Wish You Were Here
The Gist: Four Aussies (including Joel Edgerton, who just wears conflict so well) head to Cambodia for a hedonistic tropical romp, but only three return home.
The Buzz: Animal Kingdom actor-turned-director Kieran Darcy-Smith shared script responsibility with his lead actress (and wife), Felicity Price. Their debut — told in nonlinear form and based on truth — made audiences gasp first, applaud later.
Arbitrage
The Gist: Richard Gere’s turn at playing unfaithful gets him into a pickle requiring help from a gone-straight criminal.
The Buzz: Gere’s celebrity factory may have drawn the masses, but it was Drive composer Cliff Martinez's score and Nate Parker’s performance (reminiscent of Friday Night Lights’s Vince) that stole the show.
Beasts of the Southern Wild
The Gist: Benh Zeitlin’s debut narrative composed of nonactors follows 6-year-old Hushpuppy, whose father, Wink, gets sick. With the apocalypse looming, she leaves her Southern delta known as the Bathtub to find her mother. Just go with it.
The Buzz: Audiences stood with roaring applause; several big-time buyers, including The Weinstein Company and Sony Pictures Classics, bid on rights to tame the beast. In the end, Fox Searchlight secured the reins.
Bachelorette
The Gist: Terriers writer Leslye Headland commands the lens with her hard-core comedy about three hot chicks (you know who they are) playing second fiddle to the fat girl from high school.
The Buzz: There wasn’t an empty seat up for grabs, and hundreds of wait-listers were turned away. Looks like the mean film already has a mean following.
Hello I Must Be Going
The Gist: Bit player Melanie Lynskey steps into the spotlight as Amy, a sad divorcee using sex with a teenager as a Band-Aid to cover the sting of having to move back in with her parents.
The Buzz: Todd Louiso’s comedy opened the fest, and said teenager, played by Christopher Abbott (you may remember him from last year’s Sundance success Martha Marcy May Marlene), has found his breakout role.
