The unclassifiable film with the pint-size star and enough heart to blanket the state of Louisiana is Criticwire’s favorite film of Sundance 2012.
As anticipated, “Beasts of the Southern Wild” easily captured the top spot on our critics’ lists of best films and performances from this year’s festival. The festival’s other buzzworthy entry, “The Surrogate,” also received significant placement on the overall list and was the only film to have two performances in the top 10 for stars John Hawkes and Helen Hunt.
We asked all Criticwire members at Sundance to send their Top 5s in three categories: Best Narrative Feature, Best Documentary Feature and Best Performance. (Critics could list fewer than five in each category.) Scores were tabulated on a simple weighted scale, with a first-place vote earning 5 points, seconnd place earning 4 points, etc.
Of course, these lists are by no means comprehensive. There are plenty of critics who opt to slow-play their grades and reviews over the course of the coming months as these films come to theaters. As we continue to revamp Criticwire, we’ll make sure all the incoming grades are reflected there.
For now, here is Criticwire’s Instant Sundance Feedback Poll, featuring the best films and performances of 2012 so far:
[LEGEND: Film or Performance: Number of Mentions – (First-Place Votes) – Aggregate Score]
BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE
2. Compliance: 9 – (4) – 34
3. Simon Killer: 7 – (4) – 28
4. The Surrogate: 7 – (2) – 23
5. Wrong: 6 – (2) – 19
6. Safety Not Guaranteed: 5 (1) – 15
7. Keep the Lights On: 6 – (0) – 14
8. For Ellen: 5 – (0) – 14
9. The Raid: 4 – (0) – 14
10. Sleepwalk with Me: 3 – (1) – 13
1. Room 237: 8 – (4) – 33
2. West of Memphis: 6 – (3) – 24
3. The Queen of Versailles: 7 – (2) – 24
4. Detropia: 6 – (1) – 20
5. Shut Up and Play the Hits: 5 – (1) – 18
6. How to Survive a Plague: 4 – (2) – 15
7. Under African Skies: 4 – (1) – 13
8. The Invisible War: 3 – (1) – 12
9. The House I Live In: 3 – (2) – 12
10. Bestiaire: 2 – (2) – 10
1. Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild: 15 – (4) – 57 (Indiewire interview here)
2. John Hawkes, The Surogate: 10 – (3) – 38
3. Brady Corbet, Simon Killer: 8 – (2) – 26
4. Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Smashed: 4 – (2) – 17
5. Paul Dano, For Ellen: 4 – (1) – 14
6. Ann Dowd, Compliance: 4 – (1) – 13
7. Melanie Lynskey, Hello I Must Be Going: 5 – (0) – 12
8. Helen Hunt, The Surrogate: 5 – (1) – 11
9. Andrea Riseborough, Shadow Dancer: 3 – (2) – 11 (Indiewire interview here)
10. Thure Lindhardt, Keep the Lights On: 3 – (1) – 9 (Indiewire interview here)
Also receiving first-place votes: Mark Duplass, “Safety Not Guaranteed,” Jack Plotnick, “Wrong,” Gina Rodriguez, “Filly Brown,” James Howson/Solomon Grave, “Wuthering Heights”
1. Beasts of the Southern Wild
2. Oslo, August 31st
3. The Raid
4. Filly Brown
5. Safety Not Guaranteed
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
1. Shut Up and Play the Hits
2. The Imposter
3. Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry
4. Under African Skies
BEST PERFORMANCE
1. Gina Rodriguez, FILLY BROWN
2. John Hawkes, THE SURROGATE
3. Quvenzhané Wallis, BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
4. Melanie Lynskey, HELLO I MUST BE GOING
5. Frank Langella, ROBOT & FRANK
The Film Stage
1. Beasts of Southern Wild
2. Compliance
3. Wrong
4. V/H/S
5. Bachelorette
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
1. Room 237
2. Indie Game Movie
3. Slavery by Another Name
4. Queen of Versailles
BEST PERFORMANCE
1. Jack Plotnick – Wrong
2. Quvenzhané Wallis – Beasts of Southern Wild
4. Brady Corbet – Simon Killer
5. Gina Rodriguez – Filly Brown
1. Sleepwalk With Me
2. Safety Not Guaranteed
3. The Raid
4. The Surrogate
5. Your Sister’s Sister
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
1. Room 237
2. Detropia
3. The Invisible War
4. West of Memphis
5. Escape Fire
BEST PERFORMANCE
1. John Hawkes (The Surrogate)
2. Rosemarie DeWitt (Your Sister’s Sister/Nobody Walks)
3. Richard Gere (Arbitrage)
4. Helen Hunt (The Surrogate)
5. Clarke Peters (Red Hook Summer)
Comingsoon.net
1. The Surrogate
2. Liberal Arts
3. Smashed
4. Save the Date
5. Arbitrage
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
1. West of Memphis
2. The Queen of Versailles
3. Shut Up and Play the Hits
BEST PERFORMANCE
1. Andrea Riseborough – Shadow Dancer
2. John Hawkes – The Surrogate
3. Mary Elizabeth Winstead – Smashed
4. Lizzy Caplan – Save the Date
5. Helen Hunt – The Surrogate
Film School Rejects, Box Office Magazine
1. Compliance
2. Sleepwalk With Me
3. Safety Not Guaranteed
