question for another day, but if you’re going to make one — as Oliver Hermanus did — there’s perhaps no one quite like Kazuo Ishiguro to craft a symphonic tribute to the deep wells of emotion lurking within the stoic reserved protocols of a formal bureaucracy.
Sundance 2022: Sharp Stick
Conceived and filmed during the pandemic, Lena Dunham’s return to feature filmmaking is the most mind-boggling misfire that I’ve seen at the festival so far.
Slamdance Film Festival, where avante garde is the norm
Slamdance, founded in 1995, is a film festival that runs literally alongside Sundance in Park City, Utah. In their own words they are a film festival for filmmakers by filmmakers. Unlike Sundance, the unique part of Slamdance is the submission requirements: every one must be feature-length, a directorial debut without U.S. distribution, and budgets of less than $1 million USD. Many amazing artists have debuted their work at this festival like Bong Joon-Ho, Christopher Nolan, Anthony & Joe Russo, Rian Johnson, and our very own Lynn Shelton. To say that it’s a hotbed of talent is putting it lightly to say the least.
Sundance 2022: Docs Roundup
Sundance has gained a reputation as a launching pad for documentary films that are bound to catch popular attention. Brief reviews of some of the festival’s highlights, including stories about Boeing, Kanye West, and Lucy and Desi.
Pedro Almodovar’s Parallel Mothers is a smart and affecting melodrama
Spain’s greatest cultural export, Pedro Almodovar (no offense, Picasso), returns with another deeply moving and powerful melodrama. It was an emotional experience for me, and I broke down crying in my car when I left the screening.
Sundance 2022: Meet Me in the Bathroom
most certainly dive headlong into Sundance’s ample genre programming for legitimate horror movies, but I can’t think of any or them more terrifying to the ego than sitting down for a music documentary about a bunch of “era-defining” bands as a way of being forced to confront the fact that the soundtrack from your early twenties has now aged into fodder for the archival treatment. Working from groundwork laid by Lizzy Goodman’s book of the same title, directors Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace have assembled a clear-eyed collage of the “rebirth of rock” that exploded from New York City in the early 2000s.
Sundance 2022: After Yang
After Columbus, about two people quietly getting to know each other on an impromptu architectural tour of a small town, became a surprise critical darling, many were curious about where Kogonada would go next. The answer: to the future with Colin Farrell. Seeing his new film, After Yang, during its stateside premiere at Sundance this weekend also answered the question of whether there would be any truly great movies shown at this festival and/or released in 2022.
Sundance 2022: Something in the Dirt
In a return to form for filmmaking partners in crime Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, Something in the Dirt leads us on a mind-melting journey that all takes place within a single room.
Sundance 2022: Dual
A deadpan delight with Karen Gillan at her best in a multifaceted performance, Dual is absolutely one of the finest works of the fest thus far.
Sundance 2022: Call Jane
In her first feature as director, Carole screenwriter Phyliss Nagy, steps behind the camera and casts Elizabeth Banks in a melodrama about a Chicago housewife whose frustrated pursuit of a life-saving abortion leads her into the heart of a clandestine collective of women connecting those in need with vital services. Set in 1968, its occasionally valedictory tone also serves as an uncomfortable warning as near-daily headlines threaten for history to repeat itself.