Sundance 09. Index.

By David Hudson on 02/01/2009

So what I've done here should be fairly obvious, but just in case: All titles link to the appropriate page in the Sundance Film Festival guide; films that already have entries here at the Daily are marked as you'd expect; I've tried to find at least a little something on all the others; and the lineup's divided into the festival's sections and listed alphabetically.

US Documentary Competition

"Art & Copy" (Daily).

"What separates Dana and Hart Perry's intensely personal and deeply moving 'Boy Interrupted' from more traditional depictions of parental loss is the overwhelming sense of inevitability that haunts the film; from the first frame, you feel as though you know what is coming, and as with the Perry family themselves, that knowledge does nothing to soften the blow when it arrives." Tom Hall. More from Scott Foundas (LA Weekly) and Eric Kohn (indieWIRE). Online viewing: Sundance Channel.

"Crude" (Daily).

"Dirt! The Movie" "isn't going to win converts with its artistry," writes Daniel Fienberg at Hitfix, "though a few animated sequences feature a cute and expressive dirt blob, but it has a clear thesis which it pursues with clarity. At the very least, and this shouldn't be considered an insult, 'Dirt! The Movie' should provide teachable moments for high school and college classrooms for years to come. There's nothing wrong with that." Interviews: Filmmaker, indieWIRE and the Sundance Channel.

"El General" - Director Natalia Almada answers Filmmaker's query as to how the story was "shaped by the social, technological and economic forces affecting cinema today."

"Good Hair" (Daily).

"'Over the Hills and Far Away' is the story of Rowan Isaacson, a four year old boy with pronounced autism, and his father Rupert and mother Kristin, two amazing parents living in Texas who will literally travel to the ends of the earth in the quest to ease the suffering of their family," writes Tom Hall. "What might have been a glorified story of the failures of western medicine and the condescending construction of an exotic, alluring eastern tradition is, in the hands of director Michael Orion Scott, one of the most engaging, hopeful documentaries I have ever seen." More from Robert Davis (Paste), Peter Debruge (Variety) and IndieWIRE.

"'The Reckoning' looks inside the International Criminal Court and its efforts to prosecute those who commit crimes against humanity, showing the challenges of uniting the world community to act, even on mass murder," writes David D'Arcy for Screen. More from Dennis Harvey (Variety). Interviews with director Pamela Yates: Filmmaker and IndieWIRE.

"This curious documentary is operating on multiple levels in a way that few films do, with the heartbreaking stories and lead character on one level, the various tragedies they all represent on another level, and superseding it all the very idea of journalism, the role of the reporter in advocacy, and humanity's ability to care and to act," writes Mark Elijah Rosenberg at Flavorwire. "'Reporter' follows [New York Times columnist Nicholas D] Kristof through many of the most dangerous and devastated places in the world: Darfur, the Congo, Afghanistan, and more.... Kristof is the central character of the film, the moral force in these various tragedies, but the real focus of the film is his intellectual struggle to make journalism matter." More from Robert Davis (Paste), Peter Debruge (SpoutBlog), Eric Kohn (indieWIRE), Rob Nelson (Variety) and the Sundance Channel.

"The September Issue" (Daily).

"'Sergio' is two movies, one that you expect and one that you don't, and that potent combination makes this a documentary of exceptional power," writes Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times. "[D]ue to play on HBO later this year, 'Sergio' is in part a look back at the career of the United Nations' Sergio Vieira de Mello, the intensely charismatic master diplomat considered by director Greg Barker as 'the most important guy you've never heard of.'" More from Charlie (Cinema Strikes Back). Interviews: indieWIRE and the Sundance Channel.

"Liz Garbus's 'Shouting Fire' highlights recent First Amendment cases while conveying the diverse sweep of our nation's free-speech battles - which have only ratcheted up amid a Bush-era 'New McCarthyism' valuing security above civil liberties." Dennis Harvey in Variety: "A fine example of education that's entertaining, docu is tentatively slated for July HBO broadcast." More from Kelley West (Cinema Blend). Interviews: FilmCatcher and the Sundance Channel.

