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EW.com
E n t e r t a i n m e n t W e e k l y O n l i n e
Sundance 2000
January 24, 2000
"The first movie I saw was about crib death. Next came a documentary
about a man who had sexually molested pretty much everybody in his
family... Heck, there may have been a couple of suicides in there,
too. I can't remember. It's all so hectic... I always wonder what
the nice, clean people of Utah think when they swing by the supermarket
and overhear a couple of goateed swells chatting in the aisles. "I
really liked the crib-death movie." "Yeah, but the pedophilia
flick was better..." The films that I've mentioned have absolutely
blown me away: "Everything Put Together" (about a young
couple coping with the death of their newborn). "Just Melvin"
(about a family coping with sexual abuse)... Sundance 2000 has lived
up to its annual reputation for fearlessness."
-- Jeff Gordinier
Our critics take the festivals highlights...
February 11, 2000
"...As is so often the case at Sundance, the most irresistible
drama is likely to be found in documentaries...Just, Melvin is a confessional
family portrait of two generations consumed and destroyed by incest.
The filmmaker, James Ronald Whitney, is at once victim, reporter,
and righteous avenger, doing everything in his power to expose the
evils of his grandfather Melvin Just. Just, Melvin is undeniably voyeuristic,
yet there's a shattering truth to it. It's a therapy session in hell,
and, like the best Sundance movies, it takes you somewhere you never
thought you'd go.
-- Owen Gleiberman
SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL
February 11, 2000
"...As usual, plenty of Sundance fare posed a hearty challenge
to the squeamish... James Ronald Whitney's bold documentary Just,
Melvin burrowed into his own family's decades of sexual abuse--in
graphic detail. (Amazingly, Whitney promoted the movie while juggling
his day job as a Wall Street stockbroker. "If the phone rings,
I have to take the call," he explained. "I manage millions
and millions of dollars, so it's very important that I maintain the
connection while I'm here.")
-- Jeff Gordinier & Chris Nashawaty
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