The 20 most unforgettable Sundance films ever
From Blood Simple to Clerks to Get Out, these movies left their mark on Park City—and on film fans everywhere
Film Features Sundance
Clockwise from bottom left: The Usual Suspects, The Blair Witch Project, Reservoir Dogs, Get Out, Napoleon Dynamite Graphic: The A.V. Club
What began in 1978 as the Utah/United States Film Festival to help promote American independent cinema and boost film production in the Beehive State didn’t officially become the Sundance Film Festival until Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute officially took it over in 1985. Since then, Sundance has become one of the most influential film festivals on the planet. The festival has been introducing us to great films and great filmmakers for decades; almost two generations’ worth of our favorite films have sprung from the snow-covered but fertile ground of Park City. Here’s a chronological look at the 20 most transformative films to come out of Sundance, from 1984’s Blood Simple to 2017’s Get Out.
96 Comments
Nobody’s made that award winning documentary about THE SPR3 yet, but it’s just a matter of time! The Sundance crowd would love it, surely! Did you know that this year THE SPR3 are celebrating their 20th year as a band? Strange, but true! Also, they released a brand new music video last night!
Wow, 2004 sure was a shitty year for Sundance hits. Of these, Hoop Dreams is essential (and I love the Blair Witch Project) and the rest are fascinating time capsules of a specific kind of edgy yet comfortable entertainment.
That seems really reductive when talking about a movie like Blood Simple. You don’t find too many filmmakers who arrive on the scene fully formed.
Please, it’s reductive when talking about lots of good movies. Blood Simple is great, but the Coens also advanced a lot as visual storytellers over their first few movies (it’s like comparing the first Tom Waits album to other 70s ballad writing and then comparing it to later Tom Waits albums).But the “Sundance movie” is generally something clever and self-consciously artsy but also empty. Usual Suspects is a perfect example.
Well I was specifically pointing at Blood Simple as a prime example of a Sundance movie that is far from “edgy yet comfortable.”
At first I thought the AV Club was being slow, but after having checked back and refreshed several times, it appears you guys are straight-up not going to bother with an “RIP Gina Lollobrigida” article!And to think, we could have had a slide show with “20 Iconic Roles of the Legendary Lollobrigida” … but alas, we have this Sundance rehash instead.Oh well.Ciao Bella!
You should build your own AV Club with Blackjack and Hookers!I was going to say while ‘The Usual Suspects’ is a great film, it’s been tainted by Kevin Spacey and having the image as the article header makes it strange. They probably did it for the clicks and comments like mine.
I was going to say while ‘The Usual Suspects’ is a great film, it’s been tainted by Kevin Spaceyand Bryan Singer
Forgot about him
And the ending figured out by anyone who has seen a film before.
You can talk that shit now, but not back when it came out.
The opening scene cut from Keyser Soze scampering away agilely and flicking a lighter with ease, to Verbal Kint limping along and fumbling with a lighter. It seemed like a deliberate clue.
don’t ever go to an art museum, then
I’m not sure what that has to do with my comment from a year ago.
Kevin Spacey does not taint movies. Now Michael Madsen, there’s a taint.
You should build your own AV Club with Blackjack and Hookers!Ha! Now see, I’d be better off building a time machine to go back to the pre-kinja days. Bonus is I’d be back to my -at-least-5-years-younger self, back when I didn’t have constant knee pain …(By the way, I initially upvoted your comment ‘cos I chuckled at the first line, then promptly downvoted it when you put the words “taint” and “Kevin Spacey” in close proximity, conjuring an unfortunate image. *shudder!*)
I agree about the pre-kinja days. Can’t tell you how many relevant comments I’ve made lately that stay in the gray.
I can’t get out of the greys despite being a regular here for eons.
Can’t tell you how many relevant comments I’ve made lately that stay in the gray. Feeling pretty sure about that are you?
Your reply was in the gray until I replied to it.
Color me less than shocked.
I always thought ‘The Usual Suspects’ was badly overrated. The actors never, remotely, made me think I was looking at actual criminals or anything but actors reading pretentious lines. The plot is so contrived and full of reversals that I stopped listening to anything anyone said about 2/3 of the way through. The plot would have fallen apart in an instant if any of the police had tried to corroborate anything with facts.
