Sundance Film Festival ’09: Top Ten Films to Watch

By Norm Schrager at January 15, 2009 | 11:13 pm | Print

Most of you aren’t at Sundance. Hey, neither are we. But we’re all ardent fans of independent film, and we have opinions and buzz to spare. So here’s my Top Ten from the Dramatic and Documentary competitions — five from each. If you liked our 2008 list (go back and see how right we were!), we hope you’ll dig this one too.

Sundance 2009 Top Ten to Watch
(no particular order)

DRAMATIC COMPETITION

:: Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
Looks like John Krasinski is more than just “Jim” on The Office; he also directs and co-stars in this adaptation of the novel stories by the late, brilliant David Foster Wallace. Julianne Nicholson plays a jilted lover trying to figure out what the hell is up with us guys — that would include Krasinski, Bobby Cannavale and Timothy Hutton. Sounds like a dark comedy, reminiscent of Neil Labute’s The Shape of Things.

:: Adam
The Sundance committee fell for Max Mayer’s unique take on the boy-meets-girl twentysomething tale. Here, the girl’s an attractive brainiac, and the boy is unable to avoid social awkwardness — but they just might work. Stars Hugh Dancy and Rose Byrne.

:: Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
Precious sounds like she has a miserable life. She’s an illterate, overweight high schooler who’s pregnant with her dad’s kid (again) and abused by her mom. But don’t expect a depressing character study. Director Lee Daniels and screenwriter Damien Paul take an unexpectedly hopeful route instead…

:: Humpday
Some of the Mumblecore crew are representin’ at Sundance — in a painfully odd way. Joshua Leonard and Baghead co-director Mark Duplass star as old buddies who reconnect and decide to enter an amateur porn contest. Together. Having sex. Do they or don’t they, and what does it all mean? Directed by 2009 Indie Spirit Award nominee Lynn Shelton (nominated for My Effortless Brilliance).

:: The Greatest
Here’s another one festival brass is beaming about: First-time director Shana Feste locks down an impressive cast to examine the brutal crumbling of a family after a teenage son is killed in a car accident. Stars Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon.   

DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

:: Crude
After spending an enormous amount of time with Metallica for the exhilarating Some Kind of Monster, director Joe Berlinger (without Bruce Sinofsky) took three years to follow an epic court battle between 30,000 indigenous Ecuadorans and Chevron. Between them are lawyers, scientists, politicians, activists and about 18 billion gallons of dumped oil waste.

:: We Live In Public
Ondi Timoner, who peeked inside the music business with DiG! hits the underground art world — literally. In late 1999, a guy named Josh Harris organized an avant-garde experiment with 100 artists living beneath the streets under constant surveillance. Everything — everything — was visible. When the community got busted, Harris set up cameras in his own home. Let’s just say not everything went well. Timoner chronicled Harris’ trials and tribulations for a decade.

:: Art & Copy
Know why advertising is so persuasive, pervasive… annoying? All the creative minds in Doug Pray’s new documentary do. They developed them. Pray’s last film was Surfwise, one of the most acclaimed films of last year.

:: The Cove
There’s some serious buzz for Louie Psihoyos’ look at an activist group’s efforts to expose an isolated area in Japan where dolphins are being captured — and where photography is completely banned.

:: Good Hair
Why would a little black girl complain that she doesn’t have “good hair”? When that little girl is Chris Rock’s daughter, you and I are likely to find out. Rock co-wrote this star-filled dive into the culture and perception of African-American hair and the commerce behind it. Directed by stand-up comic and Da Ali G Show writer Jeff Stilson.

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