Next we have the film that is creating an Antichrist-like stir at the festival as a result of its violence. Michael Winterbottom’s The Killer Inside Me stars Casey Affleck in an adaptation of the Jim Thompson novel centering on a West Texas sheriff (Affleck) and his downward spiral from a boring small-town cop into a ruthless, sociopathic murderer. The cast also includes Jessica Alba as a prostitute and Kate Hudson as the sheriff’s schoolteacher girlfriend. Simon Baker plays a county attorney looking to expose the sheriff as the killer.
I have stayed clear of reading the stories in an attempt to not spoil the film for myself, but word is the violence against women by Affleck’s character is the root of the disturbance as detailed by Movieline and further discussed by Devin Faraci at CHUD. As for the quality of the film, Logan Hill’s headline at NY Mag says quite a bit: “Sundance: The Killer Inside Me Is Antichrist Meets Precious Meets No Country for Old Men”
I have included the certainly not safe for work promo trailer directly below and you can browse our gallery of eight stills right here.
Already being described as the Paranormal Activity of teenage stoner comedies, High School seems to have made a comical debut at Sundance this year. Starring a cast made up of Adrien Brody, Michael Chiklis, Colin Hanks, Mykelti Williamson, Matt Bush, Sean Marquette, Michael Vartan and Curtis Armstrong, the story begins as a random drug test coincides with a high school valedictorian’s first hit of pot. With his college scholarship at stake, he enlists the school’s biggest stoner to help nullify the results of the screening – by getting the entire student body high.
I don’t have any video on this one yet, but I do have a gallery of six images including two posters which you can check out right here.
Directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, the documentary Catfish made a huge splash at Sundance. Vanity Fair’s John Lopez is already saying it may be the most buzzed about film at the fest and adds, “The film’s new-found fans insist that the less you know about the documentary before you see it, the better; so far be it from us to ruin the experience.” So I won’t say anymore other than you can get the complete plot here if you so desire and browse our gallery of images here. A distribution deal is likely on this one.
I’m not sure what to make of Buried starring Ryan Reynolds as a civilian contractor who is kidnapped in Iraq and awakes in a coffin, struggling against time to coordinate a rescue even though he doesn’t know where he’s buried in the desert. Lionsgate has already paid a reported $3.5 million for the film and several bloggers ran out of the film raving, while others described it as just another example of torture porn. One thing sure to upset me is word while buried beneath ten feet of dirt Reynolds is able to use a cell phone and get excellent reception, but I’m still anxious to give this one a peek.
You can check out the teaser trailer directly below and browse our gallery of four stills right here.
On a side note, one other film gaining major attention is the Duplass brothers’ comedy Cyrus, which I already featured here and just added four new images from right here. Have at it.
If you would like more from Sundance, check my audio commentary with Laremy from his time at the festival by checking out Part II of our Sundance conversation right here where we discuss Get Low, Howl and Welcome to the Rileys. As for this post, there is far less talk and a lot more entertainment as I have collected several clips, pics and info from several films creating a stir during the opening days of the festival.