"We Live in Public" (Daily).

"The Lizard King is a bummer in 'When You're Strange,' Tom DiCillo's disastrously inane documentary ode to reptilian rocker Jim Morrison and his mellower bandmates in the Doors," writes Rob Nelson in Variety. Adds Scott Weinberg at Cinematical: "Informationally speaking, there's next to nothing here that a loyal Doors fan doesn't already know, which in a way makes When You're Strange come off as little more than a glorified DVD supplement." But for David D'Arcy, writing in Screen: "esides its archival richness, the strength of DiCillo's documentary is that it is genuinely cinematic, a visual journey." Interviews: Kevin Kelly (SpoutBlog) and <Kim Masters (Sundance Channel).

"William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe" (Daily).

US Dramatic Competition

"Adam" (Daily).

"Amreeka" (Daily).

"John Hindman's debut feature 'Arlen Faber' boasts a potentially interesting screwball premise in a star self-help author (Jeff Daniels) who, behind the veneer, is a social maladroit and emotional wreck incapable of sustained human interaction," writes Patrick Z McGavin in Screen. "But the film's exaggerated tone and sledgehammer style veers awkwardly between social satire and the comedy of cruelty. 'Arlen Faber' feels far closer to television situation comedy, with writer-director Hindman's greatest facility appearing to be one-liners." More from Duane Byrge (Hollywood Reporter), Justin Chang (Variety), Daniel Fienberg (Hitfix), Ryan Kearney (Sundance Channel) and Steve West (Cinema Blend). Interviews: Filmmaker, indieWIRE and the Sundance Channel.

"Big Fan" (Daily).

"Brief Interviews with Hideous Men" (Daily).

"Cold Souls" (Daily).

"Dare" (Daily).

"Don't Let Me Drown" (Daily).

"The Greatest" (Daily).

"Humpday" (Daily).

"Paper Heart" (Daily).

"Working from his 2002 play, Jay DiPietro takes on the pitfalls of the modern relationship through an attractive - if combustible and highly tentative - young couple, played by Jess Weixler and Jason Ritter," writes Patrick Z McGavin, reviewing "Peter and Vandy" for Screen. "While he works strenuously to open up the material, using jump cuts, nonlinear storytelling and recovered memories, the cumulative effect is distancing and DiPietro's elliptical storytelling leaves the characters at a constant remove." More from Erik Davis (Cinematical) and Stephen Farber (Hollywood Reporter). Interviews with DiPietro: Filmmaker and indieWIRE.

"Push" (Daily).

"Sin Nombre" (Daily).

"Taking Chance" (Daily).

"So much going on in DC prep school drama 'Toe to Toe'!" exclaims Alison Willmore next door. "Writer/director Emily Abt approaches her economically and racially diverse setting with a well-meaning anthropological thoroughness that seems to have included finding a way to work in every note she took when looking around, and it completely overwhelms her story - the course of the friendship that's supposedly central to the film is more an afterthought to dramatic tangents." More from Duane Byrge (Hollywood Reporter), Justin Chang (Variety) and Charlie (Cinema Strikes Back). Interview: IndieWIRE.

"Was everyone just waiting for Obama to take office?" asks Gregg Goldstein at Movie City News. "Amidst a post-inauguration flurry of deals, Lionsgate nabbed North American and UK rights to James Strouse's dramedy 'The Winning Season.'" Reviews: Ty Burr (Boston Globe), Justin Chang (Variety, Peter Debruge (SpoutBlog) and Tim Grierson (Screen).

World Cinema Documentary Competition

"'211: Anna,' a documentary by Italian directors Paolo Serbandini and Giovanna Massimetti, has an interesting subject but unfortunately fails to shed much new light on the life and death of its subject, murdered Russian political journalist Anna Politkovskaya," writes Kim Voynar at Movie City News. More from Robert Davis (Paste), Rob Nelson (Variety) and Michelle Orange (the Rumpus).

