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Sundance Film Festival
- 2008
- PG13
- AddWhere in the World Is Osama bin Laden?to QueueAddWhere in the World Is Osama bin Laden?to top of Queue
After revealing just what a diet of Big Macs can do to a person, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock takes a tongue-in-cheek look at another threat to our collective well-being in this witty documentary from the maker of Super Size Me. When Spurlock learns that he and his wife are expecting a baby, he decides that he wants the child to grow up in a safer world than we know today, so he takes it upon himself to track down the most dangerous man on Earth, Osama bin Laden. Spurlock hops on a plane and flies to the Middle East in search of his quarry, making stops in Egypt, Morocco, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan as he keeps an eye peeled for the head of Al Qaeda. When he isn't playing sleuth, Spurlock interviews people representing all walks of life, ranging from Orthodox Israeli enclaves and a mosque operated by rabidly anti-American Muslims to political moderates and ordinary folks at the supermarket, quizzing them about the nature of post-9/11 conflict and the need for peace. Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden? received its world premiere at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Sterlin Harjo's gentle coming-of-age drama Four Sheets to the Wind opens in the hamlet of Holdenville, Oklahoma, where a young Native American man, Cufe Smallhill (Cody Lightning of Smoke Signals), discovers his father's dead body. His dad's last wish, it seems, was to be buried in the local pond. Cufe fulfills this request, packs his bags, and heads off to the metropolis of Tulsa, where he sets about building a new life for himself. Above and beyond its dramatic, narrative and aesthetic strengths, Harjo's film retains enormous sociocultural interest as one of the few films by, about, and starring American Indians - a rare feature to concern itself with contemporary Indian lifestyles in lieu of dramatizing Native American histories. Tamara Podemski co-stars as Cufe's sister Miri. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cody Lightning, Jeri Arredondo, (more)
The contemplative, understated tearjerker Grace is Gone dramatizes the quiet crisis that befalls Stanley (John Cusack), a young Midwestern husband of a female marine stationed in Iraq, and a father of two girls. Suddenly and unexpectedly widowed when his wife, Grace, is murdered on the battlefield, Stanley cannot bring himself to share the devastating news with his two young daughters. In lieu of speaking to them immediately about their mother's death, Stanley internalizes his devastation and takes the girls on a road trip, while he attempts to sort through a myriad of conflicted and tumultuous internal feelings about the war itself and contemplates how to break the shattering news. Inevitably, the road trip will end with Grace's funeral. This film represents the brainchild of producer-star Cusack and writer-director James C. Strouse. It began with Cusack's fury about the Bush administration's policy banning footage of caskets returned from the Iraq and Afghani wars, and his desire to see those events played out onscreen, in the lives of American citizens. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Cusack, Shélan O'Keefe, (more)
Filmmaker David Sington merges the magnificence of science with the compelling drama of the human quest for advancement with this compelling and visually stunning meditation on the historic Apollo space program. In the four remarkable years between 1968 and 1972, American history took a defining turn as nine NASA spacecraft made the trip to the moon, and twelve bold explorers became the first men ever to set foot on ground beyond planet Earth. In this documentary, space enthusiast Sington allows the surviving crew members from each Apollo mission the unique opportunity to recount their memories of those missions in their own words as vintage, original NASA film footage offers a tantalizing glimpse of this extraordinary era in American history. Candid interviews with the astronauts reveal the sensitive and fun-loving souls whose fearlessness would lead a nation into a new era of progress, and audio recordings from Mission Control lend a newfound sense of poignancy to a variety of oft-recounted historical milestones. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Sam Rockwell and Vera Farmiga star in director George Ratliff's uncomfortable psychological thriller Joshua, as Brad and Abby Cairn, an affluent young stockbroker and his wife, raising children in New York City. Their firstborn, the nine-year-old Joshua (Jacob Kogan) is a frighteningly intelligent child - to such a degree that he thinks and acts decades ahead of his age. Nearly always clad in formal wear and demonstrating limitless brilliance as a pianist - with a marked predilection for "dissonant" classical pieces - Joshua gravitates toward his gay aesthete uncle (Dallas Roberts) as a close friend, but distances himself from his immediate kith - particularly when Abby brings a newborn baby sister home from the hospital and unwisely alienates the young tyke. As the days pass, one at a time, the mood at the house regresses from healthy and happy to strange, unsettled and disorienting; meanwhile, bizarre events transpire. As the baby's whines drive an already strained Abby to the point of a nervous breakdown, Joshua devolves from eccentric to downright sociopathic behavior, discarding all of his toys, disemboweling a stuffed animal, and killing off pets. One at a time, family members also begin to suffer tragic fates - but are they Joshua's fevered and psychotic doings or merely the result of happenstance? ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sam Rockwell, Vera Farmiga, (more)
