The Sundance legacy

The 2014 Sundance Film Festival kicks off tomorrow in Park City, Utah, with another round of indie offerings from both the established set and those eager to break through its ranks. There’s a host of movies already generating the de rigueur advanced buzz, with Richard Linklater‘s latest (Boyhood), Zach Braff’s follow-up to 2004 Sundance favorite Garden State (Wish I Was Here), SNL alums Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader’s foray into drama (The Skeleton Twins), Amy Poehler’s spoof of the romantic comedy (They Came Together), and another John le Carré adaptation (A Most Wanted Man) among them.

Will any of the above ascend to the heights of classic Sundance premieres Clerks, Spanking the Monkey, Primer, or Little Miss Sunshine? The festival has been around in its current incarnation for nearly 30 years (prior to 1984 it was known as the Utah/US Film Festival). Within that time, it’s acted as a critical and popular launching pad for directors like Quentin Tarantino, David O. Russell and Steven Soderbergh. The golden girl who can do no wrong – or rather, when she does, we like her even more for it – Jennifer Lawrence got her first star turn in a Sundance hit, 2010’s Winter’s Bone. Last year, USC film grad Ryan Coogler stole the show with his assured feature debut and current awards contender, Fruitvale Station.

To get you in the mood for all the coverage about to burst forth from the Utah hills alive with the sound of applause, we’ve tailored today’s list to reflect the Sundance legacy. Here are 10 of the most important and beloved films to have emerged from the American movie showcase:

Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989)
Streaming on Netflix? No
Widely regarded as the film that started the modern indie movement, Steven Soderbergh’s writer-director debut, about four people navigating their complicated relationships, sex lives, and, yes, lying about the two, is considered a contemporary classic. Unfortunately, Videotape isn’t available on either Netflix or Amazon, though if you were to buy the DVD sight unseen, you can rest assured your investment would be a worthwhile one. You can never have too much of James Spader in his prime.

 

Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Streaming on Netflix? Yes
Before Tarantino became Tarantino, the kind of guy whose name doubles as an adjective (Tarantino style, Tarantino violence, Tarantino-esque) he was a first-time director and writer pushing a film that vigorously nodded to the pulpy classics he grew up idolizing. It was the precursor to what is still his best feature, Pulp Fiction, and the film demonstrates many of the director’s hallmarks. The music, those names, that ear-cutting dance… you can’t consider yourself a connoisseur of cult classics until you’ve seen Dogs.

 

Hoop Dreams (1994)
Streaming on Netflix? Yes
Like Sex, Lies, and Videotape before it, Hoop Dreams pushed genre boundaries, this time as they applied to documentary film. In an interview with writer Jason Guerrasio, director Steve James recalls one executive meeting in particular. Dreams wasn’t serious enough, James remembers this executive telling him in no uncertain terms, as documentaries at the time focused on “sobering” issues (because adult pressures placed upon the backs of children, and the difficulties of lifting oneself out of urban poverty, are light-hearted themes). Instead, should the film’s subjects suddenly become drug addicts, or get killed, or something, then James would have a picture. Thankfully, those things didn’t happen, and the director’s sprawling portrait of two aspiring basketball stars got made and acclaimed, anyway. Which just goes to show: Guns are not the answer.

 

Clerks (1994)
Streaming on Netflix? Yes
In the Darwinian or at least cinematic development of foundering twentysomethings, today’s hipsters evolved from yesterday’s Clerks. Kevin Smith’s day-in-the-life look at a 22-year-old slacker who comes in on his day off from work only to repeatedly close shop for various reasons, semi-legitimate and asinine alike, was a breakout comedic hit back in 1994. We were treated to deep thoughts on The Return of the Jedi as well as introduced to recurring Smith characters Jay and Silent Bob. The fact that the film was shot on a budget that would barely have covered shoe-strings for everyone involved, and took place in the store where Smith actually worked, only added to the avant garde indie aura surrounding Clerks.

 

Spanking the Monkey (1994)
Streaming on Netflix? No
One of the hottest directors in town first made waves with this darkly comedic take on a mother-son relationship. Raymond loses his prestigious medical internship and, increasingly, his grip on his life and longings when he is forced to stay home and care for his unhappy mother one steamy summer. David O. Russell’s memorable debut.

 

Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)
Streaming on Netflix? No
Available on Amazon
Hedwig’s story is difficult to compress into one easy log line, but here’s a go: A transsexual punk rocker moves from East Berlin to the United States, where she falls in love with a shy musician who eventually makes off with her heart and songs. Great soundtrack, wonderful performances, and some seriously surreal pathos quickly turned Hedwig into that which Sundance does best: a cult classic.

 

Primer (2004)
Streaming on Netflix? No
Available on Amazon
Former engineer Shane Carruth, who also holds a degree in math, refused to dumb down his film’s technical language and was subsequently applauded for the respect (or disregard, depending on your perspective) he afforded his audience. As you would expect, Primer is a tough film, which turns on questions of time, space, science, philosophy… and other minutiae.  The movie was shot for an incredible $7,000 and still managed to achieve its lofty aims. It remains a testament to innovative filmmaking.

 

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Streaming on Netflix? No
Available on Amazon
With one of the best crowd-pleasing endings in years, Little Miss Sunshine first entertained Sundance attendees before it went on  to charm the rest of the country.  Throw a bunch of quirky family members into a van, shake well, and add a nicely timed pinch of Rick James. A recipe for comedic success.

 

Winter’s Bone (2010)
Streaming on Netflix? DVD only
Available on Amazon
Or, the film in which Katniss Everdeen skins a rabbit. Winter’s Bone, of course, came out long before both Katniss and the actress who plays her, Jennifer Lawrence, became cultural reference points. Set among an impoverished clan living in the Ozarks, Bone follows 17-year-old Ree as she tries to track down her missing meth-addicted father before the authorities seize her family’s house. You can see the beginnings of an action star in Lawrence, whose character must hunt, fish, chop wood, care for her siblings, and otherwise weather harsh economic, to say nothing of emotional, conditions in order to survive.

 

Fruitvale Station (2013)
Streaming on Netflix? No
Available on Amazon
Ryan Coogler was working towards a graduate degree in film at USC when 22-year-old Oscar Grant was shot and killed by a policeman at the titular BART subway station in San Francisco. The tragedy inspired Coogler to write a movie about Oscar, imagining the victim’s last hours before the shooting. The resulting film, Coogler’s first feature, is a moving character study that plays with audience expectation: If you’re watching the movie, odds are you already know how the story ends, but that doesn’t stop you from improbably wishing things might turn out a little differently, this time. The ability to make people wish and hope on behalf of your character is a mighty fine talent. Coogler may one day join the ranks of acclaimed writer-directors about whom the organizers of Sundance can say: “I knew him when.”

 

Added bonus: Check out Vulture’s cache of classic Sundance photos here.