"Afghan Star" "takes us somewhere few movies have - into the heart of Afghanistan for the final episodes of a wildly popular 'American Idol'-style TV contest," writes the Boston Globe's Ty Burr. "The sense of hope and danger is more palpable here than in any other movie I've seen at Sundance, and the film's hard-won good vibes had the audience cheering." More from Dennis Harvey (Variety) and Patrick Z McGavin (Screen).

"Big River Man" (Daily).

A "documentary about Burmese reporters risking their lives to report on the conditions within their closed country sounds like the type of earnest, pedagogic film that offers up a pressing issue for audiences to tsk about and then forget after leaving the theater," writes Alison Willmore, introducing her interview with director Anders Østergaard for IFC. "But to preemptively classify it as so is to do 'Burma VJ' a terrible disservice. More from Brian Brooks (indieWIRE), Leslie Felperin (Variety) and Paul Moore (SpoutBlog).

"The old adage about plenty of fish in the sea no longer holds water after a viewing of 'The End of the Line,' a well-researched and persuasively argued documentary about how man has decimated the world's fish populations," writes Justin Chang in Variety.

"With more focus and structure, 'The Glass House' could have been this year's 'Born Into Brothels,' a powerful exploration of art's power to transform seemingly hopeless lives," writes Nathan Rabin. "Instead Hamid Rahmanian's documentary about a center for disadvantaged for abused and disadvantaged young Iranian women that serves as a safe haven in a culture rife with institutionalized, legalized sexism rambles unsteadily from character to character and story to story." More from Noel Murray (also at the AV Club) and Brian Brooks (indieWIRE).

"Offering interviews, info, interpretive dance and generous helpings of North Korean kitsch, 'Kimjongilia' tells us one thing we probably already know: That Kim Jong-Il, the despot with the black bouffant, is one of the world's worst at-large criminals, possibly mad, and with a legacy of horror that reaches across generations." John Anderson in Variety. More from Charlie at Cinema Strikes Back.

"Let's Make Money" opened to mixed reviews in Germany in the fall, just as the size and scope of the global financial crisis was beginning to sink in. You can see the multi-lingual trailer at the site.

"Basically, for the type of person who predicts the death of film due to new technology or to commercial pressures, 'Nollywood Babylon' could be seen as an ominous vision of the future," writes Alison Willmore at IFC. "'The great Nigerian film has not yet been made,' explains one interviewee, a poet, because no one in Nollywood is trying to make a great film; they're trying to make entertainment and a profit." More from Robert Koehler (Variety).

"'Old Partner' is a tough sell based on just a plot description," writes Michael Dunaway for Paste. "An elderly family in South Korea learns that the ox they have owned for over 40 years has less than a year to live. Later, the ox dies. Thrilling, eh? But the South Korean entry in the World Documentary competition is so much more than that. It's an enthralling character study of three main characters, one of whom happens to be an ox (the program director introducing the film said, 'I honestly don't know which of the three I love the most.') More from Peter Debruge (Variety) and Mark Elijah Rosenberg (Flavorwire).

"Prom Night in Mississippi": Director Paul Saltzman in Filmmaker.

"The Queen and I": Director Nahid Persson Sarvestani in Filmmaker.

"The whodunit aspects of 'Quest for Honor' are less important than the whys," writes John Anderson in Variety: "why are Middle Eastern 'honor killings' committed against women, why are such crimes largely condoned by authorities (or at least meet little opposition), and why was a woman in jeans and high heels left shot to death on the side of a road in remote Iraqi Kurdistan? In Mary Ann Smothers Bruni's ironically titled doc, the supposed sins of the dead woman are never revealed, nor should they be: This story is about a culture of barbarism."

