When Tribune movie critic Sean Means was 11 and in junior high school, he was assigned to critique the film “Star Wars” for his school paper. It took two buses and 90 minutes for him to get to the theater; then he waited an hour outside the Spokane, Wash., cinema.
Sometime between the Imperial Guard and Princess Leia, a film fanatic was born.
But this film aficionado’s tastes ran beyond fantasy; he saw Robert Redford and Paul Newman in “The Sting,” also when he was 11.
He has been reviewing movies and writing about film for the Tribune for almost 13 years.
And, he found, his education in film was just beginning.
Thank God for videos. When Gena Rowlands came into town for the Sundance Film Festival, Means did a “video marathon” to catch up on what movies she did with husband John Cassavetes. Means plunked on the living room sofa and chewed through films like “Staccato,” “A Child Is Waiting,” “Minnie and Moskowitz,” and “A Woman Under the Influence.”
A short time later, when he had an opportunity to interview her, he had some intelligent questions.
When director John Waters came to Utah, Means plowed through some of his early films like “Mondo Trash” and then got to the later movies like “Hair Spray” in which, Means says, “Waters made a family film by accident.”
He “finally got to see” the classic Ingmar Bergman film “The Seventh Seal” when his wife, Leslie, took some film classes at the University of Utah. “The education of a film critic is ongoing,” Means says.
But Means feels his job is more than just assigning a number of stars to a movie. “I try to be as regular a guy as possible in giving my opinion. Part of the job is steering readers toward good, interesting movies.”
And part of his job is to write about directors and actors who are releasing new films so he can explain what it takes to make a film. “An interview story should be educational as well as entertaining. It should deepen the reader’s understanding of films,” Means says.
He warns that not all bad films should be blamed on the actors, unless “they bankrolled and steamrolled the project.” When interviewing Elizabeth Berkley of “Show Girls,” Means asked her about the movie and she unloaded. “She talked about how different it would have been if she had had her way.”
And, Means says, sometimes publicity surrounding movie stars colors the audience perception of a film. “How hard is it to watch the movie ‘Breaking Up’ without paying attention to the tabloid romance of the two stars, Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Anniston? People cannot separate the movie from the people making it.”
A graduate of the University of Washington in journalism, Means says he was influenced in his career choice by Redford’s film “All the President’s Men.” He learned to write quickly and concisely during a tour at United Press International. Means then worked at the paper in Moscow, Idaho, before coming to Salt Lake City, where he initially worked as the weekend city desk editor.
When the man who had been doing movie reviews got promoted, Means got the film critic job.
He takes the educational aspect of the job seriously. For instance, he says, “People in Utah are fortunate to have the most influential film festival in the United States in their backyard. I wonder if Utahns really take advantage of Sundance.”
This is year 25 for the Sundance labs and workshops, founded by Redford after “he saw the industry coming at teenage boys. Redford wanted to get more voices out there – gays, women, Native Americans, African-Americans,” Means says.
Redford was “out there before anyone else.” The festival was a way of getting the films shown, as was the founding of the Sundance Channel.
It all might have happened in another state if Redford had not made “Jeremiah Johnson” in the mountains east of Utah County and married a woman from Provo, Means says.
The father of two boys – Alexander, almost 7, and Jonathan, almost 4 – Means has a favorite film that is rarely mentioned as Number 1 by other critics. He loves “Casablanca.”
“It’s a spy movie and a war movie and a romance and a comedy,” Means says. “‘Casablanca’ was that week’s studio product coming down the conveyor line until the producers kicked it up a notch. Instead of Ann Southern and Ronald Reagan, they got Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart. They rounded up all the great character actors and gave each one a few minutes in the spotlight. They got to the end of the movie and they didn’t know how to end it. A producer came up with the last line while they were in the editing process.”
The last line, of course, is Bogey as “Rick” saying to Claude Rains, as the suddenly patriotic French police officer: “Louie, I have the feeling this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” Bogey looped the line after filming was done.
