Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Sundance 2014 Summary

Sundance is over! Long live Sundance!

It was my 15th festival, and ranks highly for me as one of the best.  Was the program stronger than it ever has been, or am I continuing to get better at guessing and selecting which movies I'll like the best? Either way, a great year all around.

I set out with the same goal I've had the past few years: to see 50 films.  I'm not an accredited member of the press or the industry, as it were.  But maybe one day, the latter. 

Final stats:

Total films seen: 52
Total docs seen: 13 (25% of total)
   
Here's how I'd categorize my films.  It's sort of shocking to me that I really didn't see anything I hated.  Some were "fair" and these are ones I wouldn't recommend but still had a redeeming quality or two.

Excellent

Life Itself
Whiplash
The Overnighters
Land Ho!
Love is Strange

Very good

The Green Prince
Obvious Child
Calvary
Boyhood
War Story
Blind
Happy Christmas
Wetlands
The Skeleton Twins
Stranger by the Lake
Frank
Dear White People
What We Do in the Shadows
Nymphomaniac Part 1
The Babadook
Captivated
Listen Up Philip
Kumiko the Treasure Hunter
They Came Together

Good

The Guest
God Help the Girl
The Foxy Merkins
Ping Pong Summer
Doc Shorts 1
Alive Inside: Music and Memory
The One I Love
Infinitely Polar Bear
Laggies
The Case Against 8
To Kill a Man
Drunktown's Finest
To Be Takei
Happy Valley
Cooties
Life After Beth
The Locksmith
Hellion
Rudderless
Appropriate Behavior

Fair:

20,000 Days on Earth
I Origins
Dinosaur 13
Fed Up
My Prairie Home
Mr. Leos CaraX
Hits
God's Pocket


Poor:

Nothing!

And now, a few photos from my adventures.










Also, here are my SXSW predictions for what'll double dip:

I think all of these would play really well at SXSW.

Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter
God Help the Girl
To Be Takei
The Guest
Cooties
Under the Electric Sky
Land Ho!
Ping Pong Summer
Boyhood
Frank
Hellion
I, Origins
The One I Love
The Raid 2
The Voices
White Bird in a Blizzard
Alive Inside: A Story of Music and Memory
The Internet's Own Boy
20,000 Days on Earth
Love Child
Web Junkie

And sadly, here is what I missed but really want to see ASAP, based on positive buzz:

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night
The Voices
Rich Hill
No No: A Dockumentary
Cold in July
Fishing Without Nets
Low Down

Til next year!

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