"The emotionally grinding work of rescuing and sheltering abused children in Durban, South Africa, is viewed as a heroically selfless service in UK documaker Kim Longinotto's misleadingly titled 'Rough Aunties,'" writes Robert Koehler in Variety. "Although the filmmaking is undistinguished, sympathy toward the pic and its subject should be overwhelming." More from Tom Hall, Nathan Truesdell (All these wonderful things) and Michael Tully (Hammer to Nail). Interview: Filmmaker.

"Thriller in Manila" (Daily).

"Tibet in Song": "[Ngawang] Choephel, who narrates the film in English, is ultimately more musicologist than filmmaker, and yet the docu's very existence is something of a miracle," writes Peter Debruge in Variety. "Such a touchy subject will surely spark passionate responses from audiences, who will likely forgive the more uneven aspects of its presentation."

World Cinema Dramatic Competition

"Before Tomorrow": See "Canada's Top Ten."

Bronson" (Daily).

Carmo, Hit the Road": The trailer's at the site.

"As contemplative science fiction goes, Kanji Nakajima's 'The Clone Returns Home' plays like a subpar 'Solaris,'" writes Eric Kohn in indieWIRE. "The Japanese writer-director undoubtedly demonstrates an eye for immersive visuals, but the overall package amounts to little more than a bore." More from Charlie at Cinema Strikes Back.

Dada's Dance": When Zhang Yuan's film screened in Pusan in October, it was reviewed by Derek Elley (Variety) and Fionnuala Halligan (Screen).

An Education" (Daily).

"The latest film from 'Downfall' director Oliver Hirschbiegel is a simple, straightforward, and very sincere story that covers some rather fascinating issues: The cyclical nature of violence, the difficulties inherent in forgiveness, and the importance of being able to defeat tragedy and go on to live a happy life." Scott Weinberg at Cinematical: "If it sounds like a dark and slightly depressing story to hear, well that's the good news. For all its stark honesty and confrontational emotions, the messages found in 'Five Minutes of Heaven' are refreshingly humane and hopeful." More from Mike Goodridge (Screen), Dennis Harvey (Variety), Kirk Honeycutt (Hollywood Reporter). Online viewing: FilmCatcher (more and the Sundance Channel.

Heart of Time": Didn't come across any reviews; but you can explore the site.

"Playing like a John Waters satire with Dardenne-styled long shots, 'Louise-Michel' [site] aggressively resists easy enjoyment," writes James Rocchi at Cinematical; "there are some laughs in it, but Louise is clearly developmentally disabled and Michel's a buffoon." More from Noel Murray (AV Club).

"Lulu & Jimi": "An outstanding Jennifer Decker, in a star-making turn, plays Lulu, the rebellious daughter of a proper bourgeois family, who falls in love with Jimi (Ray Fearon), an American who's a one-man advertisement for black cool," writes Manohla Dargis in the New York Times. "Though [Oskar] Roehler borrows heavily from David Lynch's 'Wild at Heart' and Francis Ford Coppola's 'One From the Heart,' he makes this freaky joy ride his own." More from Rob Nelson (Variety). Film-Zeit collects reviews in German.

"An obsessively diligent, emotionally remote domestic causes all sorts of trouble for herself and the family she works for in Chilean helmer Sebastian Silva's taut second feature, 'The Maid,'" writes Justin Chang in Variety.

"Studs in Speedos, a cruisy stretch of beach and a few joints passed between friends should make for more randy fun than director Stefano Tummolini manages to muster in 'One Day in a Life,'" writes Peter Debruge in Variety.

Unmade Beds" (Daily).

The hero of 'Victoria Day' doesn't quite come of age, but he realizes he'll have to in writer-helmer David Bezmozgis's tale of late-80s Toronto teenagers - one of whom disappears like Amelia Earhart, endowing this Canadian production with an undercurrent of apprehension," writes John Anderson in Variety. More from Steve West (Cinema Blend) and Filmmaker.

