Sundance Film Festival · 2005
This section is dedicated to celebrating independent filmmakers out of competition. Featuring 24 out-of-competition films, this was not a vintage year for films that would go on to multiplex success. More notable films from the 2005 festival included Layer Cake, The Jacket and the - cruelly overlooked by British distributors - Lackawanna Blues.
24 films · 15 reviews
Mysteries lend the romance an irrational trajectory.
(Country: South Korea, Japan; Year: 2004; Director: Kim Ki-duk; Writer: Kim Ki-duk; Stars: Lee Seung-yeon, Hyun-kyoon Lee, Kwon Kyuk-ho, Ju Jin-mo, Choi Jeong-ho, Lee Mi-suk, Moon Sung-hyuk)
(Country: US; Year: 2005; Director: Rebecca Miller; Writer: Rebecca Miller; Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Catherine Keener, Camilla Belle, Beau Bridges, Jason Lee, Ryan McDonald, Paul Dano, Jena Malone)
(Country: US; Year: 2005; Director: Arie Posin; Writer: Arie Posin, Zac Stanford; Stars: Jamie Bell, Camilla Belle, Justin Chatwin, Glenn Close, Kathi Copeland, Rory Culkin, Thomas Curtis, Tim DeKay, David Ellison, William Fichtner, Ralph Fiennes)
As an example of pretentious filmmaking, Dear Wendy scores high marks.
(Country: Denmark/France/Germany/UK; Year: 2005; Director: Thomas Vinterberg; Writer: Lars Von Trier; Stars: Jamie Bell, Bill Pullman, Mark Webber, Michael Angarano, Danso Gordon, Novella Nelson, Chris Owen, Alison Pill)
(Country: South Africa; Year: 2004; Director: Zola Maseko; Writer: Jason Filardi; Stars: Taye Diggs, Jason Flemyng, Gabriel Mann, Tumisho Masha, Moshidi Motshegwa, Tanya Baleson)
(Country: US; Year: 2005; Director: Michael Hoffman; Writer: Don DeLillo; Stars: Michael Keaton, Robert Downey Jr., Ari Graynor, Bebe Neuwirth, Griffin Dunne, Shalom Harlow, Nadia Dajani, Harris Yulin, Roger Rees, Tom Aldredge, Lillias White)
A depressingly banal story.
(Country: US; Year: 2004; Director: Hal Hartley; Writer: Hal Hartley; Stars: Bill Sage, Sabrina Lloyd, Tatiana Abracos, Leo Fitzpatrick, D.J. Mendel, James Urbaniak, Juliana Francis)
Roos, as a writer, has a flair for comedy, but he could do with someone else on board as director to rein him in.
(Country: US; Year: 2005; Director: Don Roos; Writer: Don Roos; Stars: Lisa Kudrow, Tom Arnold, Steve Coogan, Jesse Bradford, Bobby Cannavale, Laura Dern, Jason Litter, David Sutcliffe, Sarah Clarke, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Edward Furlong, Ray Liotta)
(Country: US; Year: 2005; Director: Chris Terrio; Writer: Amy Fox, Amy Fox, Chris Terrio; Stars: Chandler Williams, Bess Wohl, Glenn Close, Elizabeth Banks, James Marsden, Jesse Bradford, Daniel Neiden, Thomas Lennon, Matthew Davis, John Light, Isabella Rossellini)
Full of fascinating revelations.
(Country: US; Year: 2005; Director: Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato; Writer: Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato; Stars: Dennis Hopper, Helen Gurley Brown, Wes Craven, Gerard Damiano, Larry Flynt, Hugh Hefner, Xaviera Hollander, Erica Jong, Norman Mailer, Camille Paglia, Gore Vidal, Dr Ruth Westheimer )
The performances are flawless, the story laced with black humour.
(Country: UK/Ireland; Year: 2004; Director: Damien O'Donnell; Writer: Jeffrey Caine; Stars: James McAvoy, Steven Robertson, Romola Garai, Brenda Fricker, Gerald McSorley, Tom Hickey)
Brody's concentrated performance, as a man who may, or may not, be going out of his mind, creates a tense, claustrophobic atmosphere that pervades the film.
(Country: US/UK; Year: 2005; Director: John Maybury; Writer: Massy Tadjein, based on a story by Tom Beecker and Marc Rocco; Stars: Adrien Brody, Keira Knightley, Daniel Craig, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kris Kristofferson, Kelly Lynch, Brad Renfro, Steven Mackintosh, Fish, Jason Lewis, Jonah Lotan)
Geared simply, straightforwardly and, above all, honestly to providing absolute entertainment.
(Country: China/Hong Kong; Year: 2004; Director: Stephen Chow; Writer: Tsang Kan Cheong, Stephen Chow, Xin Huo, Chan Man Keung; Stars: Stephen Chow, Wah Yuen, Qiu Yuen, Kwok Kuen Chan, Siu Lung Leung, Chi Chung Lam)
You'll soon forget the blues - this colour palette is as vibrant as the personalities.
