Sundance Goes Kinky with "Downloading Nancy" and "Towelhead"

Film festivals like Sundance always attract some offbeat, kinky entries, and the buzz at this year's Sundance Festival is about "Downloading Nancy," starring actress Mario Bello as Nancy, an unhappily married woman with a tendency to cut herself with razor blades.

Apparently Nancy is so miserable she meets someone online and hires him to sexually abuse her, then kill her. Reports from Sundance have been that audience members have been squirming during the movie, or walking out, or both. A review I read makes "Downloading Nancy" sound excruciating to watch, and compares the movie to "Towelhead," another entry in this year's Sundance Kinkfest. In "Towelhead," Bill Pullman plays a character who twice has sex with a 13-year-old girl (played by a young-looking 18 year old).

And what do you know, Maria Bello is in "Towelhead," too! (The movie was formerly called "Nothing is Private.")

Kinkiness aside, the reviews seem to indicate that these are just not good films.

I have to wonder why established actors get involved in such projects. Bill Pullman has been in many good movies and is well known. Mario Bello is an actress I've liked since she played a doctor on "E.R." in the late 1990s, and she was good in 2005's "A History of Violence."

Maybe actors figure they can stretch their talents in offbeat, low-budget projects, which I can totally understand, but cutting yourself with razor blades? From the reviews I've read, it seems "Downloading Nancy" will be seen by few people... and that may well be a good thing.