Film

What to see (and what to avoid) at the first Sundance London Film Festival

Declan Tan | Wednesday 25 April, 2012 13:07

The first ever Sundance London Film and Music Festival kicks off later this week, from 26-29th April, with indie-Jesus Robert Redford sticking his boots into everyone’s favourite little indoor town (the O2 Arena in Greenwich, if it wasn’t already your favourite little indoor town).

A mixed bag of new films – mostly award winners from the American Sundance – will be making their UK premieres before theatrical release, 14 to be precise.

There will be good. There will be bad. There will be painful. Here’s our list of what to see, and what not to see, with full reviews to follow.

YES
Liberal Arts
Woody Allen-lite to start with, before going on to actually say something

Safety Not Guaranteed
Parks and Recreation combines with The League for some comedy shenanigans

The Queen of Versailles

The House I Live In
War on Drugs Sundance Jury Prize winning documentary from Eugene Jarecki

Chasing Ice
Climate change documentary about National Geographic photojournalist James Balog as he trains revolutionary time lapse cameras on melting glaciers

NO
An Oversimplification of Her Beauty
A short film stretched to excruciating lengths. Better to just sleep
Filly Brown
‘8 Mile’ meets Immortal Technique and has a crap film baby
2 Days in New York
Unless you liked the irritant-as-film ’2 Days in Paris’ then you might be prepared for ‘Julie Delpy Guesses Who’s Coming for Dinner’
Nobody Walks
Beyond navel-gazing film about the self-pitying Hollywood bourgeoisie

MAYBE
Finding North
Facile and condescending documentary about food insecurity and poverty in the USA, yet certainly a worthy subject
For Ellen
Wannabe rockstar Paul Dano wants to meet his daughter. Takes ages.
SHUT UP AND PLAY THE HITS
LCD Soundsystem’s last gig, filmed in Madison Square Garden. If you like them then you will like this, probably.
LUV
Baltimore-set reunion for a good few members of ‘The Wire’, a good first half an hour, then becomes every cliché in the ‘umma-gainsta’ movie handbook
River’s Edge
Chance to see Keanu Reeves and Crispin Glover in the 1986 crime drama on the big screen. Can watch it at home though can’t you?

Seriously, No:
An Oversimplification of Her Beauty
Nobody Walks

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