  |
|
| Pretty Bird and Sleep Dealer |
American Son(Director: Neil Abramson; Cast: Nick Cannon, Melonie Diaz, Matt O'Leary, Jay Hernandez, Tom Sizemore, Chi McBride)
Before being deployed for active duty, a young Marine takes a four-day Thanksgiving leave to return home to Bakersfield, California. There he meets a young woman, tries to connect with old friends and confronts his volatile home life.
Anywhere, U.S.A.(Director: Anthony Haney-Jardine; Cast: Perla Haney-Jardine)
Told in three segments, ranging from satirical to tragic, the film is a wildly original look at American manners, prejudices, and family dynamics.
Ballast(Country: US; Cast: Michael J Smith Sr, Jim Myron Ross, Tarra Riggs, Johnny McPhail)
A riveting, lyrical portrait of an emotionally frayed family whose lives are torn asunder by a tragic act in a small Mississippi Delta town.
See: Sundance Film Festival 2008: Day Eight
Choke(Director: Clark Gregg; Cast: Sam Rockwell, Anjelica Huston, Kelly MacDonald, Brad Henk)
An adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk’s (Fight Club) novel, Choke is the sardonic story about mother and son relationship, fear of aging, sexual addiction, and the dark side of historical theme parks.
See: Sundance Film Festival 2008: Day Eight
Downloading Nancy(Director: Johan Renck; Cast: Maria Bello, Jason Patric, Rufus Sewell, Amy Brenneman)
The tale of an unhappy wife whose online search for someone to put her out of her misery results in a torturous love affair.
  |
|
| Sunshine Cleaning and Good Dick |
Frozen River(Director: Courtney Hunt; Cast: Melissa Leo, Misty Upham, Charlie McDermott, Michael O'Keefe, Mark Boone, Jr)
Set in rural upstate New York on a Mohawk Reservation bordering Canada, a mother left to care for her teenage son finds herself lured into the world of illegal immigrant smuggling.
Good Dick(Country: US; Director: Marianna Palka; Cast: Marianna Palka, Jason Ritter, Eric Edelstein, Mark Webber, Martin Starr, Charles Durning, Tom Arnold, Jesse Garcia, Katherine Waterston, Elisabeth Waterston)
The tale of a lonely girl drawn from her isolated life and solitary apartment by a doting young video store clerk who strives to capture her affections.
Full Review See: Sundance 2008: Day Three
The Last Word(Country: US; Director: Geoffrey Haley; Writer: Geoffrey Haley; Cast: Wes Bentley, Winona Ryder, Ray Romano, Brent Miller, Alison Moir, Jill Sayre, Allan Rich, Kurt Caceres, Mickey Mickey)
The love life of a man with a morbid calling.
Full Review See: Sundance 2008: Day Three
The Mysteries Of Pittsburgh(Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber; Cast: Jon Foster, Peter Sarsgaard, Rawson Marshall Thurber, Sienna Miller, Mena Suvari, Nick Nolte)
Based on Michael Chabon's novel, the film chronicles the defining summer of a recent college graduate who crosses his gangster father and explores love, sexuality and the enigmas surrounding his life and his city.
North Starr(Director: Matthew Stanton; Cast: Jerome Hawkins, Matthew Stanton, Chris Sullivan, Isaac Lamb, Zach Johnson, Wayne Campbell)
After witnessing the brutal murder of his best friend, a young African American man flees the badlands of Houston and finds himself in Trublin, a backward, racially intolerant town where he meets an unlikely kindred spirit who takes him under his wing.
  |
|
| The Last Word and Choke |
Phoebe In Wonderland(Director: Daniel Barnz; Cast: Elle Fanning, Felicity Huffman, Patricia Clarkson, Bill Pullman, Campbell Scott, Peter Gerety)
Confounded by her clashes with the seemingly rule-obsessed world, a little girl takes her already dysfunctional family down the rabbit hole when she seeks enlightenment from her unconventional drama teacher.
See: Sundance 2008: Day Four
Pretty Bird(Director: Paul Schneider; Cast: Billy Crudup, Paul Giamatti, Kristen Wiig, David Hornsby)
A comic tale of three would-be entrepreneurs who set out to invent a rocket belt. The clash of their mismatched personalities soon dissolves the business into a morass of recriminations, retaliations, kidnapping and murder in this parable of American dreams and delusions.
Sleep Dealer(Country: US, Mexico; Director: Alex Rivera; Writer: Alex Rivera, David Riker; Cast: Luis Fernando Peña, Leonor Varela, Jacob Vargas)
Set in a nearfuture, militarized world marked by closed borders, virtual labor and a global digital network that joins minds and experiences, three strangers risk their lives to connect with each other and break the barriers of technology.
Full Review See: Sundance Film Festival 2008: Day Seven
Sugar(Director: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck; Cast: Algenis Perez Soto)
Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, who last teamed up for Half Nelson, chronicle the journey of Dominican baseball star Miguel "Sugar" Santos recruited from his native country to play in the US minor leagues.
Sunshine Cleaning(Director: Christine Jeffs; Cast: Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Steve Zahn, Alan Arkin)
Struck by financial hardship, an ambitious mother and her unmotivated sister become entrepreneurs in the field of biohazard removal and crime scene clean-up.
See: Sundance 2008: Day Four
The Wackness(Country: US; Director: Jonathan Levine; Writer: Jonathan Levine; Cast: Josh Peck, Ben Kingsley, Famke Janssen, Olivia Thirlby, Mary Kate Olsen, Method Man)
During a sweltering New York summer, a troubled teenage drug dealer trades pot for therapy sessions with a drug-addled psychiatrist, and in the process falls for the doctor's daughter.
Full Review See: Tribeca 2008 Diary: Day 3 and 4
