Sundance Film Festival Highlights

The Sundance Film Festival, the country's foremost showcase for independent cinema, got under way Thursday. Here's a look at some of the films receiving early buzz:
"An Unreasonable Man": Ralph Nader, viewed by critics as the spoiler whose campaign kept Gore out of the White House in the 2000 election, is the subject of Henriette Mantel and Stephen Skrovan's "An Unreasonable Man," a portrait of the crusader for consumer rights and safety.
"Friends With Money": Jennifer Aniston stars in writer-director Nicole Holofcener's "Friends With Money." Aniston plays a woman in limbo about her future after quitting her job and taking up temporary work as a housecleaner. The film centers on her relationship with three affluent friends (Frances McDormand, Catherine Keener and Joan Cusack).
"Come Early Morning": Actress Joey Lauren Adams ("Chasing Amy") directs Ashley Judd in this drama about a Southern woman struggling to turn around her self-demeaning life.
"Stay": Comic Bob Goldthwait directs this romantic comedy about a relationship strained to the breaking point by a pact of absolute honesty.
"Neil Young: Heart of Gold": Jonathan Demme, the Academy Award-winning director of "The Silence of the Lambs," is showing this documentary, which captures the rocker in concert accompanied by Emmylou Harris in Nashville last year.
"Alpha Dog": Singer Justin Timberlake joins Emile Hirsch, Bruce Willis and Sharon Stone in Nick Cassavetes' "Alpha Dog," a tragic tale of rivalry and violence among young drug peddlers.
"Wristcutters: A Love Story": Musician Tom Waits is among the cast of Goran Dukic's offbeat film about a dreary afterlife reserved for people who have killed themselves.
"This Film Is Not Yet Rated": An institution of the movie industry takes its knocks in Kirby Dick's "This Film Is Not Yet Rated," a study of the Motion Picture Association of America's system for rating films. The ratings board has come under frequent fire as overly prudish on sex and permissive on violence, with some critics and filmmakers likening it to a censorship panel.
"The Darwin Awards": Finn Taylor's twisted comedy about people accidentally killed in idiotic ways, starring Winona Ryder and Joseph Fiennes.
"A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints": Dito Montiel's mean-streets drama set in 1980s Queens, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Rosario Dawson.
"Sherrybaby": Laurie Collyer's film about a prison parolee trying to rebuild her life, featuring Maggie Gyllenhaal.
"The Secret Life of Words": Isabel Coixet's story of a nurse tending a temporarily blinded man on an oil rig in the Irish Sea, starring Tim Robbins and Sarah Polley.
Associated Press
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