No offence, but was she even that famous for her movies? I’m not sure she even had one iconic role, let a lone 20.
was she even that famous for her movies?Um, what did you think she was famous for? I’m not sure she even had one iconic roleNow see, that would have been the good thing about a Slide show Retrospective of her roles – readers like you not familiar with her movies would have been entertained and informed about her iconic roles, plus discourse in the comments might have recommended a classic movie or two that one otherwise might not stumble across. The kind of thing I used to like about the AV Club …
“Um, what did you think she was famous for?”I found this on her IMDB page:TrademarksNatural brunette hairSeductive deep voiceHer enormous breastsShe was more famous for being “the most beautiful woman in the world.” Her movie career was never iconic, at least not as I understand that word. She’s a real Tab Hunter type.She went on to be a successful photojournalist, and scored an exclusive interview with Castro in the early 70’s. I’m with you on how the AV Club sucks now, though.
Well, there’s this:https://www.avclub.com/remembering-the-stars-we-lost-in-2023-1849997910/slides/6
yeh, i was expecting to see something on Del Palmer’s death, but oh well. i recognise that the music section ain’t what it used to be.
Nobody gives a fuck. That’s why.
They didn’t ackowledge the passing of Terence Davies either. Apparently only some dead people matter.
I must say, 1994 was a great year for filmmaking.Shawshank Redemption, Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction, Leon The Professional, Maverick, Legends of the Fall, Clear and Present Danger, Speed, Natural Born Killers, True Lies, Clerks, Airheads, Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Crow, Interview With The Vampire, Stargate, Ed Wood, Quiz Show, Angels In The Outfield, D2 Mighty Ducks, The Lion King, Drunken Master II, Fist of Legend, and if you’re a Jim Carrey person, this is the year of the Holy Trinity, with Ace Ventura, Dumb & Dumber, and The Mask.My favorite year is 1999, with 1994 as a close 2nd, but 1993 is also just as good.
I like how you tried sneaking Maverick into that list.In what world is that considered a good movie?
Well, I guess that would be this world.It’s one of Richard Donner’s more successful movies, and it has a good cast: Jodie Foster, James Garner, Graham Greene, Alfred Molina, and James Coburn, all having really great roles. It got an Oscar nomination (admittedly, it was just for costuming), and it did well at the box office, reviewing and scoring well with critics and audiences at the time, which is reflective on both Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB, and Metacritic where its notably received generally favorable reviews. It’s publicly regarded as a critical and commercial success for Warner Bros, so unless you’re going a different metric or just by your feelings, I don’t see any reason to say it’s bad. I know I enjoyed it and watched it more than a couple times.Now I do understand that it’s a Mel Gibson film, which is why I haven’t mentioned him yet, but hey… Braveheart is still good and so is Lethal Weapon and Payback.
I’m right there with you on Maverick. I love that flick.
Payback is great.
I loved the tone of Maverick as a comedy…it was brilliantly shot, well acted, paced well, and a good take on the old show. I don’t understand the contempt it receives.
In what world is Angels In The Outfield considered a good movie?
“In what world is that considered a good movie?”Jodie Foster has never been sexier. Aside from that, there’s not much to recommend it.
HBO showed it approximately 50 billion times, so it grew on me. it’s a fun caper.
sidenote: i really don’t get the hype for jodie foster
Maverick is a weird film to single out considering some of the others listed.
I like Star Trek: Generations.
I think a lot of people would peg 94 as the best year for enduring movies. That’s quite a list.
Heavenly Creatures?
I’ve never seen that movie, but hey, if it’s a good one from ‘94 then I’ll throw it on my watchlist.
Heavenly Creatures was incredible. Absolutely blew me away and introduced the world to Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey. It remained my favorite Winslet role until Mare of Easttown.
If you want your mind fully blown, take a look at all the records that came out in 1994.
1999? Ah yes, the year The Phantom Menace was released. Good times. 😀
As someone who graduated from high school in 1994, I think I saw all of those with the exception of Airheads and Ed Wood in the theater. How the hell did I do that?
Why, on my 16 inch macbook pro, do these posts load with so much whitespace. Even worse, it resets to the top of the page with each slide!