(Country: US; Year: 2005; Director: George C Wolfe; Writer: George C Wolfe, based on a play by Ruben Santiago-Hudson; Stars: S Epatha Merkerson, Jimmy Smits, Carmen Ejogo, Marcus Carl Franklin, Mos Def, Louis Gossett Jnr, Macy Gray, Hill Harper, Terrence Dashon Howard, Ernie Hudson, Delroy Lindo, Rosie Perez, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Live Schreiber, Henry Simmons, Patricia Wettig)
The latest piece of gangland roughage is suitably violent, with a who-gives-a-monkeys attitude.
(Country: UK; Year: 2004; Director: Matthew Vaughn; Writer: J J Connolly, based on the novel by J J Connolly; Stars: Daniel Craig, Kenneth Cranham, Colm Meaney, Jamie Foreman, Michael Gambon, Dexter Fletcher, Burn Gorman, Tom Hardy, Tamer Hassan, Sally Hawkins, Darren Healy, Nathalie Lunghi, Sienna Miller, Peter Rvic)
(Country: US; Year: 2005; Director: Kevin Bacon; Writer: Hannah Shakespeare, Victoria Redel; Stars: Kyra Sedgwick, Dominic Scott Kay, Kevin Bacon, Blair Brown, Matt Dillon, Oliver Platt, Campbell Scott, Marisa Tomei, Sosie Bacon, Travis Bacon, John Lafayette)
What should be a romantic mush cake, with lemon icing and a cherry on top, is treacle pud, with hot fudge and molasses.
(Country: US; Year: 2005; Director: Randall Miller; Writer: Randall Miller, Jody Savin; Stars: Robert Carlyle, Marisa Tomei, John Goodman, Mary Steenburgen, David Paymer, Donny Wahlberg, Danny DeVito, Sean Astin, Adam Arkin, Sonia Braga, Ernie Hudson, Elden Henson)
It is hard not to be entertained.
(Country: US/Germany/Ireland; Year: 2005; Director: Richard Shepard; Writer: Richard Shepard; Stars: Pierce Brosnan, Greg Kinnear, Hope Davis, Adam Scott, Portia Dawson, Philip Baker Hall, Dylan Baker, Claudia Lobo, Arturo Echeverria, William Raymond, Guillermo Capetillo, Federico Pizarro)
McKean's vision has a truly dreamlike quality.
(Country: UK; Year: 2005; Director: Dave McKean; Writer: Neil Gaiman, based on a story by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean; Stars: Stephanie Leonidas, Gina McKee, Rob Brydon, Jason Barry, Stephen Fry, Dora Bryan, Robert Llewellyn, Andy Hamilton)
(Country: USA, Netherlands; Year: 2004; Director: Gregg Araki; Writer: Scott Heim, Gregg Araki; Stars: Chase Ellison, George Webster, Rachael Nastassja Kraft, Lisa Long, Chris Mulkey, Elisabeth Shue, David Lee Smith, Bill Sage, Riley McGuire, Ryan Stenzel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt)
(Country: US; Year: 2005; Director: Rodrigo García; Writer: Rodrigo García; Stars: Elpidia Carrillo, Aomawa Baker, Miguel Sandoval, Mary Pat Dowhy, Andy Umberger, K Callan, Chelsea Rendon, Robin Wright Penn, Jason Isaacs, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Lisa Gay Hamilton)
(Country: US, Germany; Year: 2005; Director: Andy Fickman; Writer: Kevin Murphy, Dan Studney,; Stars: Kristen Bell, Christian Campbell, Neve Campbell, Alan Cumming, Ana Gasteyer, John Kassir, Amy Spanger, Robert Torti, Steven Weber, Kevin McNulty, Stephen J.M. Sisk)
(Country: Germany; Year: 2005; Director: Hans W Geissendörfer; Writer: Hans W Geissendörfer, Elisabeth Rynell; Stars: Thomas Kretschmann, Julia Jentsch, Maria Schrader, Ulrich Mühe, Oliver Stokowski, Beate Abraham, Brigitte Annessy, Martin Feifel, Joachim Król, Susanne Lothar, Alexander Sandberg)
Acting of this calibre can change the world, if only for a moment.
(Country: US, Germany, UK; Year: 2005; Director: Mike Binder; Writer: Mike Binder; Stars: Joan Allen, Kevin Costner, Erika Christensen, Keri Russell, Alicia Witt, Evan Rachel Wood, Mike Binder, Tom Harper, Dane Christensen, Danny Webb, Magdalena Manville)
59th New York Film Festival early bird highlights Futura, Jane By Charlotte, James Baldwin: From Another Place and The Velvet Underground
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