The 2014 Sundance Film Festival, the world’s premier showcase for independent movies, is finally upon us. Running from Jan. 16-26 in the mountains of Park City, Utah, the fest will present 119 feature films representing 37 countries, culled from 4,057 submissions. Many top filmmakers, including Joel and Ethan Coen (Blood Simple, ’85), David O. Russell (Spanking the Monkey, ’94), and Darren Aronofsky (Pi, ’98), have debuted films at Sundance, and in recent years, the fest has premiered standout films like Winter’s Bone, Beasts of the Southern Wild, and last year’s Fruitvale Station. This year’s edition, meanwhile, has plenty to offer. From a Kristen Stewart as a guard at Guantanamo to an eye-opening doc on Mitt Romney, here are the most anticipated movies of Sundance ’14.
Sundance Institute
Acclaimed filmmaker Anton Corbijn (The American) adapted this critique of Bush-era extraordinary rendition from a John le Carré novel of the same name. It centers around German spy Gunther Bachmann (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who’s on the hunt for a suspected Chechen-Russian terrorist on the run in Hamburg. He is eventually confronted with an elaborate plot involving the suspect, a German immigration lawyer (Rachel McAdams), and others, and must resort to his cunning spy tricks to expose the scheme. The film, which will be distributed by Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions in the U.S., also stars Robin Wright, Willem Dafoe, and Daniel Bruhl.
Sundance Institute
In his Before Sunrise trilogy, Richard Linklater has done a masterful job exploring the passage of time with regard to relationships. Now, the filmmaker is focusing on parenting. Boyhood was shot intermittently over a 12-year period and tells the tale of a divorced couple, played by Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette, struggling to raise their young son (Ellar Salmon), and examines the boy’s relationship with his parents as he grows from a 6-year-old first grader to an 18-year-old high school senior.
Boyhood; Sundance Institute
Brendan Gleeson turned in a hilarious performance as a wacky cop opposite Don Cheadle’s FBI straight-laced FBI agent in filmmaker John Michael McDonough’s solid 2011 debut feature, The Guard. For his follow-up, he’s reteamed with Gleeson for a philosophical comedy that tackles Catholicism. Gleeson plays Father James, who one day, is told by a man that he’s going to be killed because he is without sin. Given a week before his murder, Father James sets out to make peace with god, and his troubled family, and also try to narrow down the list of suspects. The film also stars Kelly Reilly (Flight), Chris O’Dowd (Bridesmaids), and Aidan Gillen (Game of Thrones).
Jonathan Hession
For her second film in the post-Twilight era after an impressive turn in On the Road, Kristen Stewart will play a small-town woman who ends up working as a prison guard at Guantanamo Bay. There, she strikes up a friendship with an 8-year-old detainee, and struggles to balance her ethically murky job with her own humanity. The film marks the feature directorial debut of Peter Sattler, who previously served as a graphic artist on films like Walk the Line and Star Trek.
Beth Dubber
Directed by Irish filmmaker Lenny Abrahamson from a screenplay by Peter Straughan (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), this wacky comedy follows Jon (Domhnall Gleeson), a young, wannabe musician whose life gets nutty when he joins a pop band led by the mysterious Frank (Michael Fassbender), a rocker who dons a papier mâché head. So, yes, Michael Fassbender wears a bizarre papier mâché head for most of the film. Intrigued? In addition to Fassbender and the talented up-and-comer Gleeson, the film also stars Maggie Gyllenhaal, Tess Harper, and Scott McNairy.
Lorey Sebastian
Mumblecore maestro Joe Swanberg impressed with last year’s underrated dramedy Drinking Buddies, and for his follow-up, has enlisted a very talented troupe, including Anna Kendrick, Lena Dunham, Melanie Lynskey, and Mark Webber. Jenny (Kendrick) has no place left to turn after breaking up with her boyfriend just before Christmas, so she moves in with her brother, Jeff (Swanberg), and sister-in-law, Kelly (Dunham), but repeatedly clashes with the couple due to her hard-partying ways. Soon, however, Jenny and Kelly reach an understanding, and realize that they can help one another. In other words: Pitch Perfect’s Anna Kendrick and Girls’ Lena Dunham as BFFs? Sign us up.
Ben Richardson
This is bound to be a downer, but should be fascinating nonetheless. Documentarian Amir Bar-Lev (The Tillman Story) returns to Sundance with this doc named after the nickname for State College, the home of Penn State University. It follows the aftermath of former Penn State football assistant coach Jerry Sandusky’s 40 counts of child sex abuse, and includes interviews with various key players in the scandal over the course of a year, as it tries to answer whether or not legendary football coach Joe Paterno and the administration knew about the allegations and turned a blind eye to them.
Asylum Entertainment
Documentary filmmaker Andrew Rossi, whose 2012 film, Page One: Inside the New York Times, caused quite the stir, returns to this year’s festival with Ivory Tower—a doc examining what the purpose is of higher education in America, and whether the it’s worth the staggering price, from years of crippling student loans to a lackluster job market for college grads. The film ponders whether or not traditional means of higher education are the answer.
Andrew Rossi
Filmmaker Gregg Whiteley (New York Doll) was granted unprecedented access to U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney over the course of six years, chronicling the politician’s two failed attempts at being named president of the United States. The film features candid interviews with Romney and his family, as well as his closest family members and confidents, and is said to reveal “the human and often-hidden side of a public figure.”