Brazil is a nation where political and economic corruption and violent crime are a way of life for many, and filmmaker Jason Kohn examines some of the more unusual ways they manifest themselves in this documentary. In Manda Bala (Send a Bullet), Kohn's subjects include a plastic surgeon whose practice is dominated by the victims of kidnappers who lost their ears to their captors; a political figure who uses his frog ranch as a cover for illegal business operations which have made him a multi-millionaire; and an auto customizer whose specialty is bullet-proofing luxury cars. Manda Bala (Send A Bullet) won the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jader Barbalho, Claudio Fonteles, (more)
Filmmaker Bill Guttentag takes a closer look at the atrocities committed by the Japanese after Nanking fell to the Imperial Japanese Army in 1937 with this documentary that was inspired by Iris Chang's novel The Rape of Nanking. Compiled from over 700 hours of footage including news-reel footage, interviews with survivors and soldiers, and staged readings, Nanking was financed in large by millionaire Ted Leonsis, who had read Chang's obituary and subsequently been prompted to read the author's best-selling account of the massacre. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hugo Armstrong, Rosalind Chao, (more)
On March 19, 2003, forces from the United States and a handful of allied nations invaded Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein from power. American military leaders expected the conflict to last no more than a few months, and President George W. Bush declared that major military operations were over less than two months later. However, Iraq soon became a dangerous quagmire for American forces, and near the end of 2006, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, one of the key architects of America's strategy in Iraq, resigned from office due to public outcry and Bush declared he was "rethinking" his plan of attack in Iraq as the nation sank into civil war, with U.S. troops the frequent targets of attacks on both sides. How and why did America's leaders decide to invade Iraq? How did they formulate a strategy that went so far wrong? And can anything be done to salvage the situation? Filmmaker Charles Ferguson, a former advisor with the Brookings Institution, examines these questions in No End In Sight, a documentary on the War in Iraq which includes interviews with a number of figures involved in the conflict's decision-making process, some speaking on camera about the war for the first time. No End In Sight was screened in competition at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
A Dublin-based busker and vacuum-cleaner repairman enters into a fruitful relationship with a piano playing florist in a toe-tapping "video album" directed by John Carney and featuring a cast comprised entirely of professional musicians. He (Glen Hansard of the Frames) was a six-stringed street musician. She (Markéta Irglová) was a flower woman who couldn't afford to purchase a piano of her own. One day, after admiring the musician's songs and asking if he would take a look at her broken vacuum, the flower-pushing piano player discovers that she shares a remarkable sonic rapport with the mechanically savvy guitarist. As their musical sensibilities quickly converge to striking effect, the talented pair soon determines to record an album together. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová, (more)
- 2007
- NR
- AddSangre de Mi Sangreto Queue
Writer/director Christopher Zalla authored and helms the contemporary post-noir thriller Blood of My Blood. The film concerns Juan, a ruthless and conniving ex-career criminal who tries to escape his past by hopping a truck transporting illegal immigrants from Mexico to the Big Apple. Over the course of his journey, Juan meets and befriends Pedro, a sweet but illiterate Puebla native -- long-estranged from his father, Diego -- who harbors a strong desire to make contact with his dad and holds a letter of introduction from his mother to help him accomplish his goal. The naïve Pedro falls into the clutches of the sociopathic Juan, who promptly wins his confidence, then rips off all of his belongings during the night and attempts to steal his identity, plotting to fallaciously present himself to Diego as the gentleman's son. The film then cross-cuts between the story of each man (one desperate, the other slick and arrogant) as they each seek out food and shelter and comb the city for the man in whom they see a chance to establish a secure future. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jorge Ádrian Espíndola, Armando Hernandez, (more)
