With the 2013 Sundance Film Festival just around the corner, we have a list of the top 10 films set to play at the festival that we can’t wait to see.
The first major film festival of the year, Sundance offers the best of independent cinema, which means there is a lot we’re looking forward to from this year’s list of films. For example, the 2012 Sundance Film Festival brought us Beasts of the Southern Wild, which was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay at this year’s Academy Awards. The Sessions also premiered there, which earned Helen Hunt a Best Supporting Actress nomination. All five Best Documentary Feature nominees played at the festival, as did critically acclaimed films such as Compliance.
The top 10 films premiering at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival which has just started in Park City, Utah, are (alphabetically):
A.C.O.D.
A.C.O.D. stars Adam Scott as a grown man who discovers he was unknowingly a part of a study on divorced children fifteen years after the fact. With a terrific supporting cast including Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jessica Alba, Richard Jenkins, Amy Poehler, Jane Lynch and Clark Duke, the talent alone has us intrigued.
Before Midnight
The sequel to two of the best romance films of the past two decades, Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, Before Midnight has a lot to live up to as it reunites director Richard Linklater with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. If it can live up to its potential and the films that came before it, we’re certainly in for something special.
Don Jon’s Addiction
Joseph Gordon-Levitt wrote and will direct Don Jon’s Addiction in addition to playing the titular character. With co-stars Scarlett Johansson, Brie Larson, Tony Danza and Julianne Moore, the story of a porn-addicted, modern-day Don Juan has us intrigued, if only due to it being Gordon-Levitt’s directorial debut.
The East
The last film co-writer/star Brit Marling and writer/director Zal Batmanglij brought to theaters was last year’s terrific and under-appreciated Sound of My Voice. They return this year with The East, telling the story of a contract worker who infiltrates an anarchist group, only to fall in love with its leader. Marling, Ellen Page, Alexander Skarsgård and others star.
Kill Your Darlings
Daniel Radcliffe, Dane DeHaan, Elizabeth Olsen, Michael C. Hall, Jack Huston, Ben Foster and Jennifer Jason Leigh all star in Kill Your Darlings, the story of Beat poets Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs in 1944. How could we not be excited?
Mud
Jeff Nichols’ last directorial effort, Take Shelter, was met with overwhelmingly positive critical acclaim. His next effort, Mud, debuted at last year’s Cannes Film Festival to positive buzz and stars Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon in the story of two teenagers who form a pact with a fugitive. Every indication on this one is strong.
The Spectacular Now
From Smashed director James Ponsoldt, The Spectacular Now has a terrific cast which includes Shailene Woodley, Miles Teller, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kyle Chandler, Brie Larson, and tells the story of a high school relationship which, as it deepens, begins to blur the lines between right and wrong, friendship and love, and “saving” and corrupting.
Stoker
Oldboy helmer Chan-wook Park brings us Stoker, the story of a girl who comes to live with her unstable mother and uncle after her father dies and becomes increasingly infatuated with the man. Starring Mia Wasikowska, Nicole Kidman and Matthew Goode, all indications are that this should be a terrific horror/drama written by Prison Break star Wentworth Miller.
Upstream Color
Shane Carruth’s debut feature Primer took Sundance by storm in 2004 and it has been nine years since he’s made a film. That ends with his follow-up, Upstream Color, which looks like an absolutely gorgeous, original piece of filmmaking suitable to Carruth’s gifts. With the rest of the Internet, we’re waiting with much anticipation to see just what to expect from the film.
The Way, Way Back
Written and directed by Oscar-winners Nat Foxon and Jim Rash, who penned the screenplay for The Descendants, The Way, Way Back stars Steve Carrell, Sam Rockwell, AnnaSophia Robb, Allison Janney, Amanda Peet and many others. The film tells the story of a teenager who comes into his own over a summer break. With all the talent behind and in front of the camera, we’re expecting big things from this one.
Were there any films scheduled to play this week or next at Sundance that you felt we missed? Which films would you like to see from the festival? Sound off in the comments.