Sundance 2011: Sean’s Ten Most Anticipated Films

[Editor’s Note: This year we are two covering the 2011 edition of the Sundance Film Festival. I’ve asked Sean Glass to help join in the task of tackling Park City, and to begin our coverage I figured why not lay out what we’re most excited in seeing. Here’s Sean’s List.]

1. Martha Marcy May Marlene
It’s no secret how we here at Ion feel about the Borderline Films boys. Just about everyone who worked on Afterschool and the still as-yet-unreleased Two Gates of Sleep was featured on my editors American New Wave 25 list last year, and the only one left off won’t be for long. MMMM is Sean Durkin’s turn in the directing chair, and the buzz on it has been spectacular all the way through—from the Sundance Labs to its early frontrunner status in US Narrative Competition. The cast is superb, and Jody Lee Lipes was behind the camera with Durkin. Frequent collaborator Brady Corbet (who was in the short which this is the sequel to) is joined by Elizabeth Olsen, John Hawkes, Hugh Dancy and Sarah Paulsen. This is not some big budget indie, these actors are there because they know these guys are for real and they are the future. DO NOT MISS THIS ONE.

2. The Oregonian
I was first exposed to Calvin Lee Reeder at SXSW a few years ago when his second short, The Rambler, screened. In the room were a number of filmmakers who join him at this year’s Sundance actually, but Reeder’s film blew them all away. I’ve since watched it probably 50 times, and for months after, I insisted on showing it to anyone who came to my apartment. Going over influences for this would be meaningless. No doubt David Lynch comes to mind with the creepy characters, and Dario Argento must be somewhere in his head as a reference point for the lighting, but Reeder has the most easily identifiable style out there and is one of the few you can still call a true original. Look for him to do some sick, terrible things to his girlfriend and frequent collaborator Lindsay Pulsipher in Oregonian. We’re going to cringe, we’ll lose sleep, perhaps even vomit, but we’re going to love this one.

3. Tyrannosaur
This one’s pretty simple. Paddy Considine and Peter Mullan have been in some of the best films from across the pond over the last five or so years. I cannot wait to see what they do together when Considine is writing and directing. I’ve heard this film is extremely weird, and that only gets me more excited. I don’t know how Mullan can get creepier than he was in Red Riding Trilogy, but I’m dying to find out.

4. Knuckle
The narrative adaptation is already happening. 12 years in the making, this sounds like the gritty kind of documentary that already plays like a scripted narrative. Expect this insider’s look into blood feuds amongst members of a British nomadic ethnic group called the Travellers to be…um…hard hitting.

5. The Future
More Miranda July. Me and You and Everyone We Know opened us up to this unique mind, I cannot wait to see what she does next. July is a multi-hyphenate artist, and brings that to her films. Topical themes like relationships in our technological age and the nature of art seem to be consistent tropes that will return in Future, and July’s commentary as well as her lighthearted tone are going to be enjoyable.

6. Elite Squad 2
Jose Padilha is quietly one of the best and most important international filmmakers out there. Bus 174 launched him onto the scene, and then he took the same ideas, as well as the success of Fernando Mereilles’ City of God, to create his first narrative feature, Elite Squad. Two heartbreaking and powerful (as-yet-unreleased) documentaries (Garapa, Secrets of the Tribe) later he brings us the sequel. Knowing Padilha’s work, it is clear this is not a cash-in kind of sequel with the same…but different. He clearly has a reason to make this movie, and I cannot wait to find out.

7. Take Shelter
Michael Shannon is the best out there right now. One of my favorite performances was in Shotgun Stories. He’s back again working with Jeff Nichols. I expect Take Shelter to be another special Shannon performance.

8. Margin Call
Lots of good buzz. Kevin Spacey and Zachary Quinto helped get J.C. Chandor an amazing cast. This is the topical drama that, if well executed, we all need to pay attention to. I just hope this one isn’t this year’s star-studded dud (sorry The Informers and Twelve).

9. Uncle Kent
Joe Swanberg leaves his roots of South by Southwest (nicknamed South by South Swanberg even) to premiere a film at Sundance for the first time. I love all of Swanberg’s films, so I look forward to more Joe and Kent Osborne either way, but I’m really interested in seeing how the Sundance crowd reacts to him, as I imagine many have never seen his films.

10. Hobo With a Shotgun
The trailer was hilarious, and was justly honored on the DVD release of Grindhouse. Rutger Hauer finally gets a fun role after years of junk. The new trailer looks very promising, as thankfully they have not changed the formula. Some recent genre flicks like this have been great (Piranha 3D), but some have really disappointed (Machete). Hopefully Hobo nails it.

Honorable mentions:
Catechism Cataclysm (Steve Little!), My Idiot Brother (second time looks like the charm for Paul Rudd and Jesse Peretz), Win Win (Tom McCarthy directing Paul Giamatti, Jeffrey Tambor and Amy Ryan), Beats, Rhymes and Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest (I grew up listening to them rap about John Starks getting ejected while going to games and seeing Michael Rappaport cheer like a madman), Another Happy Day (ok, we know how Sam Levinson got his enviable cast, but this looks like it can’t go wrong and is a major contender in competish).