Sundance went virtual this year, so we bought a pass and watched the films from the comfort of our couch. The festival was seven days and showed 72 films (plus a shorts program), about half of its usual size. We watched about 25 films.
TL;DR: My favorite film was STRAWBERRY MANSION, and my other top films, in no particular order:
- CRYPTOZOO
- THE PINK CLOUD
- SUMMER OF SOUL
- PASSING
- LAND
- JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH
- FLEE
Pre-showing (Tuesday, January 26):
Two days before the start of the festival proper, they added an extra movie for everyone. This was probably done to make sure that everyone’s technology worked.
COLUMBUS (2017)
This film showed at Sundance 2017. A beautiful first film by a Japanese director. Two lonely people bond in Columbus, Indiana, renowned for its collection of modernist architecture. Supposedly inspired by the work of Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu. Available on Kanopy, or for rent on the usual platforms.
Day 1 (Thursday, January 28):
CODA: A traditional coming-of-age story about a young woman from a working-class background who’s torn between family and her own promise. The twist here is that she’s the only hearing member of a family of deaf fishermen in Gloucester, MA.Well done, a crowd pleaser (it won the audience and jury prizes for a US dramatic film), and definitely pulls the heartstrings, and I’m sure it’ll do quite well streaming (Apple TV bought the rights in a huge deal after the showing) but I was really hoping for something more challenging….
CENSOR: … Well, this was challenging. A young woman is a film censor in 80s Britain. She has a family tragedy in her background, and her history seems to blend into the “video nasties” (low-budget video horror films) that she’s reviewing. Reminiscent of David Cronenberg’s VIDEODROME, Atom Egoyan’s THE ADJUSTER, and David Lynch’s LOST HIGHWAY, but unlike those films, it’s all surface — there’s really nothing underneath, although it’s definitely competently done.
Day 2 (Friday, January 29):
HUMAN FACTORS: German production about a well-off family who has an unfortunate experience while on holiday that has repercussions for their relationships. It did some interesting things with time and with multiple points of view of a common event, but I had problems with the film. Some of the formal experimentation was hard to follow, and it also seemed to me that the central event was insufficiently weighty to be the centerpiece of the film. Also, a lot of the characters’ issues went unexplored and unmotivated. Not bad, but unsatisfying.
CRYPTOZOO: Up until now, none of the Sundance films blew me away, but this was the first one that did. An animated film about hunters of cryptozoological animals, and the intrigue surrounding them. At the center is a cryptid-hunter inspired by Indiana Jones, her gorgon sidekick, and the cryptozoological sanctuary that they’re working for. Incredibly imaginative, genuinely exciting and entertaining, and raises very valid points on our stewardship of nature. The animation and drawing is very naive, but that’s part of its charm.
THE PINK CLOUD: Even though this film was conceived in 2017 and made in 2019, it’s incredibly prescient. In a Brazilian city, and around the world, a pink cloud appears that can kill people caught in it in about ten seconds. Everyone is ordered to shelter in place, whether they’re in the store, at work, or — in the case of the main characters — at the apartment of the one-night-stand from the night before. They stay for … a very long time. A very good exploration of the ways people might emotionally deal with a severe lockdown. Our pandemic is nothing compared to this. Highly recommended.
STRAWBERRY MANSION: In a future world where dreams are recorded and taxed, a government agent shows up at an eccentric old woman’s house to audit her dreams. Batshit crazy and low budget, this movie reminded me most of all of SWISS ARMY MAN — the Daniel Radcliffe farting corpse movie, and another Sundance film. I like movies that are like nothing I’ve ever seen before, and this is my kind of movie. I had a smile on my face the whole way through.
KNOCKING: Along with CENSOR, part of the Midnight program — horror, gross-out comedy, and other strange things. Swedish psychological thriller about a woman recently released from a mental hospital and trying to resume her life. She hears knocking and cries for help. Nobody else hears it. Is there something really happening, or is she crazy? Very well done and keeps us guessing until the end.
Day 3 (Saturday, January 30):
SUMMER OF SOUL (OR, THE REVOLUTION COULDN”T BE TELEVISED): A documentary about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, sometimes called “the Black Woodstock.” A series of tremendous free concerts held in Mt. Morris Park in Harlem. The footage was lost for 50 years, and is now being shown for the first time, along with archival historical footage and modern interviews. The performances were great and the insights were great. I expect this will appear on some streaming service very soon (apparently lots of buyers are bidding for the rights), and I enthusiastically recommend it. Directed by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson. Winner of the audience and jury prizes for US documentary.
AILEY: Well paired with the previous film — a biography of Alvin Ailey, relating the Black experience to American contemporary dance. Interesting, but I thought inferior to SUMMER OF SOUL for reasons not entirely its fault. Unlike SUMMER OF SOUL, which could show the performance of many songs in their entirety, AILEY could only show clips of individual dances — there wasn’t time to show more than that and still cover other things. Also, in SUMMER OF SOUL, lots of the participants are still alive and available for interviews. In AILEY, there’s a big absence at the center — although there’s lots of archival footage of Alvin Ailey, he died on 1989. The film had the feel of a PBS American Masters episode — not surprising, since they were involved the in the production. I assume it’ll appear on American Masters sometime in the next year.
