Sundance Film Festival has moved online once again for everyone’s safety, that being said, there is something special about viewing these special films at home in a dark and cozy room. We do miss the festival and the energy of being in person, but candlelight and wine make for a lovely night of viewings.
The COVID-19 omicron variant made an in-person edition of The Sundance Film way too risky, so for the second consecutive year, the festival has gone digital.
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John Boyega is almost unrecognizable in this heart wrenchingly true story. John Boyega gives an astounding performance in this tense thriller based on the true story of Brian Brown Easley. The story follows an ex-Marine who holds up a Georgia bank in a desperate attempt to bring attention to the VA’s negligence. Directed by Abi Damaris Corbin, the cast is rounded out by the late Michael K. Williams, Connie Britton, and Nicole Beharie.
Cha Cha Real Smooth
We have missed a high quality Rom-Com and Director Copper Raiff goes above and beyond in the delivery of this picture. Copper Raiff cast himself as an aimless postgrad who lives at home and has enough awkward charm to book gigs as an unlikely bar mitzvah “party-starter.” At one bar mitzvah, he meets a perceptive mother (Dakota Johnson) and her oft-bullied autistic daughter (newcomer Vanessa Burghardt), he strikes up a flirty friendship that sends him on a path toward proper adulthood. You’ll think you know where this movie is going, and you’ll be mostly wrong. It’s a gem in the rom-com world and a film not to be missed.
Good Luck To You, Leo Grande
We have yet to watch a movie that stars Emma Thompson that we couldn’t help but fall in love with. The film is directed by Sophie Hyde and stars Emma Thompson as Nancy Stokes. her character is a retired religion teacher who has never had an orgasm. She’s chatty, anxious, charming, and filled with the wistfulness of someone who feels life has mostly passed her by. So she does what any self-respecting widow might do: hire a young, hunky sex worker (Daryl McCormack) off the internet. The film takes us on a jounrey over the course of several meetings in the same hotel room where Nancy slowly grows more comfortable with the arrangement. As their characters bond they’re surprised at finding an unlikely commonality despite their vast age difference. (She is 55; he is in his 20s.) A thoughtful look at age, and sexuality. We love seeing films that explore women past the age of 30, we do not infact disappear and this film makes that honestly true.
Happening
After a year fraught with losses for women’s right Happening‘s storyline hit us hard. It’s a powerful film about women and their right to their own bodies. The film is directed by Aubrey Diwan and follows Anne (Anamaria Vartolomei) whose journey is an unflinching story of a young woman trying to get an abortion despite the draconian illegality of the procedure in 1960s France. When Anne finds out she’s pregnant, she’s resolute in her decision to terminate despite the risks of death or prison. Aubrey Diwan’s camera stays focused on the most harrowing moments of Anne’s experience, which makes Happening a difficult but remarkable watch. A must see.
Nanny
This is director Nikyatu Jusu debut feature, and it is a powerful commentary on the issues of classism and immigration. Nanny remains unshakably tense as it chronicles the life of Aisha (Anna Diop), a Senegalese immigrant who starts a job working as a nanny for a white family living in a pristinely fashionable loft. Aisha’s time is casually taken advantage of by her charge’s work-obsessed mother (Michelle Monaghan) and uninterested dad (Morgan Spector), a documentary photographer who chronicles the abuses of people on Aisha’s home continent. As she spends more time with these people, Aisha grows threatened by premonitions involving African spirits, like the spider Anansi and the mermaid Mama Wati. These dream-like supernatural images leave you in chills, but never quite as frightening as the interactions happening between Diop and Monaghan. The film is a testament to the acting talents of both women and a powerful look at society’s broken power structures.