A bit of friendly advice to the producers of “Ten Thousand Saints”: Please, please, please get rid of the opening narration in which the protagonist observes that life is like a river. It’s the worst line of dialogue in the whole movie, and it starts the proceedings off with a cringe.

Luckily, the script (by directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, adapting the novel by Eleanor Henderson) gets better from there. After the death of his best friend Teddy (Avan Jogia, also appearing in “I Am Michael” at Sundance), disaffected teenager Jude (Asa Butterfield, “Ender’s Game”) leaves Vermont and goes to Manhattan to live with his drug-dealing dad Les (Ethan Hawke). Jude is smitten with Eliza (Hailee Steinfeld), the daughter of Les’ current girlfriend Diane (Emily Mortimer), but then it turns out Eliza is carrying Teddy’s baby.

Also Read: Sundance: Acrobatic Sex Scene Steals Opening Night From Robert Redford and John Legend

Their journey involves Teddy’s half-brother Johnny (Emile Hirsch), a devoted Hare Krishna and part of the straight-edge hardcore scene in late ’80s New York City, who has his own reasons for wanting to marry the underage Eliza. Berman and Pulcini, making their strongest film since “American Splendor,” elicit great performances, but they also skillfully keep the film funny despite all the tragedies that keep befalling the characters.

Hawke, playing a wastrel-ish spin on the devoted dads he’s given us in the last two Richard Linklater movies, stands out, but it’s a great ensemble, including Julianne Nicholson, whose earth-mother role here couldn’t be further afield from her buttoned-down doc on “Masters of Sex.”

“Ten Thousand Saints” loses its way a bit in the third act, throwing in a clash between cops and homeless people in Tompkins Square Park that never successfully ties in with the main storyline, but this charmingly humane period piece sees two talented filmmakers getting their mojo back after major missteps like “Girl Most Likely” and “The Extra Man.”

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Two riveting documentaries look at some legendary literary lions of the 20^th century: My colleague Steve Pond has already covered the compelling “Best of Enemies,” a look at the William Buckley/Gore Vidal debates at the 1968 conventions, a film that’s equal parts dishy and historically-culturally contextual; it’s nostalgic for an era when a major network would give airtime to two users of multi-syllabic words while also pinpointing their contretemps as the launch pad for left-versus-right yelling pundits on modern TV news.

Much of the HBO documentary “Larry Kramer in Love and Anger” might seem familiar to anyone who’s seen “How to Survive a Plague” or watched “The Normal Heart” onstage or on cable, but it’s a mostly thorough and very reverent examination of the life of an essential writer and activist. We follow Kramer from his unhappy childhood through his career as a film executive and Oscar-nominated screenwriter (“Women in Love”) to his founding of Gay Men’s Health Crisis and ACT UP during the early years of the AIDS plague — Kramer always said “epidemic” wasn’t strong enough a word — to the modern day, where he battles health issues but continues to write.

Also Read: Sundance: Kevin Pollak’s Documentary ‘Misery Loves Comedy’ Sold to Tribeca Film

Director Jean Carlomusto takes us into some of the less-traveled areas of Kramer’s life and career — the controversial but prophetic novel “Faggots,” the fact that his big paycheck for writing the musical flop “Lost Horizon” allowed him to tackle activist and theatrical pursuits — but the completist in me wanted to know more about Kramer’s relationship with his husband David Webster and about his little-seen play “Just Say No.” Nonetheless, it’s good to know that the life and work of someone as vital (and as full of righteous anger) as Kramer will be reaching a mass audience when the film debuts on cable in June.

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There’s more to “The Summer of Sangaile” than its extraordinary cinematography (by Dominque Colin, “I Stand Alone, “L’auberge espagnole”), but it’s hard not to start there. If a dark horse like “Ida” could make its way into this year’s Oscar race in the cinematography category, whatever distributor picks up this lovely coming-of-age drama should aim for that goal for next year.

In the first Lithuanian narrative film to play Sundance, Sangaile (Julija Steponaityté) suffers from vertigo but is obsessed with air shows and stunt-flying. At one show, she catches the eye of the bubbly Auste (Aisté Diržiūté), and the two eventually fall into a passionate relationship, despite Sangaile’s habit of cutting herself. (She has 13 scars on one arm and 17 on the other; Auste tries to get her to stop after she’s made them match.)

See Photos: Sundance Party Report in Pictures: The Snowy Scene in Park City (Updating Photos)

Writer-director Alanté Kavaïté has a flair for visual storytelling; there are long stretches of little or no dialogue, but her camerawork — ranging from close-ups of faces, shoulders and other body parts to soaring shots above the tall trees that surround Sangaile’s house — tells us everything we need to know. By the end of the film, you’ll feel Sangaile’s vertigo whether or not you share the character’s fear of heights.

If there’s a downside to the film, it’s that it resolves itself more conventionally than some of the story’s more unexpected twists might lead you to expect. But that’s a minor quibble for a film that’s so visually and emotionally beautiful.

