Half-Life, by Jen Phang, playing at Sundance

Artwork by Jon Cooney and rotoscoping by Chris Cooney are both appearing in the film, Half-Life, which will start showing this weekend at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Jen Phang wrote and directed Half-Life and Reuben Lim produced it. I hear it is great, and I really look forward to seeing a screening of it.

Set in the idyllic hills of northern California, Jennifer Phang’s marvelously original first feature, Half-Life, is a supernormal tale about self-absorbed and disillusioned suburbanites who live in a futuristic time of natural disasters, suffocating air quality, and accelerating global cataclysms.

Single mom Saura Wu and her two kids, Pam and Timothy, struggle to rebuild their family in the presence of a sinister, but charming, interloper. Pam seeks refuge in her object of desire, a young hipster named Scott who, in turn, attempts to jar his fundamentalist parents out of their denial of his gay identity. Timothy, meanwhile, stumbles upon a way to develop and hone paranormal powers that he summons to alter everyone’s reality.

Modern and philosophical, Half-Life masterfully blends menacing rage with the tenderness and vulnerability of youth to create a tale that injects an empowering and persevering hopefulness into the family’s fatalistic fears of a disintegrating world. A visually ambitious accomplishment filled with gorgeous cinematography, handcrafted animation, and expertly concocted faux news reports, this auspicious directorial debut is without precedent and firmly establishes Jennifer Phang as an exciting talent to watch.

Here are the official screening times for Half-Life (116 mins). It’s a great premier slot but their theaters are not the largest seating capacity. The Egyptian is right in the heart of the festival.

Sat. January 19, 9:15pm, Holiday Village Cinema III, Park City
Tue. January 22, 3:00pm, Egyptian Theatre, Park City
Fri. January 25, 6:30pm, Holiday Village Cinema IV, Park City
Sat. January 26, 12:45pm, Broadway Centre Cinemas V, Salt Lake City

You can see the trailer at the Half-Life website.

IMDB entry http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0428620/