A pair of siblings are forced to set aside their discomfort with one another for the sake of their father in this low-key comedy drama from writer/director Tamara Jenkins. Wendy Savage (Laura Linney) is a struggling playwright living in New York City who works a day job to support herself and can't shake the feeling that she's failed as an artist. Wendy isn't especially happy about her love life either, gaining little self-esteem from her on-and-off affair with oversexed, married neighbor Larry (Peter Friedman). Wendy's anxieties about her writing career are intensified by the success of her brother, Jon (Philip Seymour Hoffman), who teaches theater history at a college in Buffalo, NY, and has published a number of books. While Jon's life seems fine on the surface, a case of writer's block has stalled work on his latest project, and he's deeply upset that his girlfriend is soon to leave the United States to return to her native Poland. Wendy and Jon don't get along and prefer not to see one another, but an unfortunate circumstance brings them together -- their father, Lenny Savage (Philip Bosco). Elderly Lenny has began showing signs of dementia, and shortly after he takes to smearing his feces on the walls of his Arizona home, his ailing long-term girlfriend suddenly dies. Wendy and Jon have little choice but to fly to Arizona and see what can be done for Lenny, but their long-simmering animosity makes it hard for them to deal with the realities of Lenny's condition. The Savages received its world premiere at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, (more)
An aimless 20-year-old with a penchant for following the rules receives a mysterious set of instructions that lead him down a path from which he may never return in director Géla Babluani's tense tale of death and chance. Sébastien has come into possession of a train ticket and a mysterious set of instructions. Though he is unsure of exactly what fate awaits him when he arrives at his destination, one thing is certain: these items were most certainly not meant for him. Bored by his uneventful existence and hungering for something new, Sébastien boards the outbound train and takes his first bold steps into an unknown future. But the world can be a cruel and unforgiving place filled with unfeeling men to whom human life means little more than a lost wager, and if Sébastien is to make it through his harrowing journey alive he must keep his wits about him and pray that luck is on his side. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Babluani, Aurélien Recoing, (more)
- 2006
- R
- AddA Guide to Recognizing Your Saintsto QueueAddA Guide to Recognizing Your Saintsto top of Queue
The harsh realities of life on the street merge with the universal themes of youthful pain and exhilaration in director Dito Montiel's telling tale of one boy's struggle to escape the grim fate that awaits his aimless, trouble-minded peers. For most of Montiel's friends, the only means of escaping their bleak surroundings were drugs, prison, or death. In breaking the cycle and making a name for himself as a filmmaker, Montiel showed that there are ways to overcome the urban malaise that consumed the majority of his friends. He couldn't have done it alone, though, and with this film Montiel pays tribute to those he left behind by bringing their story to the screen so that their struggles may give others in similar situations the courage to pursue a more positive, creative means of overcoming their anger. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Downey, Jr., Shia LaBeouf, (more)
- 2006
- AddAll Aboard! Rosie's Family Cruiseto QueueAddAll Aboard! Rosie's Family Cruiseto top of Queue
Entertainer Rosie O'Donnell, her wife, Kelli, and their children set sail for the Bahamas with 500 other gay, lesbian, and transgendered families in this television documentary. All Aboard! Rosie's Family Cruise goes behind the scenes of the 2004 inaugural voyage of R Family Vacations, a gay travel company founded by the O'Donnells. Interviews with a cross-section of passengers are interspersed with footage of on-ship entertainment (including Broadway-style musical numbers featuring O'Donnell) and on-shore demonstrations by anti-gay activists. The cruise's passengers include not only gay parents and their adopted and biological children, but also straight parents, siblings, and friends of gay passengers. O'Donnell says the goal in launching her company was to provide vacations with an atmosphere in which same-sex partners and their kids could feel welcome instead of scrutinized. Interview subjects recount tales of other, less queer-friendly vacations, while others give a peek at the realities of gay marriage and adoption. Several longtime couples celebrate weddings and commitment ceremonies, while others meet new friends and, in some cases, sperm donors and surrogate mothers. All Aboard! Rosie's Family Cruise premiered April 6, 2006, on HBO. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
The ways in which African-American voters have been marginalized in the electoral process are examined in this activist documentary. In the investigation of ballot counting in Florida in the much-contested 2000 presidential election, it was discovered that many of the communities where inaccurate tabulating took place were largely populate by African-Americans, who have traditionally been loyal Democratic voters. Filmmaker Ian Inaba digs into the controversy over the 2000 ballot count and the ways in which race played a hand in the legal decisions that resulted in George W. Bush's appointment as president. Ianba's research also leads him to Representative Cynthia McKinney, a congresswoman from Georgia who spearheaded an investigation of the firm that created voter lists for the State of Florida (and had ties to high-ranking Republican figures) and was also an outspoken opponent of Bush's policies regarding terrorism and the war in Iraq. In the 2002 election, McKinney had reason to believe she had fallen victim to the same corruption she sought to expose when she lost her House of Representatives seat in a hotly contested election. American Blackout received its premiere at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cynthia McKinney, John Lewis, (more)
