By Sarah Sluis
Let's skip past awards season for a minute. The lineup for the 2012 Sundance Film Festival has been released. Surprisingly, none of the fifteen movies in the premiere section have distribution yet. Included in the lineup are plenty of romances, comedies, and offbeat premises that will be sure to connect with Sundance's youthful core demographic. Let's take a look at some of the projects that have me the most excited.
Bachelorette. This year's Bridesmaids showed just how much fun female-centered wedding comedies can be. Bachelorette is a bit more Mean Girls, centering on a group of friends who are miffed when their least popular member becomes engaged to an extremely eligible bachelor and then recruits them to be bridesmaids. Kirsten Dunst, Lizzie Caplan, and Isla Fisher star as the friends, in what looks like a cross of Bridesmaids and the upcoming Young Adult.
Celeste and Jesse Forever. Another entry in the unconventional, weird-timelined love story (think: (500) Days of Summer), this centers on a couple that's been together since high school. As they approach thirty, they decide to divorce while remaining best friends. Rashida Jones, who's been a rising star, plays one member of the couple in a screenplay she co-wrote.
Red Hook Summer. Spike Lee directs and co-writes this story of a boy who goes to live with his grandfather who he's never met. I love this premise, and I think it's a chance for Lee to return to the kind of astutely observed social drama he showed the world in Do the Right Thing.
Liberal Arts. This romance centers on a 30-something guy (Josh Radnor, who also writes and directs) who returns to his college only to hook up with a 19-year-old student (Elizabeth Olsen). Olsen's portrayal as a cult member in the 2011 Sundance entry Martha Marcy May Marlene was powerful but also largely mute. It will be interesting to see the "third Olsen" in what has to be a more dialogue-driven performance. With the focus on Radnor, could this movie be a kind of reverse The Graduate?
The Sundance Film Festival will take place from Jan. 19-29, 2012.
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