"While 'Zion and His Brother' breaks no new ground, reprising familiar themes of family dysfunction and crime in a bleak Haifa housing project, writer-director Eran Merav's debut feature immediately engages with its astute observation, strong perfs and avoidance of melodramatic cliche," writes Dennis Harvey in Variety.

Premieres

"500 Days of Summer" (Daily).

"Adventureland" (Daily).

"Brooklyn's Finest" (Daily).

"Earth Days" "provides a sweeping history of the environmental movement" and a thoughtful overview," writes Stephen Farber in the Hollywood Reporter, "but we are a bit spoiled after seeing some truly scintillating documentaries in recent years. This is a throwback to the more earnest dissertations of an earlier era. To be blunt, it needs more pizzazz to grab a restless audience's attention."

"The groundbreaking secret talks that precipitated the end of apartheid in South Africa are recounted crisply and involvingly in 'Endgame,'" writes Justin Chang in Variety. "A proficient docudrama that simplifies and streamlines as much as it illuminates, director Pete Travis's crackling third feature (after 'Omagh' and 'Vantage Point') attempts something dramatically difficult - putting a series of behind-closed-doors debates front and center - and largely pulls it off, a few fiery car-bomb explosions notwithstanding." More from Mike Goodridge (Screen), Kirk Honeycutt (Hollywood Reporter) and Travis himself (Moving Pictures).

"I Love You Philip Morris" (Daily).

"The Informers" (Daily).

"In the Loop" (Daily).

"As a stylistic exercise, 'Manure' is something of a triumph," writes Stephen Farber in the Hollywood Reporter. "One might even call it surprisingly tasty, given the title and subject matter. But in terms of story and overall impact, this oddity definitely reeks. The Polish brothers have forged a small but loyal cult following for their earlier movies, including 'Twin Falls, Idaho' and 'Northfork.' 'Manure' will not expand their audience." More from David Carr (NYT and Tim Grierson (Screen). Online viewing: Sundance Channel.

"Mary and Max" (Daily).

"'Taking Chance' is a solemn, sober look at the pain of losing a loved one, but ultimately it is a comforting film that wants to wrap all of America into a big group hug," writes Michael Ryan at Hammer to Nail. "'The Messenger' directly confronts the rage, anger and fear of the Iraq war veteran in an honest, non-manipulative style, and in the end it provides no easy answers. Guess which one I preferred?" More from David Carr (NYT), Mike Goodridge (Screen) and Scott Macaulay (Filmmaker).

"Moon" (Daily).

"After seeing too many edgy, impenetrable, ambitious Sundance movies aiming - and failing - to set the world on fire, it can be something of a relief to find a frothy, mainstream comedy that actually delivers some entertainment value," writes Stephen Farber in the Hollywood Reporter. "'Motherhood,' written and directed by Katherine Dieckmann, is neither earth-shaking nor profound, but it has considerable charm, thanks to an appealing cast and some sharply witty observations about the pressures of child-rearing in Manhattan." More from Dieckmann (Moving Pictures) and Patrick Z McGavin (Screen). Interviews: Filmmaker, Peter Knegt (indieWIRE) and the Sundance Channel.

"Rudo y Cursi" (Daily).

"A splintered look at the Hollywood dream factory through the perspective of Kevin Spacey's quickly-unraveling Los Angeles therapist, Jonas Pate's 'Shrink' is more forgiving and humanistic than acid-tongued, more 'Entourage' than 'The Player,'" writes Patrick Z McGavin in Screen. More from John Anderson (Variety), Daniel Fienberg (Hitfix) and Kirk Honeycutt (Hollywood Reporter. James Rocchi talks with Spacey for Cinematical.

"Spread" (Daily).