Former vice president Al Gore shares his concerns on the pressing issue of global warming in this documentary. A long-time environmental activist, Gore first became aware of evidence on global warming in the 1970s, and since leaving public office he has become a passionate advocate for large- and small-scale changes in our laws and lifestyles that could help alleviate this crisis. An Inconvenient Truth records a multi-media presentation hosted by Gore in which he discusses the scientific facts behind global warming, explains how it has already begun to affect our environment, talks about the disastrous consequences if the world's governments and citizens do not act, and shares what each individual can do to help protect the Earth for this and future generations. An Inconvenient Truth was directed by Davis Guggenheim, a veteran documentary filmmaker who also has an extensive background in episodic television. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Three young men leave behind a land in chaos to find new lives in a thoroughly different culture in this documentary. As the African nation of Sudan fell into political disarray near the dawn of the 21st century, with unspeakable violence following in its wake, thousands of refugees attempted to flee the country, making their way into Kenya in hopes of earning passage elsewhere. Jon Bul Dau, Daniel Abu Pach, and Panther Bior were three such people who eventually came to the United States, and filmmaker Christopher Quinn spent four years following them on their journey in a new and unfamiliar land. In God Grew Tired of Us, Quinn documents the young men as they struggle to build new lives for themselves, acquaint themselves with the "American" way of doing things, the difficulties of being black in a primarily white culture, and try to track down the friends and family they were forced to leave behind. God Grew Tired of Us received its North American premier at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival; actor Brad Pitt served as the film's executive producer. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Bul Dau, Panther Bior, (more)
An inner-city teacher struggling with addiction forms an unlikely bond with a young student who catches him in a compromising position in director Ryan Fleck's feature-length adaptation of his own award-winning short film Gowanus, Brooklyn. Despite his dedication to the junior-high students who fill his classroom, idealistic teacher Dan Dunne (Ryan Gosling) leads a secret life that the majority of his students will never know. When Dunne's drug-soaked nightlife begins to bleed over into his daytime hours and troubled student Drey (Shareeka Epps) makes a startling discovery, the tenuous bond that forms between the pair soon leads to a warm friendship that could either lead them down a dangerous path or provide the human companionship needed to see things from a fresh perspective and start life anew. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ryan Gosling, Shareeka Epps, (more)
Upon learning that the object of her affections only has eyes for an Americanized Korean girl, a recently arrived teenage Korean immigrant is forced to journey inward to ponder her outsider status in director So Yong Kim's melancholy tale of acceptance and isolation. Aimie is a stranger in a strange land, and her only connection to the new world that surrounds her is her best friend, Tran. Eager to take their relationship to the next level but frightened at the prospect of losing her only friend, Aimie keeps her growing feelings to herself even as Tran shows increasing signs of affection for another, more Americanized Korean girl. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jiseon Kim, Taegu Andy Kang, (more)
The hardships of a Mexico City construction crew struggling to complete a second deck atop the massive Periférico Freeway are explored in director Juan Carlos Rulfo's studied look at the modern work ethic. As countless drivers zoom past the enormous worksite day after day, the anonymous workers toil away in a relentless drive to finish construction on the massive freeway addition by the scheduled completion date of December 2005. Despite the long hours and sometimes harsh working conditions, workers such as "Shorty" and "EL Grande" look past the sub-standard safety conditions to focus on the task at hand. Though both men know that when the project is finally completed they will likely receive little to no recognition for their monumental feat, the differing attitudes that they take towards their jobs offers a compelling look at the divisive opinions that many Mexicans hold in regards to both themselves and their country. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shorty Rogers & His Band, El Grande, (more)