Netflix
Have you seen Bradley Cooper’s amazing perm in American Hustle? According to director David O. Russell, it was modeled after Dock Ellis—one of the wildest characters in baseball ever, and a symbol of ‘70s excess. Ellis, who was nearly suspended for wearing curlers in his hair all the time, is probably best known as being the Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher who threw a no-hitter while tripping on acid. This film examines that urban legend, and Ellis’s wild-man persona, via interviews with Jackie Robinson, Ron Howard, and others.
Ron Mrowiec
One of the themes of this year’s Sundance is actors playing against type, from Kristen Stewart as a guard at Gitmo to Michael Fassbender as a bizarre rocker donning a papier mache head. In filmmaker Craig Johnson’s The Skeleton Twins, SNL alums—and real-life pals—Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader play Maggie and Milo, two estranged siblings living on different sides of the country who are at the end of their respective ropes. When a crisis in the family occurs, the two are forced to reunite in the small town where they grew up, and come to terms with their troubled relationship.
Reed Morano
Will this film be the one that finally makes recent Golden Globe winner Amy Poehler (of NBC’s Parks and Recreation) cross over into film stardom? Perhaps. Directed by David Wain (Wet Hot American Summer), this romantic comedy sounds like a new spin on You’ve Got Mail. It centers on Joel (Paul Rudd), a corporate executive for a big candy store chain, and Molly (Poehler), the owner of a tiny sweets shop in Manhattan called Upper Sweet Side. After Joel is tasked with shutting Molly’s store down, the two begin to fall for one another—but will work get in the way? The film also stars Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother), Ed Helms, Max Greenfield (New Girl’s Schmidt), and Christopher Meloni.
Sundance Institute
At 76, George Takei has become a cultural icon for his marriage equality activism—he is married, and nine years out of the closet—and a hilarious, viral Internet persona, with a whopping 5.7 million Facebook followers. Jennfer Kroot’s documentary, To Be Takei, traces the former Star Trek star’s journey from his childhood in a Japanese-American internment camp through to the present, getting to the heart of one of America’s most beloved pop cultural icons.
Sundance Institute
Michael Winterbottom’s The Trip, a mockumentary that follows British comedian-pals Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon on a foodie adventure through the British countryside, was a laugh-out-loud orgy of bickering jokes and spot-on impressions (including the best Michael Caine impersonation you’ll ever see). In the sequel to the largely-improvised film, the two embark on a culinary road trip throughout Italy, from Liguria to Capri, while riffing on a variety of topics, from Batman’s voice to movie sequels. Hilarity will no doubt ensue.
Sundance Institute
Yes, another actor playing against type. In The Voices, directed by Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis), Ryan Reynolds plays Jerry, an average Joe who works at a bathtub factory, and lives in a ho-hum apartment with his dog, Bosco, and cat, Mr. Whiskers. During a company retreat, he meets Fiona (Gemma Arterton), an attractive British girl who works in accounting, and is immediately smitten with her. When he goes home to tell his pets about the discovery they, much to his surprise, answer, setting off a very strange series of events. The dark comedy also stars Anna Kendrick and Jacki Weaver.
Reiner Bajo
Documentary filmmakers Shosh Shlam and Hilla Medalia’s latest, Web Junkie, centers on China, which has become one of the first countries in the world to diagnose Internet addiction as a clinical condition. To combat this epidemic, the Chinese government has created a string of bizarre treatment facilities to “cure” at-risk teenagers of their online addictions. The film eventually pulls back to reveal why so many Chinese youths feel more at home in cyberspace than they do in the real world.
Hilla Medalia and Miao Wang
The award for craziest NSFW Sundance film will probably go to Wetlands, judging by the film’s insane synopsis. David Wnendt’s German film centers on Helen, who is described as a “bodily fluid-obsessed teenager” and “living pussy hygiene experiment” who gets her jollies swapping tampons with her best friend, Corinna. After a shaving accident downstairs, she lands in the hospital where she seduces a handsome male nurse, and schemes to reunite her parents. Yowza.
Majestic Film Verleih
I’ve always been a big fan of Gregg Araki’s work, from the wild The Doom Generation to the touching drama Mysterious Skin, a film about child abuse featuring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a gay hustler. His latest film is set in 1988 and centers on Kat (Shailene Woodley), a normal, rebellious, college-bound teen. When her mother disappears, she’s haunted by visions of her, and tries to find out what exactly happened. This coming of age drama features a fun soundtrack, surreal imagery, and also stars Eva Green as Kat’s mother, Christopher Meloni as her father, as well as Shiloh Fernandez, Gabourey Sidibe, and Thomas Jane.
Sandra Valde-Hansen
Joe Berlinger, the Oscar and Peabody-winning documentary filmmaker behind the Paradise Lost trilogy, returns to Sundance with this in-depth doc on infamous Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger, and is said to detail shocking new allegations against the “Robin Hood of South Boston.” Berlinger was granted unprecedented access to retired FBI agents, Massachusetts state police, lawyers, gangsters, prosecutors, and journalist in order to piece together Bulger’s complicated relationship with the FBI, which allegedly allowed him to remain a crime lord for decades.
David Boeri Archives
Filmmaker Zach Braff first came to Sundance in 2004 with his debut feature, Garden State, which went on to become a cult hit. For his sophomore feature, Braff turned to the Internet, and used crowdfunding to get $3.1 million to use towards the project. It centers on Aidan Bloom (Braff), a struggling actor, father, and husband, who is having a mid-life crisis at the age of 35. The film, which will surely feature a nice soundtrack, also stars Kate Hudson, Mandy Patinkin, Joey King, Jim Parsons, Josh Gad, Ashley Greene, and his Scrubs pal Donald Faison.
Lawrence Sher
