The Five Most Important Movies at Sundance

Winter's Bone 2010

A 'more severe' precedent for the archetype.

Fruitvale Station 2013

Another severe precedent.

Affliction 1997

Another severe precedent.

Big Night 1996

The 'lighthearted' precedent.

Take Shelter 2011

The 'genre-fied' precedent.

Minari 2020

Lee Isaac Chung's A24 film about a Korean American family moving to Arkansas in the 1980s, starring Steven Yeun and Han Ye-ri, with Will Patton as a local farmhand named Paul. Both hosts call it one of the best films of the festival, singling out the child performance from Alan Kim and the film's specificity and restraint.

The Farewell 2019

Raised as a comparison for Minari's three-generations, culture-clash story.

Burning 2018

Steven Yeun's prior lead role, floated as a thematically related double feature with Minari.

Four Weddings and a Funeral 1994

In Bruges 2008

Martin McDonagh's 'nasty, hilarious' assassin comedy, cited as a career highlight before Three Billboards.

500 Days of Summer 2009

Garden State 2004

Directed by Zach Braff.

Downhill 2020

Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell in a remake of Ruben Östlund's Force Majeure, about a father who abandons his family during a false avalanche scare on a ski trip. Both praise the leads' more serious register and the cinematography, and note it's the first release under Fox Searchlight's new logo.

Force Majeure 2014

The Ruben Östlund original that Downhill remakes.

Palm Springs 2020

Produced with the Lonely Island; neither host had seen it yet, but word was it sold for a huge sum.

Reservoir Dogs 1992

Secretary 2002

The Blair Witch Project 1999

American Psycho 2000

The Raid 2 2014

Zola 2020

Janicza Bravo's adaptation of the viral Twitter thread about a stripper's road trip to Florida, scored by Mica Levi. Both praise its sensory-overload style and how well it keeps moving.

Assassination Nation 2018

Sam Levinson's earlier, less successful stab at similar sensory overload.

Spring Breakers 2012

Cited, and dismissed, as a comparison for Zola.

Moonlight 2016

Part of the 'A24 Florida movies' lineage Zola extends.

The Florida Project 2017

Same lineage.

Waves 2019

Same lineage.

Promising Young Woman 2020

Emerald Fennell's revenge film starring Carey Mulligan, discussed carefully to avoid spoiling it.

The Celluloid Closet 1995

Grizzly Man 2005

Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution 2020

Briefly noted as well-received.

On the Record 2020

Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering's documentary on Drew Dixon's allegations against Russell Simmons at Def Jam, and the wider music industry. Oprah Winfrey removed her producer credit three days before the premiere.

Whiplash 2014

Get Out 2017

Call Me by Your Name 2017

Manchester by the Sea 2016

Minari 2020

Revisited here as they debate the right release window for an Oscar run; Sean guesses September.

The Last Black Man in San Francisco 2019

Honey Boy 2019

The Souvenir 2019

The Nightingale 2018

Jennifer Kent's film about a woman in 19th-century Australia; they admit giving it too little time on the show when it played last year.

Clemency 2019

Took 11 months from Sundance to a wide release, which they think worked against it.

1917 2019

Cited as the opposite case, a film a fast turnaround helped.

Knock Down the House 2019

American Factory 2019

One Child Nation 2019

Apollo 11 2019

Late Night 2019

Brittany Runs a Marathon 2019

Honeyland 2019

Dick Johnson Is Dead 2020

Palm Springs 2020

The festival's biggest sale: $17.5 million and 69 cents from Hulu and Neon, the odd cents added to make it the highest Sundance sale ever. They guess the price reflects Andy Samberg's built-in Brooklyn Nine-Nine audience on Hulu.

Parasite 2019

Cited as Neon's last big splashy acquisition, which paid off with a $30 million box office.

The Night House 2020

David Bruckner's horror thriller starring Rebecca Hall, bought by Sony for $12 million.

The Ritual 2017

Bruckner's previous film, streaming on Netflix.

Herself 2020

Phyllida Lloyd's small Irish drama, bought by Amazon, a departure from Amazon's usual Sundance buys.

Boys State 2020

Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine's documentary about teenage boys building a mock American political system in Texas, bought by A24 for Apple TV+. Sean calls it the best movie he saw at the festival.

The Last Thing He Wanted 2020

Dee Rees' Netflix adaptation of the Joan Didion novel, starring Anne Hathaway, Ben Affleck, and Willem Dafoe, about arms dealing and the Contra war in 1980s Nicaragua and El Salvador. Both call it a confusing, total failure despite a promising cast and subject.

Play It As It Lays 1972

The earlier, 'famously weird' Didion adaptation, cited as evidence her prose resists adaptation.

The Intern 2015

Ocean's Eight 2018

She's the 'scene stealer,' per Amanda.

Serenity 2019

Called 'a historical disaster,' but 'really funny and dumb.'

The Hustle 2019

Dark Waters 2019

A throwaway part she elevates, per Amanda.

Roald Dahl's The Witches 2020

Robert Zemeckis' Roald Dahl adaptation; she plays the Grand High Witch.

Sesame Street 2022

An upcoming Sesame Street movie from Jonathan Krisel, said to also feature Bo Burnham, with a release date given as January 14, 2022.

The Princess Diaries 2001

Cited as evidence she's always been best as a comedian.

Never Rarely Sometimes Always 2020

Hittman's third feature, about two teenage cousins traveling from rural Pennsylvania to New York City for an abortion. She traces its origin to a 2013 news story about Savita Halappanavar, discusses casting first-time actor Sidney Flanigan (whom she'd met years earlier on the set of Buffalo Juggalos), and the film's sparse, non-naturalistic dialogue. Distributed by Focus Features, opening in March.

Beach Rats 2017

Her previous film; she says it didn't open many doors beyond some TV work.

Buffalo Juggalos 2013

A staged, documentary-style portrait she produced, on the set of which she first met Sidney Flanigan.

Midnight Cowboy 1969

A reference point she revisited for the film's road-trip structure.

Atlantics 2019

Mati Diop's film, the 'last great thing' she'd seen, praised for shifting from social realism into something 'haunting and supernatural.'