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Sundance Film Festival · 2013

Sundance Film Festival 2013

US Dramatic Competition

The world premieres of 16 American narrative feature films.

Programme

16 films · 10 reviews

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Ain't Them Bodies Saints

Review preview for Ain't Them Bodies Saints

Lowery's nostalgia works because it is so sincere and does not question America's fascination with Bonnie and Clyde as an excuse for bad deeds.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4.5 out of 5
Love story about an escaped outlaw and the wife who waits for him.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: David Lowery; Writer: David Lowery; Stars: Rooney Mara, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Keith Carradine, Nate Parker, Charles Baker, Heather Kafka, Kentucker Audley, Robert Longstreet)

Full review See: David Lowery interview about Ain't Them Bodies Saints , Sundance 2013: Capsule reviews of Ain't Them Bodies Saints, The East and Stoker

World premiere

Afternoon Delight

Review preview for Afternoon Delight

Soloway has crafted a well-observed script, too coarse and cruel to be dismissed as frothy romcom.

Anton Bitel · 3.5 out of 5
A lost LA housewife puts her idyllic hipster life in jeopardy when she tries to rescue a stripper by taking her in as a live-in nanny.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Jill Soloway; Writer: Jill Soloway; Stars: Kathryn Hahn, Juno Temple, Josh Radnor, Jane Lynch, Jessica St Clair)

Full review

World premiere

Austenland

Review preview for Austenland

This is a warm-hearted pleasure for comedy romance lovers - Austen readers or not - everywhere.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
A Pride & Prejudice obsessive goes on a kill or cure Austen-themed holiday.

(Country: UK, US; Year: 2013; Director: Jerusha Hess; Writer: Jerusha Hess, based on the novel by Shannon Hale; Stars: Keri Russell, JJ Feild, Bret McKenzie, Jennifer Coolidge, Georgia King, James Callis)

Full review

World premiere

C.O.G.

Review preview for C.O.G.

Despite Alvarez's good work with his actors, the oil of Sedaris's satirical characters and water of Alvarez's indie sensibilities refuse to mix.

Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
A student takes time out in Oregon and learns some life lessons.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Kyle Patrick Alvarez; Writer: Kyle Patrick Alvarez; Stars: Jonathan Groff, Denis O'Hare, Corey Stoll, Dean Stockwell, Casey Wilson, Troian Bellisario)

Full review

World premiere

Concussion

Review preview for Concussion

A brilliant central performance from Robin Weigert.

David Graham · 3.5 out of 5
A frustrated woman secretly becomes a lesbian escort.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Stacie Passon; Writer: Stacie Passon; Stars: Robin Weigert, Maggie Siff, Johnathan Tchaikovsky, Julie Fain Lawrence, Emily Kinney, Laila Robins)

Full review

World premiere

Emanuel And The Truth About Fishes

Emanuel, a troubled girl, becomes preoccupied with her mysterious, new neighbour, who bears a striking resemblance to her dead mother. In offering to babysit her newborn, Emanuel unwittingly enters a fragile, fictional world, of which she becomes the gatekeeper.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Francesca Gregorini; Writer: Francesca Gregorini; Stars: Kaya Scodelario, Jessica Biel, Alfred Molina, Frances O'Connor, Jimmi Simpson, Aneurin Barnard)

World premiere

Fruitvale

The true story of Oscar, a 22-year-old San Francisco Bay Area resident who crosses paths with friends, enemies, family and strangers on the last day of 2008.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Ryan Coogler; Writer: Ryan Coogler; Stars: Michael B Jordan, Octavia Spencer, Melonie Diaz, Ahna O'Reilly, Kevin Durand, Chad Michael Murray)

World premiere

In A World...

Review preview for In A World...

Despite the idiosyncratic characters, smart insider observations and interesting setting there are also too many laugh moments relying on off-the-shelf stereotypes.

