After an interesting but unspectacular first crop of announcements, the Sundance Film Festival has come out swinging with the rest of the line-up from the Premieres and Documentaries categories. The one that has me all riled up is
The Raid 2, the bone-breaking sequel to
The Raid: Redemption. Also worth getting excited for are Anton Corbijn's John Le Carre adaptation
A Most Wanted Man starring Rachel McAdams and Philip Seymour Hoffman; Lynn Shelton's
Laggies with Keira Knightley and Chloe Moretz; offbeat biopic
Frank with Michael Fassbender; Brit Marling and Mike Cahill's
I Origins; Marjane Satrapi's
The Voices starring Ryan Reynolds; anti-romantic comedy
They Came Together with Paul Rudd and Amy Pohler; and
White Bird in a Blizzard starring Shailene Woodley.
Check out the latest additions below. Sundance runs from January 16th-26th.
PremieresCalvary / Ireland, United Kingdom (Director and screenwriter: John Michael McDonagh) —
Calvary is a blackly comedic drama about a priest tormented by his community. Father James is a good man intent on making the world a better place. When his life is threatened one day during confession, he finds he has to battle the dark forces closing in around him.
Cast: Brendan Gleeson, Chris O'Dowd, Kelly Reilly, Aidan Gillen, Dylan Moran, Marie-Josée Croz.
Frank / Ireland, United Kingdom (Director: Lenny Abrahamson, Screenwriters: Jon Ronson, Peter Straughan) —
Frank is an offbeat comedy about a wannabe musician who finds himself out of his depth when he joins an avant garde rock band led by the enigmatic Frank—a musical genius who hides himself inside a large fake head.
Cast: Michael Fassbender, Domhnall Gleeson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Scoot McNairy.
Hits / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: David Cross) — A small town in upstate New York is populated by people who wallow in unrealistic expectations. There, fame, delusion, earnestness, and recklessness meet, shake hands, and disrupt the lives around them.
Cast: Meredith Hagner, Matt Walsh, James Adomian, Jake Cherry Derek Waters, Wyatt Cenac. I Origins / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Mike Cahill) — A molecular biologist and his lab partner uncover startling evidence that could fundamentally change society as we know it and cause them to question their once-certain beliefs in science and spirituality.
Cast: Michael Pitt, Brit Marling, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey, Steven Yeun, Archie Panjabi.
Laggies/ U.S.A. (Director: Lynn Shelton, Screenwriter: Andrea Seigel) —
Laggies is a coming of age story about a 28-year-old woman stuck in permanent adolescence. Unable to find her career calling, still hanging out with the same friends, and living with her high school boyfriend, Megan must finally navigate her own future when an unexpected marriage proposal sends her into a panic.
Cast: Keira Knightley, Sam Rockwell, Chloë Grace Moretz, Ellie Kemper, Jeff Garlin, Mark Webber.Little Accidents / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Sara Colangelo) — In a small American coal town living in the shadow of a recent mining accident, the disappearance of a teenage boy draws three people together—a surviving miner, the lonely wife of a mine executive, and a local boy—in a web of secrets.
Cast: Elizabeth Banks, Boyd Holbrook, Chloë Sevigny, Jacob Lofland, Josh Lucas.
Love is Strange / U.S.A. (Director: Ira Sachs, Screenwriters: Ira Sachs, Mauricio Zacharias) — After 39 years together, Ben and George finally tie the knot, but George loses his job as a result, and the newlyweds must sell their New York apartment and live apart, relying on friends and family to make ends meet.
Cast: John Lithgow, Alfred Molina, Marisa Tomei, Darren Burrows, Charlie Tahan, Cheyenne Jackson.
A Most Wanted Man / Germany, U.S.A. (Director: Anton Corbijn, Screenwriter: Andrew Bovell) — Based on John le Carré’s bestselling book, Anton Corbijn directs this modern-day thriller with Academy Award–winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright, and two-time Academy Award nominee Willem Dafoe headlining an ensemble cast.
Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Willem Dafoe, Robin Wright.Nick Offerman: American Ham / U.S.A. (Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts, Screenwriter: Nick Offerman) — WARNING: MINOR NUDITY AND NOT SUITABLE FOR VEGETARIANS. This live taping of Nick Offerman's hilarious one-man show at New York's historic Town Hall theater features a collection of anecdotes, songs, and woodworking/oral sex techniques. The routine includes Offerman's 10 tips for living a more prosperous life, so hearken well.
Cast: Nick Offerman.
