Sundance 2012 Daily Blog: Day 9

It was another early morning in Park City and, nine days into the festival, Total Film was in urgent need of a pick-me-up.

Luckily, we got one in the shape of Celeste And Jesse Forever , a sort of romcom-in-reverse that follows the eponymous Celeste and Jesse ( I Love You Man ’s Rashida Jones and Hot Rod ’s Andy Samberg), a married couple who’ve separated but remain best friends, as they struggle to get out of their comfortable routine and move on.

Sweet, slick and very, very funny, the film proved to be a breezy breath of fresh air after eight days of solid filmgoing.

Jones (who also co-wrote the script) and Samberg make for an immensely likeable couple, while the movie boasts some brilliant visual gags and an on-form supporting cast (particularly Elijah Wood as an awkward gay best friend and Emma Roberts as a precocious tween pop idol).

From reality-grabbing romance, we hopped into doc The Other Dream Team , which tells the true story of the part a Lithuanian basketball team played in their country’s liberation from Russia.

Featuring truly shocking footage of Russia’s attempts to stamp out the Lithuanian revolution, Dream Team manages to become more than just another sports doc by using the sporting achievements as a gauge for one country’s struggle against oppression.

With its subtitled talking heads and basketball hook, it might prove a tough sell in the UK, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it found a happy home on More4 sometime in the near future.

We’re finishing off the day with the festival’s closing-night premiere, The Words , an all-star literary drama with a complex story within a story within a story narrative.

We caught up with some of the film’s big-name cast (including Bradley Cooper, Ben Barnes, Jeremy Irons and Dennis Quaid) yesterday in a sleek Park City haunt – check back here tomorrow for their thoughts and our verdict on the film.

For now, we’re off to make ourselves look presentable and stalk the red carpet. Here’s hoping they all wrap up warm – it’s flipping freezing out there…

Film Of The Day: My Brother The Devil

The only British film in the World Dramatic competition strand, TF was really hoping this would be good. Fortunately, it was.

Written and directed by debut feature filmmaker Sally El Hosaini and shot on location in Hackney, the film tells the story of two Egyptian brothers – older gang member Rashid (James Floyd) and the younger, impressionable Mo (newcomer Fady Elsayed).

But as Rashid tries to turn his back on drugs and postcode wars, Mo is drawn deeper in the opposite direction.

A familiar story perhaps, but El Hosaini’s assured direction and gripping, curveball-throwing script allow Devil to sidestep the sort of Kidulthood caricatures and clichés you might first expect.

El Hosaini also manages to draw excellent performances from her young cast (many of whom are untrained actors plucked straight from the streets) which, along with the film’s artful cinematography, make for a fresh perspective on the well-worn British gang flick.

The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine. 

Latest in Movies
Cujo
Netflix is making a brand new adaptation of Cujo, the infamous Stephen King book about a killer dog
Drop
New horror movie starring White Lotus and Yellowstone actors gets a great Rotten Tomatoes score as early reactions call it the "perfect date night movie"
The cast of Thunderbolts
Marvel fans are revealing who they'd like to see added to the Thunderbolts lineup, from Moon Knight to a major Hulk villain
The Rise of Skywalker
Despite those retirement reports, Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy is "very involved" in the Rey Star Wars movie, according to Daisy Ridley
Black Widow
Scarlett Johansson doubles down on never coming back as Black Widow: “Natasha is dead. She is dead. She’s dead. Okay?"
Clown in a Cornfield
First reactions to new clown horror movie say the slasher is giving Terrifier a run for its money
Latest in News
Dino Crisis 2 art showing a young woman and man back-to-back amid tall green grass, both with their weapons drawn
Dino Crisis gets a fresh trademark filing by Capcom, but it might not mean the 26-year-old survival horror franchise will get a new installment like fans expect
Cujo
Netflix is making a brand new adaptation of Cujo, the infamous Stephen King book about a killer dog
Dragon Age 2
Veteran Dragon Age dev says one big delay is better than several small ones: "You are laying band-aid on top of band-aid on top of band-aid"
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Dark Souls 2 fans remind Death Stranding 2 director Hideo Kojima that he won’t be taking the DS2 acronym that easily
Minecraft Diamond Armor
Minecraft Pocket Edition got its name because one of its devs was a big "Nintendo nerd" who wanted to pay homage to the Game Boy Pocket
Death Stranding 2
Hideo Kojima says Death Stranding's themes of connection came about because "I thought I lost everything when I became alone nine years ago"