Owen Van Spall · 2.5 out of 5
An underachieving vocal coach is motivated by her father, the king of movie-trailer voice overs, to pursue her aspirations of becoming a voice-over star.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Lake Bell; Writer: Lake Bell; Stars: Lake Bell, Demetri Martin, Rob Corddry, Michaela Watkins, Ken Marino, Fred Melamed)

Full review

World premiere

Kill Your Darlings

Review preview for Kill Your Darlings

Krikodas should be wary of letting his style run rampant over material that could have been both resonant and disturbing given some restraint.

David Graham · 2.5 out of 5
A murder brings together the young writers of the beat generation.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: John Krokidas; Writer: Austin Bunn, John Krokidas; Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Dane DeHann, Ben Foster, Michael C Hall, Jack Huston, Elizabeth Olsen)

Full review

World premiere

The Kings Of Summer (Toy's House)

Review preview for The Kings Of Summer

A sweet and relatable film with an evocative setting, ultimately very hard to dislike.

Owen Van Spall · 3 out of 5
Three teenagers decide to build a fort and live wild.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts; Writer: Chris Galletta; Stars: Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso, Moises Arias, Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally, Alison Brie)

Full review

World premiere

May In The Summer

A bride-to-be is forced to reevaluate her life when she reunites with her family in Jordan and finds herself confronted with the aftermath of her parents’ divorce.

(Country: US, Qatar, Jordan; Year: 2013; Director: Cherien Dabis; Writer: Cherien Dabis; Stars: Cherien Dabis, Hiam Abbass, Bill Pullman, Alia Shawkat, Nadine Malouf, Alexander Siddig)

World premiere. Day one film

Mother Of George

Review preview for Mother Of George

The joy is in the detail of Dosunmu's film, the nuance of a relationship as richly complex as the African print dresses that Adenike favours.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A husband and wife find their marraige threatened by an inability to conceive.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Andrew Dosunmu; Writer: Darci Picoult; Stars: Isaach De Bankolé, Danai Gurira, Anthony Okungbowa, Yaya Alafia, Bukky Ajayi)

Full review

World premiere

The Spectacular Now

Sutter is a high school senior who lives for the moment; Aimee is the introvert he attempts to "save." As their relationship deepens, the lines between right and wrong, friendship and love, and "saving" and corrupting become inextricably blurred.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: James Ponsoldt; Writer: Scott Neustadter, Michael H Weber; Stars: Miles Teller, Shailene Woodley, Brie Larson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kyle Chandler)

See: Sundance Film Festival 2013: Austenland, Look Of Love premiere and The Spectacular Now

World premiere

The Lifeguard

A former valedictorian quits her reporter job in New York and returns to the place she last felt happy: her childhood home in Connecticut. She gets work as a lifeguard and starts a dangerous relationship with a troubled teenager.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Liz W Garcia; Writer: Liz W Garcia; Stars: Kristen Bell, Mamie Gummer, Martin Starr, Alex Shaffer, Amy Madigan, David Lambert)

World premiere

Touchy Feely

A massage therapist is unable to do her job when stricken with a mysterious and sudden aversion to bodily contact. Meanwhile, her uptight brother's foundering dental practice receives new life when clients seek out his “healing touch”.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Lynn Shelton; Writer: Lynn Shelton; Stars: Rosemarie DeWitt, Allison Janney, Ron Livingston, Scoot McNairy, Elliot Page, Josh Pais)

World premiere

Upstream Color (Upstream Colour)

Review preview for Upstream Color

The subject of understanding and mystery prove a sticking point, with the film remaining so wilfully opaque that it is more frustrating than rewarding by the end credits.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
A man and woman are drawn together as they try to reassemble their wrecked lives.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Shane Carruth; Writer: Shane Carruth; Stars: Amy Seimetz, Shane Carruth, Andrew Sensenig, Thiago Martins)

Full review See: New Directors/New Films preview

World premiere