This past Sunday marked the end of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. I attended the last half of the festival and saw 17 films spanning a wide variety of genres. Here are my thoughts on a few of the films that were the most hyped going into the festival, and a few that definitely deserve a look coming out of the festival:
'The Guard'
""The Guard"" is a delightfully odd amalgamation of ""Hot Fuzz"" and ""In Bruges."" The film plays out as an Irish take on the buddy-cop genre, pairing up Sergeant Boyle of the Irish Garda (Brendan Gleeson) with American FBI agent Wendell Everette (Don Cheadle). The two are trying to stop a shipment of half a billion dollars of cocaine from being smuggled into the country and solve a murder mystery along the way. The script is filled with witty banter and Gleeson and Cheadle deliver top-notch performances. ""The Guard"" is easily one of my favorites of the festival and will likely end up being one of my favorite films of the year.
'The Cinema Hold Up'
""The Cinema Hold Up"" is an engaging realist Mexican neo-noir that follows a group of lower-class teens who decide to rob their local movie theater. The film starts off slowly with meticulous character development, establishing each teen's life, perspective and ultimately the reasons for their actions. The actual heist takes only 20 minutes of a two hour film, making it more about Mexican youth culture than a typical heist film. While the character development was interesting, the film ended up being longer than necessary and could use a re-cut. However, the most significant issue I had with the film was with its subtitles, which frequently disappeared before anyone could possibly finish reading them, were sometimes completely indistinguishable against lighter backgrounds, and were in dire need of a spell check. ""The Cinema Hold Up"" is a film that could find an audience if the right decisions are made to spruce it up.
'Another Earth'
""Another Earth"" stars Brit Marling, one of the breakout stars of the festival who also co-wrote and produced the film, as Rhoda, a science whiz who ends up killing a man's (William Mapother) wife and son in a drunken accident after celebrating her acceptance to MIT on the night a new planet is discovered. Four years later, she is released from prison and the new planet has been discovered to be another Earth—an exact duplicate of our planet. In an attempt to cope with her guilt, Rhoda poses as a cleaning service employee and begins cleaning the home of the man whose family she killed. Slowly they begin a relationship and the film explores themes of loss, regret and forgiveness amidst a clever, low-key sci-fi backdrop. ""Another Earth"" is far more drama than sci-fi, but it finds a combination that works and was awarded both the Alfred P. Sloan Award and a Special Jury Prize—with good reason.
'The Sound of My Voice'
""The Sound of My Voice"" follows a couple who infiltrate a cult in suburban Los Angeles in the hopes of making a documentary exposing the cult's mysterious leader Anna (Brit Marling also in ""Another Earth""), who claims she comes from the future, as a dangerous fraud. It makes use of an interesting chapter structure that writer-director Zal Batmanglij explained was inspired by his tendency to watch movies in segments via Netflix. Considering the shoestring-budget on which it was made, the film is phenomenal. Luckily, the director's brother happens to be a member of Vampire Weekend and composed the score for the movie. The mastery of the script is that the story works equally well whether you buy into Anna's claims that she comes from a future America ravaged by civil war in 2054 or you think she is a malicious con artist. ""The Sound of My Voice"" has the potential to develop a cult following among fans of J. J. Abrams-esque mysteries. Batmanglij and co-writer-producer Brit Marling have already promised to make the film into a trilogy through whatever avenue possible and I for one cannot wait to see the rest of the story.
'Martha Marcy May Marlene'
""Martha Marcy May Marlene"" is a different sort of cult film—far more sinister and disturbing than the intriguing ""The Sound of My Voice."" The film stars Elizabeth Olsen (the previously-unknown younger sister of the famous twins) in a breakout performance that already has some Oscar-buzz-rumblings as Martha, a woman who escapes from a Manson-esque cult in rural upstate New York and struggles to reintegrate into society and reestablish normal human behavior. While under the care of her estranged sister Lucy (Sarah Paulson) and Lucy's husband Martha is haunted by increasingly terrifying flashbacks to her life in the cult. The film is anchored by some terrific performances and by a pervasive sense of dread that simultaneously captivates and unsettles. Quite deservingly, first-time director Sean Durkin picked up the Dramatic Directing Award for the film. ""Martha Marcy May Marlene"" stands as both an intriguing, suspenseful, and horrifying look into the darkness of cult life and the launching pad for Elizabeth Olsen, one of the most impressive acting debuts of the festival.
'The Ledge'
""The Ledge"" is a romantic thriller that begins with a young man (Charlie Hunnam) preparing to kill himself by jumping off the roof of a building to prevent someone he loves from dying, and traces back to what ultimately led him there. Patrick Wilson gives a standout performance as the extreme Christian fundamentalist husband of a woman (Liv Tyler) that Hunnam is trying to seduce both romantically and philosophically. The film ended up feeling schizophrenic—one part dark dramedy and one part ""Phone Booth""-esque thriller. One of the most buzzed about movies leading into the fest, ""The Ledge"" ultimately did not live up to its hype.
