Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Hollywood’s paper of record,Variety, gives Asheville filmmaker Chusy Haney-Jardine’s Anywhere USA a harsh little smack of a review:
Subtitled “an autobiography in three parts,” tyro writer-director Chusy Haney-Jardine’s pretentious “Anywhere USA” is dressed up in postmodern smarty pants, only to resolve as an excessively overlong personal project that chases its own tail. A triptych on, respectively, a trailer-park couple, a bright child and her slacker relative, and a wealthy Anglo man runs on and on, even as each elaborately written and staged part amounts to little. Euro fests may book this Sundance special jury prize-winner as a supposedly clever piece of new Americana, but auds everywhere will ignore it.
Asheville, N.C.-shot film is partly designed as a valentine to the Smoky Mountains burg, and yet (per title), the place is never named. Design, lighting and graphic elements drip with hip. Running time of 124 minutes screams for trimming.
Meantime, the Washington Post gives a rather positive spin on the movie and the movie-maker.
Chusy Haney-Jardine is not out of his mind. Far from it. But in the snowy reaches of Park City, he represented the most radical view imaginable: He made an almost thoroughly noncommercial — no, anti-commercial — movie, didn’t expect distribution and seemed perfectly happy to have made the film he wanted to make.
…
Josh Braun, the film’s sales representative, said he knew coming into Sundance that the film would be “divisive.” He also said it was one of the few films he and his staff were really enthusiastic about marketing.
“Chusy was a shot out of the blue,” Braun said. “And his film seemed both so individual and eccentric, but made at such a high level. It also has things in it that are marketable. But it has divided people. There are those who actively dislike it and those who actively love it.”
Variety is considered the high school paper of the Entertainment Industry. It has never looked kindly on films that use non-actors and no union. The review seemed to suspiciously lack anything nice to say. That’s odd considering the film was chosen to premiere at Sundance by some pretty savvy programmers and the special jury prize was created by a knowledgeable jury. Are we to believe they all made a mistake? Chusy’s movie will continue to gather buzz. It’s my prediction the movie will make its way to Europe and do very well. There are several positive reviews floating around, The Village Voice and Vancouver Sun are a couple of examples. More will follow.