4. V/H/S
5. Wuthering Heights
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
1. The Queen of Versailles
2. West of Memphis
3. Detropia
4. The House I Live In
BEST PERFORMANCE
1. Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
2. Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Smashed
3. Ann Dowd. Compliance
4. Mike Birbiglia, Sleepwalk With Me
5. Blythe Danner, Hello I Must Be Going
Time Out New York
BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE
1. Compliance
2. Keep the Lights On
3. For Ellen
4. Wuthering Heights
5. Wrong
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
1. Bestiaire
2. Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present
3. Room 237
4. Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry
5. Detropia
BEST PERFORMANCE
1. Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
2. Parker Posey, Price Check
3. Melanie Lynskey, Hello I Must Be Going
4. Lizzy Caplan, Bachelorette
5. John Hawkes, The Surrogate
1. Beasts of the Southern Wild
2. My Brother the Devil
3. Nobody Walks
4. Keep The Lights On
5. Teddy Bear
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
1. The Invisible War
2. The Atomic States of America
3. 5 Broken Cameras
4. The Law In Three Parts
5. Big Boys Go Bananas
5.BEST PERFORMANCE
1. Thure Lindhardt (Keep the Lights On)
2. Quvenzhané Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild)
3. Rosemarie DeWitt (Nobody Walks)
4. Fady Elsayed (My Brother The Devil)
5. Helen Hunt (Surrogate)
1. Wrong
2. The Raid
3. Oslo, August 31st
4. Beasts of the Southern Wild
5. Compliance
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
1. The Queen of Versailles
2. Shut Up and Play the Hits
3. West of Memphis
4. Room 237
BEST PERFORMANCE:
1. Andrea Riseborough, Shadow Dancer
2. William Fichtner, Wrong
3. Brady Corbet, Simon Killer
4. Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
5. Melanie Lynskey, Hello I Must Be Going
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE:
2. Liberal Arts
3. Teddy Bear
4. The Words
5. Keep the Lights On
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
1. The Imposter
2. How to Survive a Plague
3. Big Boys Go Bananas!*
BEST PERFORMANCE
1. Ann Dowd (COMPLIANCE)
2. Dreama Walker (COMPLIANCE)
3. Jeremy Irons (THE WORDS)
4. Thure Lindhardt (KEEP THE LIGHTS ON)
5. Kim Kold (TEDDY BEAR)
Indiewire
1. Simon Killer
2. Beasts of the Southern Wild
3. The Surrogate
4. Keep The Lights On
5. Bachelorette
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
1. How To Survive a Plague
BEST PERFORMANCE
1. John Hawkes, The Surrogate
2. Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
3. Brady Corbet, Simon Killer
4. Isla Fisher, Bachelorette
5. Parker Posey, Price Check
It was also another terrible year for the extremely dubious project known as the Sundance Institute, which supposedly exists to make filmmakers’ already gestating projects better, and hopefully cinematic. The opposite is applying to the Institute’s movies, with the poster child being Ry Russo-Young’s abysmal, abysmally shot NOBODY WALKS, a kind of pure Sundance project which sets back American indie cinema by a few years at least.
It was a bad year by another standard, which is how well Sundance is doing in selecting good American independent cinema. Not well, when one considers that there were only two new American fiction features I saw (out of a few dozen) that will stand the test of time, that will play and do well at major international festivals, that are made by filmmakers who are on the way to mastering their art. These would be COMPLIANCE and So Yong Kim’s FOR ELLEN. The rest are junk, or will fade away.
Ignore those who are praising this edition, of which I’ve been hearing in shocking degrees of actual enthusiasm.”
Compliance
Wrong
For Ellen
Elena
The Pact
Wuthering Heights
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
Bestiaire
Room 237
BEST PERFORMANCES:
The sleeping lion in BESTIARE
Paul Dano–FOR ELLEN
Ann Dowd–COMPLIANCE
Dreama Walker–COMPLIANCE
Pat Healy–COMPLIANCE
Bill Camp–COMPLIANCE
Paul Giamatti–JOHN DIES AT THE END
Glynn Turman–JOHN DIES AT THE END
Thure Lindhardt–KEEP THE LIGHTS ON
Michael Rainey Jr.–LUV
Aris Servetalis–L
Jack Plotnick–WRONG
Allison Janney–LIBERAL ARTS
Nadezhda Markina–ELENA
Mohamed Fellag–MONSIEUR LAZHAR
Iko Uwais–THE RAID
Freelance
1. Beasts of the Southern Wild
2. The End of Love
3. Under The Pink Sky
4. Shadow Dancer
5. John Dies At The End
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
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3. The Ambassador
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5. [blank]