PRIME TIME — Very different from the previous films. A very taut thriller about a young man who takes over at gunpoint a New Years Eve 1999/2000 TV special on Polish TV. Very claustrophobic — it felt like it could have been a stage play. Simply good, well-made entertainment. Gripping. One interesting thing about it is that it was shot last summer during the pandemic. The scenes were quite crowded, with no masks. The rules in Poland were likely very different, and I suspect that the COVID numbers were much lower in Poland at the time.
PASSING — Extremely well done story about the friendship between two Black women in New York in the 1920s, one of whom is passing for white, and the other of whom possibly could but chooses not to. Based on a novel by Nella Larsen. Well-made reproduction of the Harlem Renaissance of the 20s, with complicated relationships between the characters. Starring Ruth Negga and Tessa Thompson, this would ordinarily be a prestige theatrical release. Perhaps nowadays, it’ll appear on a streaming platform. Well worth seeing.
SEARCHERS — A documentary about online dating, it mostly shows people looking at online profiles and discussing whether to swipe left or right. The participants also discuss online dating experiences. It just drives home how strange the online dating scene really is, and makes me grateful that I don’t have to have anything to do with it. Still, I found it interesting to watch.
A GLITCH IN THE MATRIX — Another weird movie in the Midnight program, this one a documentary about people who believe in the Simulation Hypothesis — the idea that we might be living in a computer simulation. It drove me nuts. It’s one of those movies that throws everything against the wall, whether it’s relevant or not. These people are crazy, and there’s nothing explainable through Simulation Theory that couldn’t be better explained through Occam’s Razor as old-fashioned reality. Not a very good movie, but one of the stranger things I’ve seen lately.
Day 4 (Sunday, January 31):
THE DOG WHO WOULDN’T BE QUIET: Gentle Argentinian film about the ups and downs in the life of a young man, over a number of years. There are some interesting twists. I’m not sure what the point of it was, but I enjoyed the ride.
MISHA AND THE WOLVES: Documentary about a woman who writes an astonishing Holocaust memoir that becomes a bestseller. The catch — it’s all a lie.The documentary traces the entire story, which is even darker than one might have expected. Quite good.
LAND: Robin Wright’s directorial debut. She plays a woman who escapes family tragedy by moving to the wilderness. The relationship between the two main characters is incredibly moving. The film really got to me. I expect this film will be easily found in theaters or on a streaming service, and I would recommend it.
FIRST DATE: A comedy about a first date that goes incredibly wrong. A combination of Quentin Tarantino, AFTER HOURS, and REPO MAN that’s not as good as any of them, and that thinks it’s cleverer than it really is. I’ve seen better.
I WAS A SIMPLE MAN: Mystical film about an elderly Hawaiian man who’s dying, and whose ghosts come back to haunt him. Does interesting things with time. A little slow, but I think it rewards patience.
Day 5 (Monday, February 1):
EL PLANETA: In Spain after the 2008 economic collapse, a mother and daughter try to maintain their lifestyle through a series of grifts and cons. Supposedly a comedy, I saw a comparison to Sundance hit STRANGER THAN PARADISE. While it had the rich black-and-white photography of the latter, it lacked a comic bite and it lacked STRANGER THAN PARADISE’s punchline. Not a satisfying film.
MA BELLE, MY BEAUTY: A film about a New Orleans singer and her musician husband, in southern France, rejoined by her former female lover. The sexual dynamics are complicated and hard to explain in a brief review, but this movie is worth seeing if only for people hanging out in a beautiful house in southern France and having leisurely group dinners and lively parties. What a concept!
LIFE IN A DAY 2020: In 2010, YouTube invited people to chronicle a single day and send in the footage. It was edited into a film that can still be seen. Last year, they did it again, and over 300,000 people sent in footage chronicling July 25, 2020. It must have been a gargantuan editing process, but the film is excellent. Even — maybe especially — in a pandemic year, an interesting film can be made from this. I’m sure it’ll be on YouTube soon. (It’s not there yet, although the 2010 version is.)
JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH: A drama about Fred Hampton, leader of the Illinois Black Panthers, and William O’Neal, the FBI informant who provides the information that leads to the FBI’s assassination of Hamption in 1969. It’s not a story that I was familiar with, but it’s worth knowing. Very well done — Deborah thought it might be her favorite of the festival. I don’t know if I’d go that far, but it’s one of the best things I saw. Apparently, there’s already Oscar talk about this. Picked up by Amazon Prime Video, and soon to be seen there.
Day 6 (Tuesday, February 2):
AMY TAN: UNINTENDED MEMOIR: Interesting documentary on the work and life of novelist Amy Tan. Another future American Masters production.
FLEE: Animated true story about an Afghan refugee and how he came to Denmark. A pretty amazing story, beautifully told. One of the best things we’ve seen at the festival. Will be available in theaters.
LUZZU: Neorealist-style film about a Maltese fisherman and his increasingly desperate attempts to make ends meet. Filmed with non-professional actors, it’s a solid story.
Day 7 (Wednesday, February 3):
ALL LIGHT, EVERYWHERE, a documentary on the hidden links between photography and militarism — quite profound.
A program of award-winning shorts, which didn’t impress us, and which I won’t go into any further.