Blood Simple. Do you like rural-Texas-roadside-nighttime-burials with a couple of more twists to boot? If ‘yes’, this flick is still on HBO Max.
I consider it mandatory for any fan of the noir genre in general or the Coen bros in particular. It’s one of the reasons I was so excited when they announced they were making No Country for Old Men. Just perfect pairing of material and style.
“that was too mean for today’s easily offended viewers”Yes, Robert, unlike viewers of old who were scandalized by a kiss that lasted longer than 2 seconds (and definitely couldn’t be between an interracial couple). “Today’s” viewers are definitely the ones who are too easily offended.
I do think that playing high school murders for laughs doesn’t work like it did in 1988. But it’s also for far better reasons than those behind the offense at interracial kissing.
Exactly. If people have problems with things people didn’t used to have problems with, it’s because of *reasons* not *snowflakiness,* whatever that even means anymore.
Those fictional on screen murders were hilarious,.
I went to Oxford High School. Sorry if I don’t find teens planning to slaughter their classmates to be an appropriate source of humor anymore.
Pre-Columbine was such a different era of innocence. My Mom (a teacher) took me to see Heathers and we both loved it. It never occurred to any of us that it could be conceived as “problematic,” just pitch-black satire.
What if today’s viewers find Heathers overwritten and glib, rather than offensive?
Also entirely possible! It’s probably been 20 years since I last saw Heathers, so I couldn’t say.
That’s so 1987!
I still think it’s funny.
And in a year when Succession, a show famous for its big warm heart, won six Emmys, I’m going to go ahead and suggest that it’s not that the Heathers TV show was too mean so much as that it wasn’t very good.
I am not a snowflake! I am not a snowflake! I AM NOT A SNOWFLAKE!!!
Garden State was never good.
Nice soundtrack, though.
Changed my life.(not really)
Ditto sex, lies, and videotape.
Easy, now. Garden State: absolutely, it was always phony, twee slop. sex, lies and videotape is a legitimately good movie.
Portman is the UR manic pixie dream girl though.
Maude from Harold & Maude is.
garden state taught me never to associate music with romance.
I distinctly remember finishing Winter’s Bone, turning to my mom, and saying, “wow that young actress is astonishing, too bad she’s so un-Hollywood and nobody will ever get the chance to see her talent.”
Cannot recommend Blood Simple enough! What a movie. Certainly all the CoenHeads have seen it, but casual movie fans, this is a must-see!M. Emmett Walsh is amazing!!
“The world is full o’ complainers. An’ the fact is, nothin’ comes with a guarantee. Now I don’t care if you’re the pope of Rome, President of the United States or Man of the Year; somethin’ can all go wrong. Now go on ahead, y’know, complain, tell your problems to your neighbor, ask for help, ‘n watch him fly. Now, in Russia, they got it mapped out so that everyone pulls for everyone else… that’s the theory, anyway. But what I know about is Texas, an’ down here… you’re on your own.”
“I
got a serious question for you: What the
fuck are you doing? This is not shit for
you to be messin’ with. Are you ready to
hear something? I want you to see if
this sounds familiar: any time you try a
decent crime, you got fifty ways you’re gonna fuck up. If you think of twenty-five of them, then
you’re a genius… and you ain’t no genius. You remember who told me that?”
Holds up pretty well….and you can definitely see the patented Coen expectations you get in the later films developing for the first time. Really is one of those unique films you didn’t see at the time…a real homage to Noir.
“One would never have predicted the trajectory of Nolan’s subsequent career: After revitalizing a worn-out franchise in Batman Begins, he began making hugely expensive, successful blockbusters, only a few of which—Inception and Interstellar, in particular—dealt with the sort of challenging issues that made Memento such an indelible experience.”What? Misdirection and time manipulation are central to most of his movies outside of the Batman films.
**Spoilers**Not only does The Prestige cover both of those concepts it is also a loving story about twins and cloning.
Bowie as Tesla. Jesus.
Bay Area RAPID TRANSIT (BART) police killed Oscar Grant, there’s no such police force known as the Bay Area police
Robert Redford is a force for good.