The One I Love / U.S.A. (Director: Charlie McDowell, Screenwriter: Justin Lader) — Struggling with a marriage on the brink of falling apart, a couple escapes for the weekend in pursuit of their better selves, only to discover an unusual dilemma waiting for them.
Cast: Mark Duplass, Elisabeth Moss, Ted Danson.
The Raid 2 / Indonesia (Director and screenwriter: Gareth Evans) — Picking up where the first film left off,
The Raid 2 follows Rama as he goes undercover and infiltrates the ranks of a ruthless Jakarta crime syndicate in order to protect his family and expose the corruption in his own police force.
Cast: Iko Uwais, Yayan Ruhian, Arifin Putra, Oka Antara, Tio Pakusadewo, Alex Abbad.
Rudderless / U.S.A. (Director: William H. Macy, Screenwriters: Casey Twenter, Jeff Robison, William H. Macy) — When a grieving father in a downward spiral stumbles upon a box of his deceased son's original music, he forms a rock 'n' roll band, which changes his life.
Cast: Billy Crudup, Anton Yelchin, Felicity Huffman, Selena Gomez, Laurence Fishburne, William H. Macy.
CLOSING NIGHT FILM
They Came Together / U.S.A. (Director: David Wain, Screenwriters: Michael Showalter, David Wain) — This subversion/spoof/deconstruction of the romantic comedy genre has a vaguely, but not overtly, Jewish leading man, a klutzy, but adorable, leading lady, and New York City itself as another character in the story.
Cast: Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd, Ed Helms, Cobie Smulders, Max Greenfield, Christopher Meloni.
The Trip to Italy / United Kingdom (Director: Michael Winterbottom, Screenwriters: Rob Brydon, Steve Coogan, Michael Winterbottom) — Michael Winterbottom reunites Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon for more delectable food, some sharp-elbowed rivalry, and plenty of laughs.
Cast: Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon.
The Voices / U.S.A., Germany (Director: Marjane Satrapi, Screenwriter: Michael Perry) — This genre-bending tale centers around Jerry Hickfang, a lovable but disturbed factory worker who yearns for attention from a woman in accounting. When their relationship takes a sudden, murderous turn, Jerry's evil talking cat and benevolent talking dog lead him down a fantastical path where he ultimately finds salvation.
Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Gemma Arterton, Anna Kendrick, Jacki Weaver.
White Bird in a Blizzard / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Gregg Araki) — Based on the acclaimed novel by Laura Kasischke,
White Bird in a Blizzard tells the story of Kat Connors, a young woman whose life is turned upside down by the sudden disappearance of her beautiful, enigmatic mother.
Cast: Shailene Woodley, Eva Green, Christopher Meloni, Shiloh Fernandez, Gabourey Sidibe, Thomas Jane.
Young Ones / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Jake Paltrow) — When a series of events is set into motion, altering his young life forever, Jerome is forced to make choices that no child should ever have to make.
Cast: Michael Shannon, Nicholas Hoult, Elle Fanning, Kodi Smit-McPhee.
Documentary Premieres The Battered Bastards of Baseball / U.S.A. (Directors: Chapman Way, Maclain Way) — Hollywood veteran Bing Russell creates the only independent baseball team in the country—alarming the baseball establishment and sparking the meteoric rise of the 1970s Portland Mavericks.
Finding Fela / U.S.A. (Director: Alex Gibney) — Fela Anikulapo Kuti created the musical movement Afrobeat and used it as a political forum to oppose the Nigerian dictatorship and advocate for the rights of oppressed people. This is the story of his life, music, and political importance.
Freedom Summer / U.S.A. (Director: Stanley Nelson) — In the summer of 1964, more than 700 students descended on violent, segregated Mississippi. Defying authorities, they registered voters, created freedom schools, and established the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. Fifty years later, eyewitness accounts and never-before-seen archival material tell their story. Not all of them would make it through.
Happy Valley / U.S.A. (Director: Amir Bar-Lev) — The children of "Happy Valley" were victimized for years, by a key member of the legendary Penn State college football program. But were Jerry Sandusky’s crimes an open secret? With rare access, director Amir Bar-Lev delves beneath the headlines to tell a modern American parable of guilt, redemption, and identity.
Last Days in Vietnam / U.S.A. (Director: Rory Kennedy) — During the chaotic final weeks of the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese Army closes in on Saigon as the panicked South Vietnamese people desperately attempt to escape. On the ground, American soldiers and diplomats confront a moral quandary: whether to obey White House orders to evacuate only U.S. citizens.