Spectrum

"A tale of friendship and grief, 'Against the Current' plays like a road movie on water, bringing together three discontented people bound together by one's bizarre quest to swim the entire 150 miles of New York's Hudson River," writes Tim Grierson for Screen. "For a little while, this modest drama's unpredictable rhythms and deadpan humour have their charm, but writer-director Peter Callahan's story encounters problems staying afloat amidst a sea of predictable road-movie tropes." More from Justin Chang (Variety), Kirk Honeycutt (Hollywood Reporter) and Noel Murray (AV Club). Interviews: Alicia Van Couvering (Filmmaker) and indieWIRE.

"The Anarchist's Wife" ("La Mujer del Anarquista"): See filmportal.de.

Sterlin Harjo in Moving Pictures on his "Barking Water": "[I]f my film can come close to the real-life stories that we heard as we took the road trip with the main characters, then I feel like we did something right." Interviews: Filmmaker and indieWIRE.

"Like the somewhat narratively similar 'Treeless Mountain,' [Children of Invention'] presents an adult world through the eyes of a child," writes Karina Longworth at the SpoutBlog. "But unlike that meditation on the loneliness, isolation and confusion of two very small children, 'Invention' has a sense of adventure." Interviews with director Tze Chun: Filmmaker, indieWIRE and the Sundance Channel.

"With so many entries at Sundance aiming for a crowd-pleasing quirkiness, it's refreshing to find a film that adheres to its own unique sensibility," writes James Greenberg in the Hollywood Reporter. "A story of disaffected, middle-aged men, 'Everything Strange and New' may not be entirely successful, and it's definitely not for everyone, but there's nothing quite like it." More from Peter Debruge (Variety). Interview: Filmmaker.

"A brave, affecting turn by Ashley Judd cuts through the overall torpor of 'Helen,' a somber, elegant psychological case study that will leave auds feeling as gloomy and enervated as the title character," writes Justin Chang in Variety. More from Mike Goodridge (Screen). Online viewing: Flavorwire interviews Lauren Lee Smith.

"'The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle' is a (mostly) live-action first feature by David Russo, who's made several well-received animated shorts - and this peculiar, rather pointless mix of snark and whimsy might've worked better in that format," writes Dennis Harvey in Variety. Interviews and profiles: Filmmaker, IndieWIRE and Brendan Kiley (Stranger).

"Filmmaker Davis Guggenheim, the director of 'An Inconvenient Truth,' had the idea of bringing Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White together to talk about guitars," writes Robert Davis for Paste. "And, you know, if they felt the urge, to jam a little.... As you might expect from a project designed to be a historic, spontaneous event, it doesn't actually generate many real sparks.... But 'It Might Get Loud' is still great fun." More from Ryan Kearney (Sundance Channel).

"Johnny Mad Dog" "is a powerful and harrowing look at the despicable cycle of violence that involves child soldiers," writes keelsetter at Movie Morlocks. "While most people will probably compare this film to 'City of God' (due to the violent subject matter involving impoverished kids in underdeveloped nations), I couldn't help but feel that this powerful work was a merger of Herzogian poetic aesthetics (visceral, unpredictable, instinctual) with certain Kubrickian themes that explore how people are made into killers (ie: 'Full Metal Jacket'), not to mention the surreal world that is created by murdering and rapist youth parading around in strange costumes (ie: 'Clockwork Orange')." More from Mark Elijah Rosenberg in Flavorwire.

"La Mission": Interviews with Peter Bratt: IndieWIRE and Karina Longworth (SpoutBlog).

"Do you remember the time during your adolescence when you started to see your parents as people rather than just... well, your parents? Scott Bartlett (Rory Culkin) goes through this stage of his teen years in 'Lymelife,'" writes Kelly West at Cinema Blend, where Steve West interviews Culkin and director Derick Martini and Rory Culkin. More interviews: indieWIRE, Rebecca Snavely (Los Angeles Times) and Sundance Channel.

