Sundance embraces virtual reality – ‘Morris’ vibrant, fresh coming-of-age tale

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PARK CITY, United States, Jan 23, (Agencies):  A real-life homicide, a woman who wakes up after being frozen for 30 years and a close encounter with a whale — these are some of the virtual reality films creating a buzz at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

The lineup of no less than 30 immersive experiences — showcased in the festival’s New Frontier program — reflects an increasing willingness by filmmakers to experiment with technology that offers a new form of story-telling.

“It’s pretty amazing,” said John Cooper, director of the Sundance festival.

“We’re still at a nascent stage — five minutes long, that kind of stuff — but you can really see how it’s going to grow in people’s imaginations.

“I can see coming home and saying I just need 10 minutes of VR before anybody talks to me.”

Among the standout shorts, which run about five minutes on average, is “Defrost,” which follows a woman who suffered a massive stroke and wakes up after being frozen for nearly 30 years.

The viewer, equipped with a headset, experiences the film from the woman’s perspective as she reunites with her much older family.

“Waves of Grace” follows Ebola survivor Decontee Davis as she helps others in Liberia affected by the disease, while “theBlu: Encounter” offers a close encounter with a whale.

Experience

“Virtual reality immerses you into a really different experience you’ve never really had before,” said Jake Rowell, the director of “theBlu: Encounter,” which was made in three months. “It takes you back to your eight-year-old self in a lot of ways.

“Usually people leave with it being a memory, they experience it like going on a hike, or skiing.”

One unusual virtual reality set-up at Sundance — “In the Eyes of the Animal” — allows viewers equipped with a globe-shaped headset decorated with moss and plants to experience a forest landscape through the eyes of different animals, including a frog and a dragonfly.

The visuals create the illusion of soaring high above the trees or hovering along the forest floor.

“By covering your eyes and your ears and simulating reality, you can take someone out of their body and put them in someone else’s body, and see the world from a different sensory perspective,” said Barnaby Steel, of the London-based design studio Marshmallow Laser Feast that created the experience.

“So what does the world look like form a bat’s perspective or a different insect?” he added. “We’re interested in what is reality like beyond our senses.”

But while everyone agrees that virtual reality technology is gaining traction as more and more people and companies explore the medium, developers say it will take some time before it is ready for consumers or becomes part of the movie experience.

The hardware — which typically consists of goggles that can be bulky and uncomfortable to wear — will need to evolve and become more accessible, they say.

Another challenge will be to make it appealing to older audiences.

“We’re all in this new ground, this new medium, trying to figure out how it works,” Rowell said. “But in the long run, I think people will embrace it … and it will grow.

“Now you have headsets but later on it will probably be just glasses.”

 “Morris from America” isn’t your typical coming of age story.

The film, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Friday, focuses on a pair of Americans — a widowed father and son — living in Heidelberg, Germany. The father coaches a soccer team. The 13-year-old son, Morris, is trying to learn the language and make some actual friends. And, to make matters even more trying, they are essentially the only black people in town.

The result is delightful.

In “Morris From America,” Chad Hartigan, who came to Sundance previously with “This Is Martin Bonner,” avoids both the cliches and banalities of this tired genre and has instead made something entirely fresh. This big-hearted film about that strange time in life when adolescents dip their toes into reckless teenager-dom is not to be missed.

Stars Craig Robinson (Curtis) and newcomer Markees Christmas (Morris) bring Hartigan’s vibrant story and script to life with their effortless chemistry and nuanced performances.

Curtis isn’t a run-of-the-mill father, and Morris isn’t the prototypical rebellious youth either. They are profane, they are sentimental, they are difficult — they are fully drawn characters with complexities, contradictions and all.

Morris isn’t having a great time in Germany until his sweet tutor (Carla Juri) suggests he hang out at a youth center to try to make friends. It doesn’t go very well — one kid gives him a hard time, while the others mostly ignore him. But he does become attached to a beautiful, troubled 15-year-old girl, Katrin (Lina Keller, an ethereal, beguiling Julie Delpy-type), who lets him tag along with her on her increasingly defiant exploits.

The film never goes exactly where you’d expect, and Hartigan and his lovely cast keep the energy up and the scenes moving throughout, whether it’s just a language lesson or an awkward talent show.

Hartigan also imbues the film with gorgeous cinematic flair that’s always interesting, if not always completely coherent within the language of the film. For example, in one scene, Morris is listening to a hip-hop song while touring a castle and everyone (even the stained glass windows and sculptures) bob their heads along with it. This surreal moment is strangely affecting, but it’s an odd one off, too.

Christmas, in particular, is a real discovery. He adeptly handled everything the movie tosses at him — whether freestyle rapping, dancing with a pillow (or at a rave), or shedding a tear. Hartigan heard about the young newbie actor from a friend who’d seen his YouTube videos “Markees Vs.”

After the screening, Christmas said he’s now trying to get an agent and a manager and wants to make sure he stays in movies. After a debut like “Morris From America,” that probably won’t be a problem.

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