That’s just what he wants you to think.(Hail Hydra!)
https://ngotrang.net/
1. The Coen Brothers would have succeeded eventually if their first film screened at a lemonade stand. Nice for them that it worked out this way and likely more lucrative, but they are bigger than Sundance.2. Reservoir Dogs is still Tarantino’s best film, though I will not argue with you Jackie Brown fans.3. People who go out of their way to dump on the harmless yet semi-endearing and with an over-qualified cast Garden State are jealous that they could not get their own film made, and told other people at the same age that some song or other would change their life. Young people say that.
I shouldn’t be but am surprised to see Blood Simple on any AV Club list given it’s more than five years old. Surprised they dug all the way back into the …gasp … 80s! What a movie!!! I wonder how sex, lies and videotape holds up? I wasn’t a fan first time around; can’t imagine it’s gotten better with age.
Clerks: The Animated Series is the best of the whole Clerks series.
I tried to watch Clerks the other week and, whoa boy, the expressionless, wooden banter between Dante and Randal makes for a tough watch now.
I’m also suspicious of a professional pop culture reviewer saying Memento “takes multiple viewings to figure out exactly what the hell is going on.” It really is all pretty clear the first time.
Well, it’s meant to be about the dialogue not really the acting, so if you view it through that lens, it still is ok.
Napoleon Dynamite is terrible!
I watched that when it came out, and wondered what was so funny about an autistic kid who treated people like shit.
Fantastic list of movies. Well, maybe not Garden State but they can’t all be zingers. Great read, thank you!
If Gen X leaves no other legacy, it’ll leave a memorable string of directors.And Dave Grohl.
and a [Heathers] TV series reboot that was too mean for today’s easily offended viewers
I didn’t see the pilot or whatever screened/leaked, but everything I read indicated that it was like the total opposite of what the original was about, arguing that the fringe hip kids are now the new social elite Heathers.This site sure seemed to have the same takeaway:https://www.avclub.com/paramount-networks-heathers-makes-its-damage-known-in-b-1822212691 The end result, where conventionally pretty Veronica Sawyer… and her bad-boy boyfriend JD Dean… systematically pick off the “unconventional” popular kids one by one, ends up playing more like a conservative fantasy of restoring the white, slim, and heterosexual to their proper place atop the teenage hierarchy than any sort of trenchant commentary on 21st-century teen culture.
In terms of the film itself, it certainly isn’t up there, but for memorable “Sundance” moments, I think of Kevin Smith’s “Red State”, which was a departure from what he made before.First, the movie got scheduled, and Harvey Weinstein (and yes, this is the least problematic story of him, but it says something about him at that point) told Smith to move the time because the Jets were in the NFL playoffs and playing at that time, and that he would be busy watching the game. Smith said something along the lines of “screw you, this is the time, your career is movies so where are your priorities?”. I believe Weinstein showed up.Secondly, Smith had announced that he’d auction off the rights in the theater. And when he did, he bid something like $25 immediately and declared sold. Some found it to be a dick move, and I can see that perspective. But he was trying to make a point that might help the Sundance movies – studios will buy a $4 mil budget movie for some $5-6 mil, so the makers get some profit. But then pour $7 mil into publicity… as Smith has said, he makes $4 mil movies because he knows his base is reliable for $10 mil. But they add so much marketing trying to bring in other people, in the end, the movie is deemed a “failure” because it DOES make $10 mil, but the distributor spent $12 mil on it when they didn’t need to. He pretty much, within the established studios, shot himself in the foot, but I think he felt it needed to be said. And there is a lesson in what he was trying to point out.
One of my favorite memories about living in LA in the 90’s – I went out with a work friend for some drinks and he invited his best friend, who just happened to be “Kurt Kelley” from Heathers. He played one of the two obnoxious football players in the movie who they killed and then framed as “a dead gay suicide pact.” Trust me – it was hilarious.I spent the entire evening dorking out and grilling him on every aspect of the film and the cast – “How were Winona Ryder and Christian Slater? How about Shannen Doherty??” I even had him quoting Kirk Kelley lines – “What did you say, DICKHEAD?” He absolutely loved it and I got so much trivia and behind-the-scenes gossip about Heathers – which remains one of my favorite films of that era. Good times.