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Sundance Film Festival · 2010

Sundance Film Festival 2010

Premieres

Programme

14 films · 12 reviews

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Abel

Review preview for Abel

There's some late in the day pathos which does pull at the heart strings, but the film falls flat once more with a half-baked open ended conclusion.

James Benefield · 2 out of 5
A peculiar young boy, blurring reality and fantasy, assumes the responsibilities of a family man in his father's absence.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2010; Director: Diego Luna; Writer: Diego Luna and Augusto Mendoza; Stars: Christopher Ruíz-Esparza, Karina Gidi, Gerardo Ruíz-Esparza, José María Yazpik)

Full review

World Premiere

Cane Toads: The Conquest (Cane Toads 3D)

Review preview for Cane Toads: The Conquest

Well-researched and interesting.

Paul Logan · 3 out of 5
In 3D, Mark Lewis explores one of Australia's greatest environmental catastrophes as he follows the unstoppable march of the cane toad across the continent.

(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: Mark Lewis; Writer: Mark Lewis; Stars: Neil Young) , Official site

Full review

World Premiere

The Company Men

Review preview for The Company Men

It's well directed but even if most of the cast weren't phoning it in they would have real difficulty eliciting sympathy.

Andrew Robertson · 2 out of 5
Three corporate executives struggle to come to terms with losing their jobs.

(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: John Wells; Writer: John Wells; Stars: Ben Affleck, Kevin Costner, Maria Bello, Tommy Lee Jones, Craig T. Nelson, Chris Cooper, Rosemarie DeWitt, John Doman, Liam Ferguson, Tonye Patano, Dana Eskelson, Kent Shocknek, Scott Winters, Cady Huffman, Tom Kemp) , Official site

Full review

World Premiere

Cyrus

Review preview for Cyrus

If the plot development lurks on cusp of credibilty, the characters feel genuinely complex and are given a real sense of humanity by Tomei Reilly and Hill.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
A recently divorced guy meets a new woman... and her son.

(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass; Writer: Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass; Stars: John C Reilly, Marisa Tomei, Jonah Hill, Catherine Keener.) , Official site , Trailer

Full review See: Sundance Film Festival 2010: Days Seven and Eight

World Premiere

The Extra Man

Review preview for The Extra Man

So overloaded with oddball characters that it never finds an even keel.

Amber Wilkinson · 2 out of 5
An aspiring author forms an unusual friendship with an oddball older playwright.

(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini; Writer: Robert Pulcini, Jonathan Ames, Shari Springer Berman; Stars: Katie Holmes, John C Reilly, Paul Dano, Kevin Kline, Alicia Goranson, Patti D'Arbanville, Cathy Moriarty, Jason Butler Harner, Marian Seldes, Celia Weston, Alex Burns, Justis Bolding, John Leighton, Rafael Sardina, Kevin Scullin)

Full review

World Premiere

Get Low

Review preview for Get Low

Although this is worth watching purely for Duvall's superb turn, he doesn't want for support.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Heatwarming tale of redemption, partially based on the true story of a hermit who threw his own funeral... while he was still alive.

(Country: US; Year: 2009; Director: Aaron Schneider; Writer: C Gaby Mitchell, Chris Provenzano, based on a story by Aaron Schneider, Scott Seeke; Stars: Bill Murray, Robert Duvall, Lucas Black, Sissy Spacek, Gerald McRaney, Bill Cobbs, Andrea Powell, Shawn Knowles, Tomasz Karolak, Lori Beth Edgeman, Scott Cooper, Blerim Destani, Rebecca Grant, Jade Moser, Steven Stadler)

Full review See: San Sebastian Film Festival: Day Four Diary - Get Low, The Scouting Book For Boys and Mother

US Premiere

It's A Wonderful Afterlife

Review preview for It's A Wonderful Afterlife

The problem is that whatever you find to like in this film you're almost certain to find other aspects of it extremely irritating.

