The Sundance Film Festival could probably have an entire category set aside for coming-of-age dramas, and this year saw a handful gain significant amounts of attention. One that has flown under the radar is Ten Thousand Saints, an '80s-set drama set during the punk rock era and directed by the American Splendor duo of Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini. With the film set to arrive at the tail end of summer, the first trailer arrives to show off an impressive cast that could make it a surprise indie hit.
Starring Ethan Hawke, Asa Butterfield, Emily Mortimer, Hailee Steinfeld, Julianne Nicholson, and Emile Hirsch, the film takes place during the cultural confusion of the late '80s and follows a trio of straight-edge teens trying to find themselves while dealing with their hippie parents. Here's the full synopsis:
Adapted from the novel by Eleanor Henderson, TEN THOUSAND SAINTS is a coming-of-age story about three teenagers in late 1980s New York City—Jude (Asa Butterfield), new to the city from Vermont, “straight-edge” musician Johnny (Emile Hirsch), and troubled, rich uptown girl Eliza (Hailee Steinfeld)—who break away from their messed-up parents (Ethan Hawke and Emily Mortimer) to form their own surrogate family. Set in 1988, a time of great cultural upheaval—against the excesses of the decade, the AIDS epidemic and the gentrification of the city culminating in the infamous Tompkins Square Park riots—TEN THOUSAND SAINTS is a nostalgia trip to a bygone era of New York City.
Ten Thousand Saints opens August 14th.
