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PARK CITY — Is there a better time in Utah for movie geeks than Sundance season?
Not only does the film festival premiere some of the best, original projects of 2015, but it’s one of the few settings where a completely unknown talent can showcase work next to some of Hollywood’s elite. No sequels, no remakes, just beautifully personal expressions from filmmakers dying to tell a story.
This year, the number of great projects to watch for is pretty overwhelming, so at best we’ll call our list here a Sundance sampler. If these five titles catch your interest, definitely look into the other great offerings at Sundance.org, and watch theater listings, Netflix, and digital download sites like iTunes and Vudu for wider releases throughout the year.
So, to get you started, here are five titles we think you should keep an eye on at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
“Napoleon Dynamite” director Jared Hess is back at Sundance, teaming up once again with festival favorite Sam Rockwell. This time, Hess is injecting his unique brand of humor into the tale of a biblical archeologist searching the Holy Land for faith-promoting relics. Being called a “comedy of faith and fraud,” this will be a hard one to get tickets to over the next couple of weeks, but expect to see “Verdean” picked up for a wider release later this year.
"The D Train" =============Another comedy to watch for is the Jack Black, James Marsden high school reunion adventure. As you may have already guessed, Black will play the unpopular kid from yesteryear, and Marsden, the handsome everything man. Circumstances bring the two together before the reunion and, I suspect, hilarity actively ensues from that point forward.
Black and Marsden are both genuinely gifted actors, even if some of their recent projects haven’t resonated with audiences. Here’s hoping “The D Train” taps into their potential and becomes a highlight for 2015.
"Last Days in the Desert" =========================Exploring the 40 days of Jesus’ spiritual journey in the desert, Ewan McGregor plays both Jesus and Lucifer in this intriguing festival submission.
Possibly most interesting to audiences will be Emmanuel Lubezki’s involvement. This will be the cinematographer’s follow-up to “Gravity” and “Birdman,” and if he can do for the empty canvas of a desert what he did for space and the backstage of a theater, at the very least, this will be a beautiful film to stare at.
"What happened, Miss Simone" ============================There are so many great documentaries showing in Park City this year that this article could’ve easily become a list of five docs to watch for.
That said, director Liz Garbus is especially gifted when it comes to painting cinematic portraits, and Nina Simone is a subject perfect for Garbus’ brand of storytelling. Garbus is becoming a regular at Sundance, and each entry gets better and better.
One of the more commercial titles for 2015 is “True Story,” already set for a wider release later this year thanks to Fox Searchlight.
“True Story” follows the actual events of Michael Finkel, a man fired from the New York Times for fabricating story details. In 2001, Finkel learned a suspected murderer, Christian Longo, had been using the name Michael Finkel as an alias, causing Finkel to begin following the story and engaging in interviews with Longo.
Starring Jonah Hill and James Franco, this doesn’t quite look like the next “Capote,” but it definitely has an interesting premise and could be the breakout project director Rupert Goold is looking for.
Travis Poppleton has been covering movie news, film reviews and live events for Deseret News and KSL.com since 2010 and co-hosts the FlixJunkies podcast. You can contact him at tspoppleton@gmail.com.
