Last time on Sundance So Far, we discussed “The Bronze” and other movies that opened the festival. Temperatures dropped to 18 degrees at sundown in Park City, Utah, on Day 2 of Sundance. Parkas were out and crowds were thick at some of the most anticipated films of the opening weekend. The press screening for “Z for Zachariah,” filled up two hours before the film began, and Jason Segel stunned audiences as David Foster Wallace at the world premiere of “The End of the Tour.” We’ll write about both of those films shortly, but here are the other titles HuffPost Entertainment editor Matthew Jacobs and Los Angeles senior editor Sasha Bronner caught on Friday:
“Stockholm, Pennsylvania”
Written and directed by Nikole Beckwith
Starring Saoirse Ronan, Jason Isaacs and Cynthia Nixon
There is more than initially meets the eye in the post-kidnapping drama about a young woman, played by Saoirse Ronan (“The Grand Budapest Hotel”), who is returned to her home after being held captive in a basement for the majority of her life.
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*****
“Ten Thousand Saints”
Written and drected by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini
Starring Ethan Hawke, Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, Emile Hirsch and Emily Mortimer
Who doesn’t want to see Ethan Hawke as a burner, weed-selling, dysfunctional father with a heart of gold? Apparently no one, because the premiere of his new film “Ten Thousand Saints” was sold out Friday evening at the Sundance Film Festival. Hawke stars alongside Emily Mortimer, Hailee Steinfeld, Emile Hirsch and
Asa Butterfield, and is the center of an off-kilter family dealing with an actual tragedy and also the general tragedy of growing up.
Set in the 1980s, first in Vermont and then in the East Village in New York City, the film is dripping with teen angst, drugs and rock and roll. Actually, teen angst, weed, cocaine, mushrooms, plenty of huffing and punk rock, to be exact. There are Hare Krishnas, tattoos, protests in New York City and a genre of the hardcore punk scene called “straight edge” where abstinence and sobriety are encouraged.
The teen stars of the film are its strength, carrying their angst like a heavy duffle bag thrown in the corner of every room they enter. But there is a lot packed into the story and there may just be too many protagonists involved for many viewers’ tastes. We probably aren’t supposed to, but in some ways end up rooting the most for Hawke in all his flawed attempts at being a decent father.
Filmmaking duo Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini work as a team writing, directing and editing and are best known for “American Splendor” (2003), “The Nanny Diaries” (2007) and “Cinema Verite” (2011). The two were nominated for an Academy Award in 2003 for their writing of “American Splendor.”
The writing in “Ten Thousand Saints” gives Hawke room to make audiences laugh with his idea of good parenting and one of the most awkward father-son talks we have seen. In a surprisingly poignant moment, he reveals to his son (played by Butterfield) one of his observations about the world and about family: “Women make their decisions and men are just trying not to be men. The whole system needs looking over.”
Young Millenials will flock to the film if they are looking for an indie, hipster coming of age story with plenty of bad decisions and always, of course, the promise of love. — SB
