We've covered the competition and non-competition films and made our picks for the ones to get excited for at Sundance 2010, but still you have questions! Luckily, we're happy to oblige at Movieline. We've answered six burning questions about January's festival -- from breakout stars to best parties, here's what's on the agenda:
1) Who's this year's Parker Posey?
Every Sundance has an ingenue who appears in more than one film and seems to dominate interest and chatter -- just call her the "Parker Posey," so named for the indie actress's former Sundance ubiquity. Past Poseys have included Carey Mulligan and Zooey Deschanel, but this year's Posey is a little more high-profile: Kristen Stewart, who's got both Welcome to the Rileys and The Runaways on display. It's perfect timing for the actress, who can flex her indie bona fides and dispel her Twilight acting tics (which have come in for criticism this season) by playing a troubled stripper and the defiant Joan Jett, respectively.
2) Which films seem the most commercial?
The tricky thing about Sundance is that the most mainstream-seeming films can sell big and flop in wide release (just look at Hamlet 2), while a film like Precious, which few had expected to ever get this far, can break out. That said, it never hurts to have a star, so both of Stewart's films carry high expectations (I'd put more money on The Runaways, but Whip It's underperformance may hint at a weak market for alterna-girl dramas). Likewise, Hesher can boast Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Natalie Portman, though the latter's star power didn't help Love and Other Impossible Pursuits get off the ground at Toronto.
The Untitled Duplass Brothers Project, which finds John C. Reilly and Jonah Hill butting heads when Reilly starts dating Hill's mother, could have Apatow-esque appeal. I'd also watch for the Robert Duvall/Bill Murray comedy Get Low, already a fest favorite, and The Company Men from director John Wells, which has a timely downsizing plot and big stars in Ben Affleck, Kevin Costner, and Tommy Lee Jones.
3) Which documentaries have breakout appeal?
We tagged Jeffrey Blitz's Lucky as one to watch yesterday, and we stand by that; the concept (tracking lottery winners' lives after their wins) is so perfect that it's hard to imagine no one has imagined it before, and Blitz had a breakout doc once before with Spellbound. Some of the nonfiction films seem ready-made for HBO, including the Adrian Grenier paparazzi investigation Teenage Paparazzo and, potentially, the bio-doc Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work. Still, I can't help but be amused by the thought of Swiss film Space Tourists, described as "a humorous and laconic view of the way billionaires depart our planet earth to travel into outer space for fun."
4) Which Midnight movie might catch on?
The Park City at Midnight series can usually be counted on for at least one inventive thriller, and this year, all eyes are on the one-man show that is Ryan Reynolds in Buried. The Rodrigo Cortes film places Reynolds in a coffin and its entire screen time consists of his attempt to fight his way out. OK, but is he doing it shirtless?
5) Which movie will have the best party?
If it weren't the closing night film, I'd hand this prediction in a heartbeat to Joel Schumacher's prep school drug drama Twelve, which has the headline-friendly cast of Chace Crawford, 50 Cent, and Kiefer Sutherland. Let's hope, then, that The Runaways or The Duplass Brothers Project can pick up the slack.
6) Where are all the zombies?
This year's Sundance lineup is shockingly free of its usual plot mainstay: zombies! Slamdance, your move.