"The Missing Person" (Daily)

"Proof that 'eco' and 'entertainment' aren't mutually exclusive, 'No Impact Man' may be a socially progressive, environmentally conscious film, but it goes down far easier than, say, an all-natural, fiber-enriched peanut butter sandwich without a glass of soy milk," writes John Anderson in Variety. "It's that rare doc (these days) that could go theatrical, largely because it's a film about a couple, more than a movement." More from Ryan Kearney (Sundance Channel).

"Unabashedly sentimental and distinctly retro, 'Once More With Feeling' is an old-fashioned family dramedy - practically a rarity these days," writes Justin Lowe in the Hollywood Reporter. More from John Anderson (Variety. Interviews with director Jeff Lipsky: Filmmaker, IndieWIRE and the Sundance Channel.

"I made a special effort to see 'The Only Good Indian,' because I thought [Kevin] Willmott's previous film 'CSA' was funny and uncompromising, but this revisionist western - about racial identity among Native Americans - was far more stilted and scholarly than 'CSA,'" writes Noel Murray at the AV Club. More from Duane Byrge in the Hollywood Reporter and Charlie at Cinema Strikes Back. Interviews with Willmott: Flavorwire, indieWIRE, Karina Longworth (SpoutBlog) and Rob Nelson (Variety).

"Passing Strange" (Daily)

"'Pomegranates and Myrrh' is a technically-strong feature debut from Palestine, a romantically-infused tale of love and life in a besieged Ramallah which could charm a more general audience," wrote Fionnuala Halligan in Screen when it played in Dubai. "It boasts all the soft hues, bright colours and heady longing of the Eastern Mediterranean, although its take on the political issues it chronicles manages to be both defiant (the film itself is dedicated to Palestine) and frustratingly superficial."

"Tyson" (Daily)

"Lee Krieger's second feature, 'The Vicious Kind,' is a tale of forgiveness and redemption told through the character of Caleb Sinclaire (Adam Scott), an intensely unpleasant construction worker whose bitterness and misogyny masks a deeply wounded man whose outward anger acts as a shield against the world," writes Kim Voynar at Movie City News. "This is a tough, edgy film bolstered by powerful performances, but the material is so raw and wrenching that some may find it hard to watch." More from Justin Chang (Variety). Interview: Filmmaker.

"Why We Laugh: Black Comedians on Black Comedy": Interviews: IndieWIRE and the Sundance Channel.

"World's Greatest Dad" (Daily)

"In 'Wounded Knee,' ace historical documaker Stanley Nelson ('Jonestown') frames the 1973 standoff between American Indian activists and US federal agents as a culminating event in the 400-year Native American struggle for survival," writes Rob Nelson in Variety. "Pic, airing on PBS in April, stands as a textbook example of how to engage and engross an audience with standard assembly of archival footage, v.o. narration and talking heads."

"'The Yes Men Fix the World' marches in line with the recent tradition of documentary stunts by Morgan Spurlock ('Super Size Me'; 'Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden?'), Michael Moore ('Sicko'; 'Fahrenheit 9/11'; 'Bowling for Columbine,' etc) and 'Sparrow' (shameless Rooftop plug)." Mark Elijah Rosenberg for Flavorwire: "Such films insert semi-fictional characters into 'real' situations where they can catch power-brokers with their defenses down, rendering their spin-machine armory of 'facts' futile. This type of activism is more about raising awareness than revealing information. The point and justification of this filmmaking mode being that while movies are subjective and truth is relative, justice is objective, morals imperative." Interviews: Filmmaker, MovieMaker and Alison Willmore (IFC).

Park City at Midnight

"Black Dynamite" (Daily).

"The Carter" (Daily).

"Dead Snow" (Daily).

"While I'm not a horror buff, I do occasionally watch horror flicks, and I'm not the squeamish type, but I have to say, I don't think I've ever been as traumatized by a film as I was by 'Grace,'" writes Kim Voynar at Movie City News. "And I mean that in a good way." More from John Anderson (Variety) and Eric D Snider (Cinematical).

