Sundance Day 2: Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene

There isn’t a Sundance “Day 1” coverage day because I got into Park City moments before my first screening of the festival which was The Silent House – it debuted in the wee hours of Thursday night to a packed industry and press audience at the Yarrow (make-shift conference room that they’ve managed to make into a decent screening room). This is a remake of the Uruguayan thriller “La Casa Muda,” which I saw last May in Cannes. Directed by the Open Water combo of Chris Kentis and Laura Lau this stars Elizabeth Olsen — and this is where I shift the focus to my first screening of day 2 at the Eccles: the much anticipated directorial debut from a filmmaker (director and producer) we’ve profiled on this site several times over. Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene is everything we hoped it would be and more — and it too also features Olsen — who was baptized before the festival as the breakout actress to watch out for and whoever those prognosticators were, they were evidently correct in their assertion — she’s dramatically on cue and the cuteness factor disarmingly works in her favor in this pair of challenging roles. Here’s the Q&A following the world premiere. (Picture above: Borderline Film’s Antonio Campos, Josh Mond and Sean Durkin)