Best of the 2018 Sundance Film Festival

The 2018 Sundance Film Festival has come to a close.  Overall, this wasn’t really the strongest year for Sundance.  It was a great year for documentaries and Midnight movies, but the Dramatic competition films and Premiere films were somewhat lackluster.  I saw 25 movies this festival (it would have been more, but I got sick and didn’t see movies for two days).  However, out of the 25 movies that I did see (I would have seen more, but I got sick and didn’t see movies for two days) there were quite a few that I liked and a number of good performances.  Here are my picks for the best movies and performances of the 2018 Sundance Film Festival.

 

This list is based on the movies that I saw, not all the movies of the festival.

 

 

TOP 5 MOVIES

 

 

 

5 – YARDIE (Idris Elba)

Actor Idris Elba takes a break from being in front of the camera and steps behind it to give us Yardie.  This is a Jamaican gangster film about revenge and family draped in eye-popping colors, gritty action, and great music.  This is a movie that is full of life and energy and Elba proves he is as talented of a director as he is an actor.  I cannot wait to see what Elba does next as a director.

 

 

4 – MANDY (Panos Cosmatos)

Before going into this movie, you need to know two things: this movie stars Nicolas Cage as a man hunting a biker gang and it was in the Midnight section, meaning blood, gore, and mayhem are a must.  This is a movie of pure chaos.  A psychedelic, violent nightmare that could have been billed as a double-feature grindhouse movie.  Nicolas Cage is incredible, giving a performance that is half brilliant and half the Cageiest thing he’s ever done.  This isn’t a movie for everyone, but if you like wild, blood-soaked midnight flicks, this is the one for you.

 

 

3 – MONSTER (Anthony Mandler)

Monster is a movie that is all about identity and perception.  When high schooler Steve (a brilliant Kelvin Harris Jr.) is accused of being an accessory to a robbery and murder, it is up to his lawyer (a focused Jennifer Ehle) to convince the jury he is not the monster he has been portrayed to be.  Timely and moving, with some really important talking points, especially at the end, Monster is a special movie with a great ensemble, powerful themes, and a promising young director.

 

 

2 – AMERICAN ANIMALS (Bart Layton)

American Animals is a movie that you have to see to believe.  Telling the true story of a story of four college kids who decide to rob a rare book collection at their college for sheer excitement.  Layton combines classic heist narratives with documentary interviews with the actual people who planned the heist.  Led by a dynamite, star-making performance from Evan Peters, this is a fascinating, intense, wildly entertaining heist flick.

 

 

1 – HEREDITARY (Ari Aster)

Hereditary is a truly special movie.  Due to the over saturation of horror movies, it is truly rare for one to genuinely scare.  Not jump-scare, but genuinely horrify and disturb me.  Hereditary is one of those movies.  Part Rosemary’s Baby, part The Exorcist, part The Shining, with a bunch of originality, Hereditary is a movie that will shake you for days after you see it.  Toni Collette gives an awards-worthy performance as a mother who’s life is turned upside down after a horrific family accident.  This is a slow-burning movie, but one that will have you on the edge of your seat the whole time.  This is a modern horror classic that will shock and scare people for years to come.

 

 

 

 

BEST OF THE REST

 

 

BEST DIRECTOR –  ARI ASTER for HEREDITARY 

Runner Up – Anthony Mandler for Monster 

• Aster’s debut film shows signs of a true master, as he channels his inner Kubrick to give us a tightly wound, horrifying masterpiece.

 

 

BEST ACTOR – EVAN PETERS in AMERICAN ANIMALS 

Runner Up – Kelvin Harris Jr. in Monster

• Both actors should become stars after these performances, but it was Peters who lit up the screen with an electric, intense, captivating performance.

 

 

BEST ACTRESS – TONI COLLETTE in HEREDITARY 

Runner Up – Kiersey Clemons in Hearts Beat Loud

• Collette takes a role that, in the hands of a lesser actress, could have been campy or over-the-top and instead makes shakes us to our core by showing us a woman who is victim of unforeseen terror.

 

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – ROBERT FORSTER in WHAT THEY HAD

Runner Up – Armie Hammer in Sorry to Bother You 

• In his best performance since his Oscar nominated turn in Jackie Brown, Forster is truly heartbreaking as a husband who refuses to put his Alzheimer’s ridden wife in a special home.

 

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS – BLYTH DANNER in WHAT THEY HAD 

Runner Up – Tessa Thompson in Sorry to Bother You 

• Danner is astounding as a woman who is losing her mind and her family due to Alzheimer’s.  Like Collette, in the hands of a lesser actress, this performance would have been over the top and hammy.  But Danner plays it with class and it pulls at the heart-strings.

 

 

BEST SCREENPLAY – SORRY TO BOTHER YOU 

Runner Up – AMERICAN ANIMALS

• Sorry to Bother You shows us the power of protest in the most surreal, bizarre, fantastical way.

 

 

BEST DOCUMENTARY – ROBIN WILLIAMS: COME INSIDE MY MIND

Runner Up – SCIENCE FAIR

• I missed a lot of the major docs this year, but Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind is a beautiful tribute to the comedic icon.

 

 

BEST MIDNIGHT MOVIE – MANDY

Runner Up – Arizona

• Arizona boasts a great cast and is a nice blend of comedy and violence.  But Mandy is a classic midnight movie that will blow your mind.

 

 

 

 

OVERALL RANKING OF ALL THE MOVIES I SAW

1 – HEREDITARY 

2 – AMERICAN ANIMALS

3 – MONSTER

4 – MANDY

5 – YARDIE

6 – ROBIN WILLIAMS: COME INSIDE MY MIND

7 – SCIENCE FAIR 

8 – ASSASSINATION NATION 

9 – SORRY TO BOTHER YOU 

10 – ARIZONA

11 – WHAT THEY HAD

12 – HEARTS BEAT LOUD

13 – DAMSEL

14 – YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE

15 – NANCY

16 – RBG

17 – BLINDSPOTTING 

18 – PIERCING 

19 – TYREL 

20 – JULIET, NAKED

21 – REVENGE 

22 – 306 HOLLYWOOD 

23 – MONSTERS AND MEN 

24 – PUZZLE 

25 – NEVER GOIN’ BACK

 

 

 

 

Make sure to keep an eye out for all these movies and more coming to theaters later this year.  And follow Kevflix on Twitter and Instagram, @kevflix, or on Facebook by searching Kevflix.