Denouement: How Often Does Sundance Get the Grand Jury Prize Right?

When I was in college, I got obsessed with "Alternate Oscars," a great book by film critic (and baseball writer) Danny Peary, who went year-by-year reevaluating who should have won Best Picture, Actor and Actress at the Academy Awards. I didn't always agree with his picks -- Wesley Snipes for "New Jack City"? -- but his passionate, contrarian stance was a page-after-page argument-starter. (It's hard to believe it's been nearly 20 years since that book came out. Mr. Peary, you really need to do an updated version.)

I was thinking about "Alternate Oscars" because of "Like Crazy." Most everyone, including me, has mentioned that the Paramount indie won the Grand Jury Dramatic Prize at this year's Sundance, which is the top prize for a U.S. feature at the festival. Ever since January, that choice has inspired a lot of complaint that the movie didn't deserve the prize, not when you consider it was up against "Take Shelter" and "Martha Marcy May Marlene." I agree, so I decided to go back over the last 10 years and see what films had won the prize and which ones should have. Consider it my Alternate Sundance.

Before we get into this, some quick background. The U.S. Dramatic Competition consists of 16 films -- there's a separate category for world cinema -- with the jury prizes being handed out by a hand-selected panel of five jurors, who range from film critics to actors to cinematographers to directors to novelists. They pick in several categories, but the Grand Jury award is the Best Picture prize for the 16 contenders. Also, it's worth noting that I haven't seen every film in the category over the last 10 years. So, with that all said, let's start with 2002 and work our way up to this year....

2002

Grand Jury Winner: "Personal Velocity"
Alternate Sundance Winner: "Personal Velocity"

So, of course, we kick off with one the jury got right. 2002 didn't feature a lot of forgotten classics, although it did feature "Narc," which launched director Joe Carnahan's career and gave Ray Liotta his best role in years. Also that year were "Better Luck Tomorrow," "Tadpole" and "Secretary." It's funny to think that two directors in that year's competition -- Carnahan and "Better Luck Tomorrow's" Justin Lin -- are now high-profile action filmmakers. But the best of the bunch was Rebecca Miller's "Personal Velocity," which consisted of three short stories about three different women facing their own set of difficult circumstances. Featuring Fairuza Balk, Kyra Sedgwick and the unofficial Queen of Sundance, Parker Posey, "Personal Velocity" is one of those rare small, personal indies that's much bigger than it appears. Well done, jury.

2003

Grand Jury Winner: "American Splendor"
Alternate Sundance Winner: "The Station Agent"

If you asked most people, they'd say the jury made the right pick by selecting directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini's film about comic book writer Harvey Pekar. Starring Paul Giamatti, "American Splendor" is critically beloved, and while I definitely like the film, I've always been partial to "The Station Agent," actor Thomas McCarthy's directorial debut. It stars Peter Dinklage as a dwarf who befriends a food-truck owner (Bobby Cannavale) and an artist (Patricia Clarkson) reeling from the death of a child and the end of her marriage. On paper, "The Station Agent" should be a hopelessly smarmy, quirky affair -- the perfect cliche of a Sundance film -- but McCarthy (who won the festival's screenwriting prize) makes each of these characters painfully real and empathetic. It's too bad McCarthy hasn't been able to do the same thing with his two well-meaning follow-up films, "The Visitor" and "Win Win."

2004

Grand Jury Winner: "Primer"
Alternate Sundance Winner: "Maria Full of Grace"

A particularly strong year, especially if you like "Garden State," which I did, or "Napoleon Dynamite," which I've had a hard time sitting through. The Dramatic Competition also included "Down to the Bone," which was directed by Debra Granik ("Winter's Bone") and starred a relative unknown named Vera Farmiga, who won a Special Jury Prize for her performance as a drug addict. (Granik took home the directing prize.) But as fun, original and mind-bending as "Primer" is, I'd have to go with "Maria Full of Grace," the story of a young Colombian woman (Catalina Sandino Moreno) forced to become a drug mule. Writer-director Joshua Marston's film plays like a taut thriller that's immediate and gripping where "Primer" is intellectual and chilling. "Maria Full of Grace" won the audience prize, which is a break from Sundance tradition: Usually that goes to the most obviously feel-good entry in the field. You definitely can't say that about "Maria."

