Sandie’s Favorite Sundance 2010 Films and Recap

• Tweet

The 2010 Sundance Film Festival is over and after finally putting up my last reviews, it’s time for one final recap of my very first experience at Sundance.

I kind of expected these 10 days to be good, but I don’t think I realized how good the movies selection turned out to be. I don’t think I saw one single film that I hated, which is quite an achievement. Even better, a few of the films I saw are definite awards contender for this year. That’s how great Sundance is, in only 10 days you get to see more good movies that you would see a whole year at the theater.

And yes it was cold, but it was actually nice to see snow. It had been so long since I actually had had a proper Winter and if you cover up well (which I did), then you’re fine. Public transportation at Sundance is wonderful and you can pretty much get anywhere you want pretty fast, and best of all it’s completely free. You can’t beat that. Plus it was quite relaxing not having to drive everywhere.

But back to the movies even though there wasn’t any movie I hated, as I previously mentioned, there are some films I enjoyed more than others and so I thought I would rank all the film I saw in order of preference. Now I am mixing documentaries with movies, so this is definitely all about my taste, but it should give you a good idea of what’s worth checking out when they get released.

So here is my 2010 Sundance Film Festival ranking:

1) Blue Valentine – Not only the best film I saw at Sundance, but one of the most beautiful movies about a failing relationship that I have ever seen.

2) Nowhere Boy – Beautiful biopic following the life of a young John Lennon, who is played by the brilliant Aaron Johnson.

3) Winter’s Bone – This is such a powerful story of courage and the strength you need to do what is necessary for your family. Winter’s Bone also has amazing performances and will keep you thinking about it for quite some time after watching it.

4) Buried – I have a love/hate relationship with Buried. On the one hand it’s the best movie I have ever seen and on the other it’s the worst. It was such a traumatizing experience, but such an amazing movie with probably the best performance from Ryan Reynolds. A definite must-see.

5) Sympathy For Delicious – This movie surprised me with its original story and great performance by Christopher Thornton.

6) Welcome to the Rileys – Another movie with great performances and a nice story about three broken people who end up sort of saving each other.

7) Splice – Such a messed up story, but really fascinating.

8 ) Teenage Paparazzo – Such an eye-opening documentary, and quite fascinating, which even looks into the psychology behind the behavior people exhibit towards celebrities.

9) Lucky – If you ever wondered what it would feel like to win the lottery, then I suggest you check out this great documentary.

10) The Kids Are All Right – A nice unorthodox family drama, that really entertained me.

11) 3 Backyards – Not the usual film, but more of a day, or rather moment in the life of three characters, but I found it really fascinating.

12) The Romantics – I really enjoyed this movie, it’s mostly about character study and might not appeal to everyone, but I had fun watching it.

13) Enter the Void – This is quite an outrageous movie, but I think I enjoyed it weirdly enough, although I wouldn’t recommend it if you are easily offended.

14) The Freebie – Very simple film created through a lot of improv, which I enjoyed.

15) Twelve – Dark portrayal of teenagers living in Manhattan. It was interesting but kind of depressing.

16) Holy Rollers – A fun and sweet film about a young devout Hasidic who becomes a drug dealer.

17) HIGH School – A stoner movie that goes the extra mile when it decides to have its two main characters get their whole school high. I’ll just let you imagine the rest.

18) Skateland – A coming of age movie that I enjoyed but was a little slow to start.

19) Space Tourists – Have you ever dreamed about going to space? Well now you can for the mere sum of 20 million dollars, and that’s exactly what Anousheh Ansari paid for her ticket to space. Interesting documentary about this new phenomenon, but it was a little slow for my taste.

20) It’s a Wonderful Afterlife – This was quite an out there comedy movie about a mother trying to marry off her daughter before she dies mixed in with stories of murder and ghosts.

21) Douchebag – This was sort of a road trip between two brothers reconnecting, one of whom is a, you guessed it, douchebag. It had some good moments, but the ending felt a little rushed.

22) The Dry Land – A look at the post traumatic stress syndrome a solider faces when he comes back home. Although the movie had good intentions, it just didn’t work for me.

And so after such a wonderful experience, chances are I’ll have to take another trip down to Park City next year. But before I end, I want to leave you with a few videos. First up the four 2010 Sundance bumper videos that were shown preceding each screening (thanks to Film School Rejects), starting with my favorite first. Enjoy and until next Sundance, enjoy a year full of (hopefully) great films.

Pitch

Clean Slate

Either Or

Grow