper or Eastwood.

Eastwood’s production company, Malpaso Productions, and Cooper’s rep have not responded to The Huffington Post’s requests for comment.

Bradley Cooper stars as Chris Kyle in “American Sniper.”

“American Sniper” tells the story of the late Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, who served four tours in the Iraq War and is credited as the most lethal sniper in U.S. history. It’s based on Kyle’s 2012 autobiography.

“Savage, despicable evil. That’s what we were fighting in Iraq,” Kyle wrote. “I only wish I had killed more. Not for bragging rights, but because I believe the world is a better place without savages out there taking American lives.”

“American Sniper” has been a massive box office success, raking in $90 million in the first three days of its wide release — reportedly an all-time record for the month of January. The movie has been nominated for six Academy Awards, including best picture and best actor.

But the film has also proved to be politically polarizing, with celebrities, politicians and critics adding their voices to the debate. The National Review’s David French said the “phenomenal” movie had “created a cultural moment,” while New York magazine’s David Edelstein slammed it as a “propaganda film” and a “Republican platform movie” that was “scandalously blinkered.”

In a post for Electronic Intifada this week, journalist Rania Khalek noted that social media has been deluged in recent days with “American Sniper” fans posting hateful, discriminatory and sometimes violent messages directed at Arabs and Muslims.

The film “makes me wanna go shoot some f**kin Arabs,” wrote one Twitter user earlier this month, punctuating his tweet with emoticons of guns. “‘American Sniper’ made me appreciate soldiers 100x more and hate Muslims 1000000x more,” wrote another.

In its letter to Cooper, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee warned, “The threats advocate for the murder of Arabs, one going as far as to say, ‘Great f**king movie and now I really want to kill some f**king ragheads.'”

The civil rights group said in its letter that it’s working with the FBI and local law enforcement officials to address the threats.

“It is imperative for us, as Americans, to act now to prevent these verbal threats from turning into violent and physical hate crimes,” the group wrote.