Sundance Review: 'Ten Thousand Saints' Starring Ethan Hawke, Asa Butterfield & Hailee Steinfeld

It’s great to see married director duo Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini back at Sundance, the location of their breakout film “American Splendor.” While they’ve put in great work in the meantime, their latest, the excellent “Ten Thousand Saints,” is a roaring return to the fest that made their name. Adapted from the debut novel by Eleanor Henderson, “Ten Thousand Saints” is a melancholy yet sweet and hopeful coming of age story that explores every aspect of life’s complications. Though funny and full of heart, it’s no quirky and lighthearted flick, as a rich vein of darkness and reality courses through the film’s style and content.

Set in the late 1980s, “Ten Thousand Saints” is the story of teenage Jude (Asa Butterfield), stuck in Vermont with his hippie mom Harriet (Julianne Nicholson), huffing chemicals for kicks with his best friend Teddy (Avan Jogia). Things get turned upside down when Eliza (Hailee Steinfeld), the daughter of his deadbeat dad Les’ (Ethan Hawke)...