Ant Timpson { Filmhead }
Posted by Ant on 30 January 2010 at 15:33
SUNDANCE GRADES
In the delirium that is the Sundance Film Festival these are my hurried ratings for the films I saw. Overall the hit miss ratio seemed much better than some other international festivals of recent times. There was a concerted effort this for Sundance to reclaim the 'Rebel' spirit of its early years. This directive was driven into the audience by some expensive promos (with the tag Rebel) made by some corporate (but hip indie) ad agency. Though there were the usual star-studded preems, Sundance did in fact seem to programme quite a lot of independent material. Well as much as you can call independent these days.
They even dedicated an entire new segment called NEXT which housed under $500k features. Though many times the most common word heard from people after seeing these films was NEXT! What was missing was some high energy gonzo type indie feature that comes from nowhere and appears to be rewriting contemporary cinema. All the films, even the low fi indies seem to adhere to many well thought out tropes of success. Very few films took major risks. All had a commercial vision no matter how loopy their premise. This meant for enjoyable experience overall as there were less stinkers than expected, however the downside is being knocked out by something so left of centre. For all the hate bestowed on Gasper Noe's Enter The Void (and there was a shitload thrown at it) you have to admire the film simply for the films utter lack of any commercial prospects. Latest update on that is that it will get cut by 20-40m for US Release.
Ratings are in context of the festival itself. meaning an [A+] in the festival might only be a [B-] in terms of the last 5yrs. I guess that means an [F] would be a Z.
[A+] Un Prophet, Blue Valentine, Catfish, Exit through the Gift Shop
[A-] Cyrus, Restrepo, 12& Delaware
[B+] Winters Bone, The Oath, Sins of my Father, Four Lions, Animal Kingdom, Howl,
[B-] 7 Days, Splice, Tucker & Dale Versus Evil,
[C] Lucky, Holy Rollers, Teenage Paparazzo, His and Hers, Lovers of Hate, Douchebag, High School
[D] Sympathy for Mr Delicious, 3 Backyards, Hesher
[F] The Violent Kind
[*] Enter the Void
* Either the best or the worst. Still undecided.