BEST PERFORMANCE
1/2: James Howson/Solomon Glave, Wuthering Heights
3. Quvenzhané Wallis, BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
4. Mark Webber, The End of Love
5. Sophia Takal, V/H/S
1. Beasts of the Southern Wild
2. Keep the Lights On
3. Simon Killer
4. For Ellen
5. Nobody Walks
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
1. Detropia
2. Searching for Sugar Man
3. Under African Skies
BEST PERFORMANCE
1. Brady Corbet, Simnon Killer
2. Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
3. Paul Dano, For Ellen
4. Thure Lindhardt, Keep the Lights On
5. Emayatzy Corinealdi, Middle of Nowhere
Hammer to Nail
1. Beasts of the Southern Wild – nothing else comes close. So joyously melancholy and wonderful in every way.
2. For Ellen – understated and quiet without being slight.
3. The Surrogate – often touching, sometimes saccharine, but always sincere and well-acted.
4. Smashed
5. Black Rock
BEST PERFORMANCE
1. Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Smashed
2. Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
3. John Hawkes, The Surrogate
4. Richard Gere, Arbitrage
5. Sigourney Weaver, Red Lights
1. Simon Killer
2. Compliance
3. Beasts of the Southern Wild
4. Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie
5. WRONG
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
1. Room 237
2. Shut Up and Play the Hits
BEST PERFORMANCE
1. Mary Elizabeth Winstead – Smashed
2. Brady Corbet – Simon Killer
3. John Hawkes – The Surrogate
4. Quvenzhané Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild
5. Jack Plotnick – WRONG
Cinema Blend
1. Beasts of the Southern Wild
2. Sleepwalk With Me
3. For A Good Time Call…
4. Compliance
5. Simon Killer
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
1. The House I Live In
2. Room 237
3. Under African Skies
4. We’re Not Broke
BEST PERFORMANCE
1. Quzenvhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
2. John Hawkes, The Surrogate
3. Melanie Lynskey, Hello I Must Be Going
4. Ann Dowd, Compliance
5. Kirsten Dunst, Bachelorette
Indiewire
1. Simon Killer
2. LUV
3. V/H/S
4. Beasts of the Southern Wild
5. The Surrogate
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
1. How to Survive a Plague
2. Me at the Zoo
3. Searching for Sugar Man
BEST PERFORMANCE
1. Paul Dano, Like Ellen
2. Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
3. Melanie Lynskey, Hello I Must Be Going
4. Helen Hunt, The Surrogate
5. Brady Corbet, Simon Killer
Arts & Culture Guy
1. Wrong
2. The Raid
3. Save The Date
4. The Pact
5. Bachelorette
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
1. West Of Memphis
2. Queen of Versailles
3. Detropia
Thompson on Hollywood
1. Beasts of the Southern Wild
2. The Surrogate
3. Your Sister’s Sister
4. Safety Not Guaranteed
5. Declaration of War
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
1. West of Memphis
2. The Invisible War
3. The Queen of Versailles
BEST PERFORMANCE
1. Helen Hunt The Surrogate
2. John Hawkes The Surrogate
3. Quvenzhané Wallis Beasts of the Southern Wild
4. Mark Duplass Safety Not Guaranteed, Your Sister’s Sister
5. Lizzy Caplan Bachelorette
1. Safety Not Guaranteed
2. Beasts of the Southern Wild
3. Compliance
4. The First Time
5. Father’s Chair
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
1. The House I Live In
2. Detropia
3. Ethel
4. Chasing Ice
5. The Queen of Versailles
BEST PERFORMANCE
1. Mark Duplass, Safety Not Guaranteed
2. Aubrey Plaza, Safety Not Guaranteed
3. Ann Dowd, Compliance
4. Marin Ireland, 28 Hotel Rooms
5. Dwight Henry, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Movieline
1. The Surrogate
2. Simon Killer
BEST PERFORMANCE
1. John Hawkes, The Surrogate
2. Clarke Peters, Red Hook Summer
3. Brady Corbet, Simon Killer
BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE
1. Beasts of the Southern Wild
2. Smashed
3. Arbitrage
4. I Am Not a Hipster
5. Robot and Frank
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
1. West of Memphis
2. The Imposter
3. Room 237
BEST PERFORMANCE
1. Mary Elizabeth Winstead in Smashed
2. Quvenzhané Wallis in Beasts of the Southern Wild
3. John Hawkes in The Surrogate
4. Mark Webber & Son in The End of Love
5. Frank Langella in Robot and Frank
“It was an outstanding year at Sundance, I found more than a few films that I was surprised by and ended up falling in love with (Beasts, Hipster). I’m coming out of this festival this year with a lot of new favorites that will be hard to top.”
1. Keep the Lights On
2. Beasts of the Southern Wild
3. Red Hook Summer
4. The Surrogate
5. Wrong
BEST PERFORMANCE
1. Clarke Peters, “Red Hook Summer”
2. Quvenzhane Wallis, “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
3. John Hawkes, “The Surrogate”
5. Mary Elizabeth Winstead, “Smashed”
Room 237: A-.
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