Life Itself / U.S.A. (Director: Steve James) —
Life Itself recounts the surprising and entertaining life of renowned film critic and social commentator Roger Ebert. The film details his early days as a freewheeling bachelor and Pulitzer Prize winner, his famously contentious partnership with Gene Siskel, his life-altering marriage, and his brave and transcendent battle with cancer.
Mitt / U.S.A. (Director: Greg Whiteley) — A filmmaker is granted unprecedented access to a political candidate and his family as he runs for President.
This May Be the Last Time / U.S.A. (Director: Sterlin Harjo) — Filmmaker Sterlin Harjo's Grandfather disappeared mysteriously in 1962. The community searching for him sang songs of encouragement that were passed down for generations. Harjo explores the origins of these songs as well as the violent history of his people.
To Be Takei / U.S.A. (Director: Jennifer Kroot) — Over seven decades, actor and activist George Takei journeyed from a World War II internment camp to the helm of the Starship Enterprise, and then to the daily news feeds of five million Facebook fans. Join George and his husband, Brad, on a wacky and profound trek for life, liberty, and love.
We Are The Giant / U.S.A., United Kingdom (Director: Greg Barker) —
We Are The Giant tells the stories of ordinary individuals who are transformed by the moral and personal challenges they encounter when standing up for what they believe is right. Powerful and tragic, yet inspirational, their struggles for freedom echo across history and offer hope against seemingly impossible odds.
WHITEY: United States of America v. James J. Bulger / U.S.A. (Director: Joe Berlinger) — Infamous gangster James "Whitey" Bulger’s relationship with the FBI and Department of Justice allowed him to reign over a criminal empire in Boston for decades. Joe Berlinger’s documentary chronicles Bulger’s recent sensational trial, using it as a springboard to explore allegations of corruption within the highest levels of law enforcement.
But this isn't solely Marling's film; the script she co-wrote with Cahill centers largely on Michael Pitt as Dr. Ian Grey, a molecular biologist obsessed with the human eye. For decades, scientists have used the eye as proof of the evolutionary theory due to its stunning complexity. This would seem to run up against the old adage that "the eyes are the windows to the soul", and that argument between the spiritual and the analytical proves to be the launching pad for a smart, occasionally confounding film that combines romance, thriller, and philosophical elements to create something wholly special.
The film begins, appropriately enough, with a flurry of images of the human eye. They are as unique and identifiable as fingerprints, and Ian is consumed with tracking their evolution in an effort to disprove the existence of God. At a costume party he meets a masked French woman, Sofi (Astrid Berges-Frisbey), an enigmatic free spirit with dazzling eyes Ian has never seen the likes of. After taking a photograph of her eyes to add to his collection, they share a brief romantic moment and a moment of deep emotional connection. She disappears afterwards, and Ian sets off to find her.
Something, perhaps fate, seems to be drawing them together, and soon they are reunited and embarking on a whirlwind romance that at first feels a little trite and disconnected from Ian's purpose. As they begin to learn more about one another, it becomes obvious just how different they are in just about every way. Sofi is a free spirt with a firm belief in the existence of God and the idea of past lives and an afterlife, which runs head up against Ian's reliance on facts and figures. Not that any of this holds back their growing love, and as we're taken deeper into the relationship the film takes the shape of a pure romance, far removed from the coldlyscientific way it began. 
With the help of his lab partner Karen (Marling), Ian continues his research but is obviously distracted. Just as Karen makes a groundbreaking discovery that changes everything we ever knew about the eye, an unexpected tragedy rips Ian and Sofi apart. Jumping ahead a few years, Ian is now married to Karen and they are expecting their first child. Karen's earlier discovery has made them respected in the field and Ian a man of some notoriety. But their evolutionary theories are challenged after tests on their son yield some strange results that unlock a deeper mystery; one that sends Ian on a globe-hopping journey that will force him to confront his past and his most hardened beliefs. 
Directed with intimacy and soul by Cahill, the film takes many forms that normally wouldn't make for a cohesive whole, but they end up building off one another in fascinating ways. Through the lens of science, Cahill and Marling explore the idea that something unexplainable and greater than all of us is out there. The word "ambitious" is thrown around a lot but that is truly the case here, at least in terms of asking big questions and forcing the audience to take a skeptical look at their own notions of faith and spirituality. While the opening act is a little dry as it takes place mostly in the laboratory, Cahill slowly but assuredly ramps things up by adding new elements into the equation, constantly keeping you on your toes. You'll want to pay attention to every detail, every word, as it all comes to a satisfying conclusion that recalls everything previously experienced. A moody atmosphere not too far removed from Another Earth adds to the film's mystique, bolstered by a stirring soundtrack that makes the best use (the only good use??) of Radiohead in a long time. 
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