I only got to experience half of this year's US Dramatic Competition films (unfortunately, missing David Lowery's buzzed-about Ain't Them Bodies Saints [1], which shared the Best Cinematography Award with Andrew Dosunmu's breathtaking Mother of George [2]).
Still, among the films I saw, I was pleasantly surprised by James Ponsoldt's brutally poignant coming-of-age drama The Spectacular Now [3]. With a straight-ahead script that avoids clichés, the film benefits greatly from a pair of standout performances by its young stars. Miles Teller, from John Cameron Mitchell's Rabbit Hole (2010) and Craig Brewer's underrated remake of Footloose (2011), perfectly embodies a high-school asshole, while Shailene Woodley (so good in Alexander Payne's 2011 The Descendants) is spot-on as the class loner.
The Spectacular Now offers a reminder that high school sucks just as much as it did when you were a teenager. Along with last year's The Perks of Being a Wallflower, it's John Hughes, 21st-century style.
Elsewhere, Shane Carruth's Upstream Color [4] (following his much-praised, much-debated 2004 Primer) put me into an Inception-like trance, to the point of me probably needing to see it again before I can speak logically about it. Jill Soloway's Afternoon Delight [5] won the Best Directing award and featured noteworthy performances by Kathryn Hahn and Juno Temple, but its bafflingly regressive conclusion has left me wondering if a studio forced the director to change it at the last minute. (That said, I enjoyed it immensely.)
Lynn Shelton's latest entry Touchy Feely [6] was only superficially engaging; it seemed to lack the bold direction and poignancy of Humpday (2009) and Your Sister's Sister (2011). Jordon Vogt-Roberts' Toy's House [7] sent the audience into hysterical laughter (supposedly at every screening) due to a memorable performance by Disney Channel star Moises Arias as the creepy third wheel in what's more or less a suburban Lord of the Flies. (Fans of NBC's Parks and Rec won't want to miss Nick Offerman in this, either.) Could Toy's House be this year's Little Miss Sunshine?
Links:
[1] http://atbsfilm.tumblr.com/
[2] http://www.belcourt.org/events/sundance-film-festival-usa-mother-of-george.534984
[3] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1714206/
[4] http://erbpfilm.com/film/upstreamcolor
[5] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2312890/
[6] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2364949/
[7] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2179116/