2005

Grand Jury Winner: "Forty Shades of Blue"
Alternate Sundance Winner: "Junebug"

I'm embarrassed to admit I have yet to see "Forty Shades of Blue," the generally well-regarded drama from director Ira Sachs, who has gone on to make the domestic drama "Married Life." So I can't say the jury chose poorly, but I will say that "Forty Shades of Blue" would have to be something pretty special to replace my pick from that year. "Junebug" is one of the great American independent films of the last 10 years. With a fantastic cast that included the little-known Amy Adams (who won a special jury prize), "Junebug" tells of a Chicago couple visiting the boyfriend's Southern family, inspiring an eloquent, profound rumination on American culture clashes and family bonds that few films have matched. Director Phil Morrison hasn't made a feature since. I wish he would.

2006

Grand Jury Winner: "Quinceanera"
Alternate Sundance Winner: "Half Nelson"

Directors Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland's delicate story about a 14-year-old Mexican-American girl living in the Echo Park section of Los Angeles is a smart and lovely coming-of-age tale, but as fond as I am of "Quinceanera" (which also won the audience award), I have to give the prize to "Half Nelson," which couldn't be more different. A gritty, unsparing Brooklyn tale of a teacher (Ryan Gosling) in an inner-city school trying to make a difference, "Half Nelson" subverts the usual inspirational-teacher movie cliches by making the teacher far more troubled than even his students. (He's battling drug addiction.) This was the first film from Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, who would go on to make another movie that will win my Alternate Sundance prize.

2007

Grand Jury Winner: "Sangre de mi sangre"
Alternate Sundance Winner: no pick

Sadly, "Sangre de mi sangre" slipped through the cracks, although it's a movie I've been meaning to see for a while. Reviews were mixed on this thriller, but it beat out a field that included.... "Grace Is Gone"? "Hounddog"? "Joshua"? "Starting Out in the Evening"? "Teeth"? Not a particularly strong year at Sundance. I'm not going to select a winner for 2007.

2008

Grand Jury Winner: "Frozen River"
Alternate Sundance Winner: "Sugar"

When people ask me what my favorite sports movie from recent years is, I'd go with either "Miracle" or "Sugar," the follow-up drama from "Half Nelson" filmmakers Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. It tells the story of a young Dominican pitcher (played by non-professional Algenis Perez Soto) trying to make it in the major leagues. Just as gripping and sobering as "Half Nelson" but less on-the-nose in the points it's trying to make, "Sugar" is required viewing for any baseball fan who wonders exactly how all those great Latin American stars get to our shores. By comparison, the very good "Frozen River" isn't quite as startling in its depiction of the immigrant experience. (Also strong in this field: the minimalist Southern drama "Ballast.")

2009

Grand Jury Winner: "Precious"
Alternate Sundance Winner: "Humpday"

2009 was the first year I attended Sundance, and I can say from firsthand experience that "Precious" was the film of that year's festival. Hate it or love it, "Precious" was the one movie everybody discussed. I like it quite a lot, but in a field that included "Amreeka" and the underrated "Paper Heart," my vote goes to "Humpday," the funny, touching, dead-on portrait of male friendship and married life from writer-director Lynn Shelton. You probably know the premise: Two straight friends (Joshua Leonard and Mark Duplass) who haven't seen each other in a while decide to make a gay porn film starring themselves. Why? It all has to do with ego and pride, but Shelton takes that potentially gimmicky setup and turns it into something moving and true about the way guys relate to one another.

2010

Grand Jury Winner: "Winter's Bone"
Alternate Sundance Winner: "Blue Valentine"

I've already made my case for why I think "Winter's Bone" is overrated, so let's stick to praising "Blue Valentine." One of 2010's best films, "Blue Valentine" floored me when I saw it at Sundance. It felt like one of the truest, saddest love stories I'd seen in a long time -- which made me even more confused when the film initially got slapped with an NC-17 rating. For what? Hardly exploitative, director Derek Cianfrance's drama about a married couple (Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams) slowly coming apart aspired to the gritty, casual realism of John Cassavetes. It's a movie that's authentic and unforgettable in all the ways "Winter's Bone" tries and only occasionally achieves. Which brings us to...

2011

Grand Jury Winner: "Like Crazy"
Alternate Sundance Winner: "Take Shelter"

I haven't yet seen everything from this year's Dramatic Competition, but what a strong year it was. "Higher Ground," Martha Marcy May Marlene" and "Like Crazy" are all superb movies. (Others really liked "Another Year" and "Terri," and I haven't had a chance to catch the forthcoming "Pariah.") But "Take Shelter" is the best of the bunch, a devastating look at an Midwestern father and husband (Michael Shannon) who's fighting a losing battle with schizophrenia. Most other years, "Like Crazy" would be a clear winner, but there was an embarrassment of riches in 2011. And as we've seen in the last 10 years, even when the Sundance jury doesn't "get it right," their pick is very rarely that wrong. If only the Oscars could say the same.