“Exit Through The Gift Shop,” “GasLand” Top indieWIRE’s Sundance Critics Poll
As the 2010 Sundance Film Festival comes to a close indieWIRE‘s poll of dozens of Park City-present critics and bloggers has attempted to make clear the best and worst of this year’s fest. Hundreds of grades have been entered, leaving Banksy’s “spotlight surprise” “Exit Through The Gift Shop” the best-reviewed film of the fest, and Josh Fox’s doc “GasLand” and Derek Cianfrance’s “Blue Valentine” as the best-received documentary and dramatic competition titles, respectively.
Other films that have found overwhelming praise include Lisa Cholodenko’s “The Kids are All Right,” Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing’s “12th & Delaware,” Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg’s “Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work,” Mark Lewis’s “Cane Toads: The Conquest,” Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington’s “Restrepo,” and two films that premiered prior to coming to Sundance – Luca Guadagnino’s “I Am Love” and Jacques Audiard’s “A Prophet.”
The following is a list of the top ten films in both competition and non-competition programs (that have received 3 or more grades apiece), as well as the ten worst films playing at Sundance. For a full list of all grades click here.
Ten Best Competition Films
1. Gasland (Josh Fox, U.S. Doc) film page
2. Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg, U.S. Doc) film page
3. 12th & Delaware (Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing, U.S. Doc) film page
4. Last Train Home (Lixin Fan, World Doc) film page
5. My Perestroika (Robin Hessman, U.S. Doc) film page
6. Blue Valentine (Derek Cianfrance, U.S. Dramatic) film page
7. Waiting For Superman (Davis Guggenheim, U.S. Doc) film page
8. Restrepo (Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington, U.S. Doc) film page
9. Winter’s Bone (Debra Granik, U.S. Dramatic) film page
10. The Oath (Laura Poitras, U.S. Doc) film page
Ten Best Non-Competition Films
1. Exit Through the Gift Shop (Banksy, Spotlight) film page
2. I Am Love (Luca Guadagnino, Spotlight) film page
3. The Kids Are All Right (Lisa Cholodenko, Premieres) film page
4. A Prophet (Jacques Audiard, Spotlight) film page
5. Lourdes (Jessica Hausner, Spotlight) film page
6. Catfish (Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman, Spotlight) film page
7. Please Give (Nicole Holofcener, Premieres) film page
8. Cane Toads: The Conquest (Mark Lewis, Premieres) film page
9. Cyrus (Jay & Mark Duplass, Premieres) film page
10. Teenage Paparazzo (Adrian Grenier, Spotlight) film page
Five Worst Films
1. Twelve (Joel Schumacher; Premieres) film page
2. The Violent Kind (The Butcher Brothers, Park City@Midnight) film page
3. Bass Ackwards (Linas Philips, NEXT) film page
4. Obselidia (Diane Bell, U.S. Dramatic) film page
5. The Romantics (Galt Niederhoffer, U.S. Dramatic) film page
Patricipating Bloggers and Critics (with links to their pages)
Sam Adams
Marjorie Baumgarten
Alex Billington
Justin Chang
Peter DeBruge
Gregory Ellwood
David Fear
Marshall Fine
Susan Gerhard
Tim Grierson
Brandon Harris
Eugene Hernandez
Aaron Hillis
Jake Jacobson
Christopher Kelly
Robert Koehler
Eric Lavallee
Eric Kohn
Peter Knegt
Andy Lauer
Dennis Lim
Karina Longworth
Justin Lowe
Sean Means
Patrick Z. McGavin
Noel Murray
Rob Nelson
Mark Olsen
Bryce J. Renninger
B Ruby Rich
James Rocchi
Matt Singer
Anne Thompson
Scott Weinberg