Jennie Kermode · 2 out of 5
A middle class suburban widow would kill to see her daughter married - literally!

(Country: UK; Year: 2010; Director: Gurinder Chadha; Writer: Paul Mayeda Berges, Gurinder Chadha; Stars: Goldy Notay, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Shabana Azmi, Sally Hawkins, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Shaheen Khan, Zoë Wanamaker, Jimi Mistry, Don Warrington) , Official site , Trailer

Full review

Jack Goes Boating

Review preview for Jack Goes Boating

It is as though Glaudini expects character tics to substitute for plot development.

Amber Wilkinson · 2 out of 5
Love and friendship in the life of a limo driver and his pals.

(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: Philip Seymour Hoffman; Writer: Bob Glaudini; Stars: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Ryan, John Ortiz, Daphne Rubin-Vega) , Official site

Full review See: Sundance Film Festival 2010: Day Two (Part Two)

World Premiere

The Killer Inside Me

Review preview for The Killer Inside Me

Required viewing.

Nick Da Costa · 4 out of 5
Deputy Sheriff Lou Ford is a pillar of the community in his small Texan town - patient, polite and well liked... until he starts killing people.

(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: Michael Winterbottom; Writer: John Curran, Michael Winterbottom, based on the novel by Jim Thompson,; Stars: Casey Affleck, Kate Hudson, Jessica Alba, Simon Baker, Elias Koteas) , Official site , Trailer

Full review See: Sundance Film Festival 2010: Day Three

World Premiere

Nowhere Boy

Review preview for Nowhere Boy

There is something a bit bland, a bit kitchen sink, a bit telemovie, about this portrait of the artist as a young man.

Anton Bitel · 3 out of 5
Biopic of John Lennon's younger years.

(Country: UK; Year: 2009; Director: Sam Taylor-Wood; Writer: Matt Greenhalgh, based on the book by Julia Baird; Stars: Aaron Johnson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Anne-Marie Duff, Thomas Brodie Sangster, David Morrissey, David Threlfall, Josh Bolt, Andrew Buchan) , Trailer

Full review

International Premiere

Please Give

Review preview for Please Give

It wouldn't matter so much if Holofcener was seeking to undercut some of this privilege but what the film appears to be saying is that it's okay to be materialistic, as long as you occasionally wring your hands about it first.

Amber Wilkinson · 2 out of 5
Ensemble comedy drama explores the angst of middle-class New Yorkers.

(Country: US; Year: 2009; Director: Nicole Holofcener; Writer: Nicole Holofcener; Stars: Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Rebecca Hall, Catherine Keener, Sarah Steele)

Full review See: Sundance Film Festival 2010: Days Seven and Eight

World Premiere

The Runaways

Review preview for The Runaways

There's a wham, bam, thank you, man, quality to this music biopic that makes it a pleasurable rock rush that's easy on the eye, even if it fails to do much more than skate the surface of the band of its title.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Rock biopic.

(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: Floria Sigismondi; Writer: Floria Sigismondi; Stars: Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning, Scout Taylor-Compton, Michael Shannon, Alia Shawkat, Tatum O'Neal)

Full review

World Premiere

The Shock Doctrine

Examination of the rise of "disaster capitalism" - a doctrine which enables governments and firms to exploit the economies of countries affected by wars, terrorist attacks or natural catastrophes.

(Country: UK; Year: 2009; Director: Mat Whitecross, Michael Winterbottom; Writer: Naomi Klein; Stars: Naomi Klein)

North American Premiere

Twelve

A chronicle of the highs and lows of privileged kids on Manhattan's Upper East Side involving sex, drugs and murder.

(Country: US, France; Year: 2010; Director: Joel Schumacher; Writer: Jordan Melamed, Nick McDonell; Stars: Chace Crawford, Emma Roberts, Kiefer Sutherland, 50 Cent, Zoë Kravitz)

World Premiere