In this contemplative documentary from filmmaker Philip Gröning, the Grande Chartreuse monastery opens its doors to the public for the first time since being founded by St. Bruno in 1084 to offer an intimate look at a lifestyle rarely experienced by those outside of the brotherhood. Located in the remote regions of the French Alps, near the Dauphiné Alps, the Grande Chartreuse is the top monastery of the Carthusian order. In this documentary, the lives of the pious monks of Grande Chartreuse are captured on film as director Groening adapts to their ascetic lifestyle for six months and captures their daily life without the intrusion of voice-over, musical score, interviews, or archival footage. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Filmmaker James Longley offers three thumbnail sketches of Iraq as the nation struggles to its feet following the American Invasion in this documentary. In the film's first chapter, Mohammed Haithem is an 11-year-old forced to make his own way in Bagdhad after the disappearance of his parents. Mohammed earns his keep working in an auto-repair shop, though he would prefer to go back to school, and has developed a precocious cynicism about the presence of U.S. troops along with a fear of the ongoing battles between Sunni and Shia forces. Elsewhere, the struggle of the Kurdish people of Iraq is personified in a handful of people working together on a farm, where they tend crops, make bricks, and look to their blighted past as well as hoping for a brighter future. And the fundamentalist Shiite cabal of Moqtada Sadr is profiled as they travel from Najaf to Naseriyah, promoting government based on a strict interpretation of Muslim law. As Moqtada Sadr's military cadres enforce the rule they have set down, they clash with American soldiers, further dividing an already polarized populace. Iraq in Fragments was screened in competition at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mohammed Haithem
When a pudgy, bespectacled seven-year-old, Olive (Abigail Breslin), voices her desire to take home the coveted Little Miss Sunshine crown at an upcoming beauty pageant, her wildly dysfunctional family sets out on an interstate road trip to ensure her a clear shot at realizing her dreams in former music video directorial team Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris' quirky feature debut, starring Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, and Toni Collette. Despite early career success as an outspoken motivational speaker, family patriarch Richard (Kinnear) continues to cling to his "Refuse to Lose" philosophy, much to the chagrin of his increasingly annoyed spouse, Sheryl (Collette). Add into the mix a Nietzsche-reading teenage son (Paul Dano) who has taken a vow of silence until he finds his fate as a fighter pilot; a horny, heroin-happy grandfather (Alan Arkin) with a penchant for creative profanity; and a suicidal genius (Carell) and Proust scholar still reeling about losing both his male lover and his MacArthur Foundation genius grant -- and the stage is set for a road trip in which sanity is sure to take the back seat. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, (more)
The dangerous journey of poor Central Americans though Mexico as they attempt to sneak into America in search of a better life is brought to the screen in this documentary. The majority of Central Americans live below the poverty line and most are in a constant struggle for survival; desperate to improve their circumstances, many try to leave their home behind and attempt to improve their circumstances by joining the underground economy in America. However, the path through Mexico to America is not a safe or simple one to follow, and each year an estimated 145,000 Central Americans are captured by Mexican police and sent back home. Many suffer brutal treatment at the hands of Mexican authorities, and hunger, disease, and exposure also claims the lives of many undocumented immigrants. Filmmaker Tin Dirdamal interviews a number of Central Americans trying to make their way through Mexico, as well as others who were unsuccessful in their efforts, and a handful of Mexicans sympathetic to the plight of the immigrants. No One was screened as part of the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maria Luisa Ponce, Antonio Ponce, (more)
A Hispanic teenager travels the rough road to adult responsibility earlier than she expected in this independent drama. Magdalena (Emily Rios) is a young Latina who is looking forward to her upcoming quinceaqera celebration -- the 15th birthday party that marks the passage into adulthood for Mexican-American women. Magdalena's expectations are raised by the lavish party her older cousin Eileen (Alicia Sixtos) gets for the occasion, but Magdalena's mother (Araceli Guzman-Rico) and father (Jesus Castanos-Chima) insist on a lower-key affair that will focus on the more responsible aspects of grown-up life. However, Magdalena gets a crash course in that subject when she discovers she's pregnant with the child of her boyfriend, Herman (J.R. Cruz); life at home becomes unbearable for her, and she leaves to live with her more sympathetic uncle, Tio Thomas (Chalo Gonzalez). Home for Tio Thomas and Magdalena is a small apartment in a building owned by James (Jason L. Wood) and Gary (David W. Ross), a gay couple looking to gentrify the neighborhood. Magdalena strikes up a friendship with her cousin Carlos (Jesse Garcia), a roughneck teen with a good heart who is also on the outs with his family when they discover he's experimenting with his sexuality. Produced in part by Todd Haynes, Quinceaqera received its premiere at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emily Rios, Jesse Garcia, (more)