"The Killing Room" (Daily).

Erik Davis at Cinematical on "Mystery Team": "It's Encyclopedia Brown meets Napoleon Dynamite with a pinch of Ace Ventura... and it's hilarious." More from Alex Billington (FirstShowing), Ty Burr (Boston Globe), Peter Debruge (Variety) and Nathan Rabin (AV Club). See also: Director Dan Eckman in Moving Pictures.

"'Spring Breakdown, co-written by Rachel Dratch and starring Dratch, Parker Posey, Amy Poehler, Amber Tamblyn and a number of 'SNL' and 'Arrested Development' regulars in supporting roles, had been on the shelf for awhile before news broke that Warners planned to release it straight to DVD," writes Karina Longworth at the SpoutBlog. "It was a surprise, then, to see the film pop up on the Sundance Midnight line-up, and after the press screening, there were grumblings that Breakdown didn't belong at Sundance at all. It's always amusing when anyone tries to claim Sundance as a refuge from populist, lowbrow fare - this, the festival that launched both 'Saw' and 'Super Troopers' - but it's an especially wrong-headed way to look at this film, which rides a very fine line between total trash and intelligent provocation, mall multiplex dreck and Troma-esque satire via the grotesque." More from Charlie (Cinema Strikes Back), Dennis Harvey (Variety), Ryan Kearney (Sundance Channel), Nathan Rabin (AV Club) and Josh Tyler (Cinema Blend). Interview: Sundance Channel.

"I foolishly expected 'White Lightnin'' to be the redneck equivalent of 'Black Dynamite,' a campy, goofy comedy with tongue planted firmly in cheek," writes Nathan Rabin at the AV Club. "Instead I got a gorgeously photographed slice of Southern Gothic miserablism awash in religious iconography and heavy-handed themes of sin, redemption and salvation, grotesque violence and a good deal of pretension." More from Dennis Harvey (Variety). Interviews: FilmCatcher and Filmmaker.

New Frontier

"Lunch Break" / "Exit" (Daily).

"Deborah Stratman's film 'O'er the Land' [site] is not likely to get a multi-million dollar deal out of Sundance," writes Mark Elijah Rosenberg in Flavorwire. "There is no hot-button issue, no unbelievable scenario, no celebrities, crazy characters, or even much dialogue at all. But to me, this is the type of film I'm most pleased to see at Sundance, the type of film that keeps festivals vital. Stratman's experimental documentary explores America's relationship to nature, technology and violence in a way that is smart, poetic and darkly humorous." More from Robert Davis (Paste) and Noel Murray (AV Club).

"Stay the Same Never Change": "One of the most original, thoughtful, bizarre and wonderful films I've seen at the festival," writes Mark Elijah Rosenberg for Flavorwire. And Laurel Nakadate's in Filmmaker.

"Stingray Sam": "The man who is The American Astronaut - a cult classic cowboy-space-rock musical work of bizarre genius - returns with a six-part series of short films about an outlaw lounge singer from strange impoverished planet, his olive-addicted buddy, and their inter-galactic quest to rescue the universe's last girl after generations of pharmaceutical company and government-managed male-male cloning," writes Mark Elijah Rosenberg for Flavorwire. "It should go without saying that it's all hilarious and dazzling."

"In her previous films, the Finnish artist Eija-Liisa Ahtila has progressively expanded her methods for weaving disparate narratives into a unified, if fractured, whole," writes Annie Buckley for Artforum. "Her latest movie, 'Missä on missä?' ('Where Is Where?,' 2009), an ambitious and operatic tale, deftly draws on a batch of techniques familiar to Ahtila--split screen, digital effects, episodic storytelling--along with newer methods, to sketch an incisive, dreamlike expanse." More from Noel Murray (AV Club).

"Artist Spotlight: The Works of Maria Marshall."

"You Won't Miss Me" (Daily).

Tags: Sundance 2009