NEGATIVE SPACE

Letztes Jahr hatten wir die Oscaranwärter "Beasts of the Southern Wild" und "The Sessions", die Indie-Komödien "Safety Not Guaranteed" und "Celeste and Jessie Forever", die Horror-Geheimtipps "V/H/S" und "Simon Killer", die Dokumentationen "The Ambassador", "How to Survive a Plague", "The Invisible War" und "The Queen of Versailles" und das obligatorische Queer-Movie "Keep the Lights On". Der neue Jahrgang ist nach meiner Vorfreude geordnet, bei der die Berlinale, aber auch meine eigenen Erfahrungen mit früheren Filmen der Regisseure und natürlich der Sundance-Buzz selbst eine Rolle spielen.

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"Why am I noticing nothing but raves coming out of Sundance? Allow those of us at sea level to inject more than a dose of skepticism." (Robert Koehler, Variety)
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★★★★

"Computer Chess": "Better than COMPUTER CHESS? I don't believe it. Kind of a Tim and Eric thing that no one remembered to ask Tim and Eric to show up for." (Russ Fischer, Slashfilm) "It's ultimately unlike anything Bujalski has done before—and unlike just about anything anyone has done before." (Anthony Kaufman, Screen Daily)

"Prince Avalanche": "The film is rambly and sweet and beautiful, the best work either David Gordon Green or Paul Rudd has done in quite a while." (Katey Rich, CinemaBlend) "Wow. PRINCE AVALANCHE is perfect mix of David Gordon Green's indie sensibility & big star comedy. Tiny, hilarious, touching tale." (Ryland Aldrich, Twitch Film) "Tonally strange & slight PRINCE AVALANCHE is like a consolidation of DGG's earlier work & comedies." (Eric Kohn, indieWIRE) "Really liked David Gordon Green's PRINCE AVALANCHE. Feels like something new for all involved." (Scott Macaulay, Filmmaker Magazine)

"Before Midnight": "Complicated, meandering but also wonderful film." (Tim Grierson, Screen Daily) "Now officially one of the best trilogies ever." (Eric Kohn, indieWIRE) "Some really great writing, wonderful balance of drama and comedy. Linklater at the top of his game." (Steven Zeitchick, L.A. Times) "Linklater, Delpy & Hawke find a whole new deeper level in BEFORE MIDNIGHT. Brilliant in that it steers toward epiphany but never gets there." (Kristopher Tapley, InContention) "Rohmer-level stuff." (Guy Lodge, Variety)

"Upstream Color": "A tightly controlled explosion of imagination. An uneasy love story about regaining control. Unique, beautiful." (Russ Fischer, Slashfilm) "Not every audience will be thrilled by the ambiguity or the anxious tone of much of the movie, but I think it is a tremendous return by a gifted filmmaker, and one of the real highlights of this year's Sundance Film Festival." (Drew McWeeny, HitFix) "Shane Carruth's UPSTREAM COLOR is one of the most original, inventive, puzzling & ultimately exciting movies at Sundance 2013." (Eugene Hernandez) "A singular, beautiful, strange sci-fi fable of love's terrifying wonder." (James Rocchi, MSN Movies)

★★★

"S-VHS": "By a mile, it's the best film I have seen at Sundance." (Tim League, Alamo Drafthouse) "Sounds like S-VHS just rocked Sundance. Consensus is it blows the first one away. My not-being-at-Sundance depression has hit a new high." (Eric Vespe, Aintitcool) "Hats off for S-VHS, which is the original with the volume stuck at 11. Totally bonkers. So much fun." (Drew McWeeny, HitFix) "Bloody kinetic, bloody fun, bloody bloody." (Total Film) "S-VHS is fucking proper. Goes bigger and weirder. Eisener and Gareth Evans & Tjahjanto are on some holy shit." (Sam Zimmerman, Fangoria) "S-VHS is every bit the Super POV anthology we were all hoping. A clamshell packed with blood, zombies, ghosts, & aliens. Loved it." (Ryland, Aldrich, Twitch Film) [Alles unter Vorbehalt, da Gareth Evans am Projekt beteiligt ist]

"Two Mothers": "A thoughtful, sexy drama about female friends who start dating each other's sons." (Tim Grierson, Screen Daily) "Rich, ironic, overlong drama about two women who try to remortgage their youth by screwing each other's sons. I think Robin Wright is the performance to beat this year." (Damon Wise, Empire) "Naomi Watts and Robin Wright are fine MILFs in this gauzy erotic-drama." (Lisa Schwarzbaum, EW)

"Escape from Tomorrow": "WOW! Surreal, funny, ballsy, deep, daring. Film of the Fest? Maybe." (Devin Faraci, Badass Digest) "Insane on so many levels. Never seen anything like it. Wally World has nothing on the real thing." (Scott Macaulay, Filmmaker Magazine) "It's a fascinating, surreal indictment of Disneyfied society that Disney will never, ever let you see." (Eric Kohn, indieWIRE)

★★

"The Spectacular Now": "The rare teen drama that earns what you feel, with Oscar-level acting." (James Rocchi, MSN) "The best teen movie in many a season." (Scott Foundas, Village Voice)

"Ain't Them Bodies Saints": "Life after Badlands: chilly, classical Americana. Sounds, images thrill, a bit impressed with its own languor." (Guy Lodge, Variety) "Unsurprisingly, very involving, gorgeous outlaw western (of sorts) w/1st-rate performances all around." (Eric Kohn, indieWIRE) "The first big wow of Sundance ‘13. Quiet, arty, Malicky, off-center, darkly photographed, character- driven. Feels like a grandson of Altman's THIEVES LIKE US." (Jeffrey Wells, Hollywood Elsewhere) "Has got to be frontrunner for grand jury prize. Gorgeously crafted sorta western. All actors amazing." (Peter Knegt, indieWIRE)

"Stoker": "My favourite Sundance film so far is Park Chan-wook's demented, ragingly beautiful STOKER." (Guy Lodge, Variety)

Vielleicht sollte man noch FRUITVALE erwähnen.

Fruitvale won the Grand Jury Prize in the Dramatic competition at Sundance this year, and also took the Audience Award in the US Dramatic category