Sundance Party Report in Pictures: Nicole Kidman, Ethan Hawke, Kellan Lutz, Jason Segel (Updating Photos)

Keanu Reeves gets Seacrest'ed by Eli Roth as Lorenza Izzo and Collen Camp enjoy the breather while speaking with TheWrap's Jeff Sneider on Saturday.
Tiffany Rose/Getty Images for Chefdance
Pure as snow: Iggy Azalea performed at Billboard's Winter Fest on Saturday night.
Getty Images
Dianna Agron is in town for her drama "Zipper," with "Game of Thrones'" Lena Heady. On her first trip to Sundance, she hit Birchbox's pop-up shop to cut down on the delivery time of the subscription beauty/grooming company.
Tiffany Rose/Getty Images
Rashida Jones, who produced the amateur-to-professional porn documentary "Hot Girls Wanted" that debuted on Saturday afternoon at the Temple Theatre. She and the crew celebrated at the Merrell #Trailscape.
Miles Mortensen
A frequent site in Park City: cell phone charging stations. If half the money spent on parties went to solar energy research, this could be obsolete by next Sundance.
Mikey Glazer
Lori Singer and John Leguizamo celebrate the Stanley Milgram biopic "Experimenter" at the Grey Goose Blue Door on Sunday night. DJ Spider would close it down with a early 1990s hip hop dance party afterwards.
Michael Loccisano/Getty Images
"Flight of the Conchord's" Jemaine Clement and Sean Rad at the Tinder Arts & Cinema Centre's party for "Tig & People Places and Things" on Sunday night.
David Edwards/DailyCeleb
Catherine Durickas from The SpinOffs with Catdance host Nikki Reed. The heavily promoted "feline" film event remains a head scratcher.
Roxy Manning gets the scoop on "Animals" from Mark and Jay Duplass at the Kia Supper Suite by STK on Saturday night.
David Edwards/DailyCeleb
Robert Redford, Nick Nolte, and Nick Offerman form an impressive round table at the Acura studio on Saturday afternoon.
(Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for Acura)
Sarah Silverman looks overwhelmed as she ducked in off Main Street to hit Kari Feinstein's Style Lounge, which has been giving full trips (including airfare) to Aruba.
After spending the day on the press circuit, Kid Cudi and director Josh Mond goofed off at a dinner celebrating their film "James White" hosted by Sabra Hummus at Ciseros.
Michael Bezjian
Star Trek co-stars Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto hit up the same Sabra Hummus House for a cross-film kick off party celebrating indy filmmakers.
Michael Bezjian
Director Ramin Bahrani and Michael Shannon strike a pose while celebrating "99 Homes" on the opening weekend.
Michael Bezjian
Toni Collette came through the busy space housing TheWrap's Interview Studio at the Indiegogo Lounge and picked up some fuel at the Tim Hortons Cafe and Bake Shop in the space that will house Iggy Azalea's concert on Saturday night.
Tiffany Rose/Getty Images for Chefdance
She also signed in to Rock & Reilly's, which has been an industry hangout all festival. Thursday night had the densest concentration of L.A. publicists and media in one room actually paying for their own drinks.
Donald Margulies, James Ponsoldt and Jason Segel had one of the hot parties on Friday for "The End of Tour". They broke in the Grey Goose Blue Door on its first night. (Michael Loccisano)
(Michael Loccisano)
Later in the night, Nicole Kidman would party there for "Strangerland".
(Michael Loccisano)
Cool photo opp at the TR Suites. Newly minted Golden Globe winner Gina Rodriguez and Henry Esteve stayed at ground level on the "Vuarnet Sunglasses Lift" supported by Otterbox.
(Alexandra Wyman/AP Invision)
Ryan Hawke and Ethan Hawke at the "Ten Thousand Saints" premiere on Friday night.
George Pimentel/Getty Image
Kiana Madani, Thomas Middleditch, Gary Cole, and Jay Duplass toast "The Bronze" at the Kia Supper Suite by STK.
David Edwards/Daily Celeb
Festival regular Andie McDowell arrives in one of the ubiquitous Kia Sorentos shuttling talent around town.
David Edwards/Daily Celeb
Former SAG president and screen legend Ed Asner is at Sundance on the weekend of the SAG awards. He found some rare personal space with Lois Rezler at the Kia Supper Suite.
David Edwards/Daily Celeb
Josh Hutcherson took a pause with Murilo Bueno at the Merrell Trailscape, where the crown jewel is the Oculus Rift.
Miles Mortensen
Ken Sunshine joined HFPA President Theo Kingma and Sunshine Sachs' Michael Samonte at the HFPA's first event at Sundance -- a party at the Sky Lodge with THR where DJ Jesse Marco got people dancing with "Remix to Ignition."
Al Powers/Powers Imagery
Festival regular Kellan Lutz hit Tao late on Friday, which has Elyx as its partner this year.
Scott Roth/AP Images
Ethan Hawke is amongst the first to tag the hood of an Acura TLX that will be auctioned off for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation after the festival.
California Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom popped up on Heber at the Merrell Trailscape on Friday.
Miles Mortensen
Sean P. Means, John Cooper, Keri Putnam, and Sundance chief Robert Redford kicked off the festival at the annual Day One Press Conference on Thursday.
(Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for Sundance)
Delta ran a festival shuttle in conjunction with UTA from LAX on Thursday, raffling off business class tickets to Shanghai, Paris, "anywhere in the 50 states," and "anywhere in Mexico" on board. People actually talked to their seat neighbors on the all-industry flight. The pilots hawked a script.
(Mikey Glazer)
UTA's Jeremy Barber with Delta's Ranjan Goswami, who closed down Lemonade in LAX for an industry pre-flight brunch. "Bad news, Jeremy Zimmer did not make the flight. Good news, we have his credit card and we will be buying drinks," Goswami said over the flight's P.A.
Post flight, official Sundance vehicles awaited faces like Adam Scott.
Gustavo Caballero/GC Images via Getty Images
Billboards and signage still taking shape.
(George Pimentel/Getty Images for Sundance)
Films looking for daylight get an early jump on poster space along Main Street.
(Bryan Steffy/Getty Images for Sundance)
Already full ... and it is not even dark on Thursday yet.
(George Pimentel/Getty Images for Sundance)
Meanwhile back in L.A., Francis Ford Coppola and former Academy President Sid Ganis presented Dagmar Dolby with a star on the walk of fame. Dagmar Dolby accepted for her late husband, Ray Dolby, whose name now emblazons the home of the Oscars.
(Michael Tullberg/Getty Images)