Notes from Sundance 2016
After a inspirational week at the Art House Convergence, I stuck around in Utah and attended the Sundance Film Festival. This year’s festival included a diverse collection of independent films, a number of which will be making their way to our screens over the next couple months. (A number of the films will also be making their way to your home screens as well as Netflix and Amazon made some very big and aggressive purchases, further forcing their way into the film world.)
My wife, Emily, was able to join me and together we saw 20 films and a handful of shorts. Here are our reviews of the films that we caught, and a couple notes on some other highly acclaimed films that we were not able to attend.
Captain Fantastic — Viggo Mortensen stars as a father raising his six children in a highly “alternative” lifestyle; when the family is forced to confront how the rest of the US lives, tensions play out. Though potentially formulaic for some, the film raises interesting questions about lifestyle, family, and a parent’s responsibility to his children. With great supporting performances by the child actors, which keep their characters from slipping into stereotypes, and Frank Langella as a no-nonsense father-in-law.
Certain Women — Sundance-regular Kelly Reichardt’s newest, based on Maile Meloy’s short stories, profiles three women living and working in Montana. The minimalist film drops in on each woman and her work, her life, and her relationships and tells us about her through quiet close-ups and wide shots of the land, but leaves it to us to determine the moral of each story. With Laura Dern, Michelle Williams, and Lily Gladstone (supported by Kristen Stewart).
The First Girl I Loved — A love story between two high school females explores the highs of young love and the difficulties of coming out to friends and family. With a clever non-linear structure and a great performance by actress Dylan Gelula, director Karem Sanga delivers an insightful and modern look at a budding relationship. Produced by Doylestown-native Ross Putman, who also partnered with Sanga on The Young Kieslowski. We look forward to having Ross back to the County for a screening and Q&A.
The Fundamentals of Caring — The very definition of a “Sundance movie,” replete with quirky roadtrip, characters learning lessons about family issues, and mix of grief and humor. Paul Rudd stars as a man dealing with an incredible loss who becomes the care-giver of a caustic teen with Muscular dystrophy (Craig Roberts) and embark on a life-changing adventure. The film goes down easy and, while it won’t change your life, is enjoyable.
Halal Love (and Sex) — Three devout Beiruti couples find their way through love, courtship, marriage, and affairs while abiding the Muslim laws for relationships. Example: A wife, sick of chores, watching the kids, and her husband’s nightly requests for “nooky,” gets a second wife to join the household and help. While interesting to learn about the rules of other cultures, the movie is ultimately no more than basic romcom fare.
Hunt for the Wilderpeople — A buddy comedy with a twist, pairing the curmudgeonly Sam Neill as a hardened bush-wise Kiwi with newcomer Julian Dennison as a street-smart foster kid whose only chance for a home is out in the country. When circumstances throw them together, the adventure begins. The film stays nimble enough in its humor and pace to avoid being sappy or trite, instead giving us a fun, light, and refreshing tale.
Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World — Offbeat documentarian Werner Herzog’s newest was one of my most anticipated of the festival and also my biggest disappointment. Looking to explore “The Internet,” the film bites off more than it can chew and delivers a disorderly ramble that never ends up going anywhere. There are moments that are enjoyable, but, overall, it falls flat.
Love & Friendship — Pride and Prejudice meets The Importance of Being Earnest. Kate Beckinsdale turns in a wickedly fun bravura performance as Lady Susan Vernon, a widowed noblewoman in 19th-century England whose machinations provide endless trouble for her peers and endless smart fun for us. Based on a Jane Austen novella, Whit Stillman’s film drives forward with just enough levity to keep it from being stale.
The Lure — Not really sure what to say other than: Polish, mermaid, horror-thriller, disco musical. Crazy, weird, but totally awesome. First-time feature director Agnieszka Smoczyńska delivers with a hypnotic, EuroPop-infused nightmare of lust, obsession, and fantasy that, while not for everyone, is certainly original.
Manchester-by-the-Sea — Kenneth Lonergan’s newest was one of the most buzzed about and critically-acclaimed films at the festival and the second biggest acquisition with a $10 million price tag (Amazon). Casey Affleck is sure to garner awards attention for his incredible portrayal of a man, grieving a personal tragedy, who takes custodianship of his nephew. Set on Boston’s North Shore, the film is earnest, poignant, and a must-see.
Miles Ahead — Don Cheedle directed and stars (and plays trumpet) in this Miles Davis biopic. Set in 1975, near the end of Davis’ career, the film breaks some standard genre conventions shuttling back and forth through time in clever, improv-inspired tangents. Cheedle delivers a great performance and the film sent me back to my music collection with a strong need to get reacquainted with Miles’ whole canon. (Confession: I do own and occasionally listen to On the Corner.)
Morris from America — Newcomer Markees Christmas stars as Morris, an African-American rap-loving teen transplanted from the US to Heidelberg,Germany. A charming blend of coming-of-age tropes with a dash of fish-out-of-water, the film stays fresh with its unique blend of cultural dynamics and a great, dramatic performance by Craig Robinson as Morris’ far-from-perfect-but-keeping-it-together single Dad.
Other People — Written and directed by a lead writer at SNL, the film follows a family as they spend a year caring for their mother following her untimely diagnosis with terminal cancer. The script confronts issues familiar to any caregiver — awkward expressions of sympathy, having to buy copious amounts of medical supplies, uprooting one’s life and routines — in a tone idiosyncratic enough to make it feel true, and therefore universal. Molly Shannon’s brave, honest performance as the mother stands out among an excellent cast.
Rams — A bleak Icelandic film about a shepherd community that must kill their flocks due to a disease outbreak. Two feuding brothers rebel against the loss of their livelihood. The write-up and comments from a friend led me to believe that the film was a quirky comedy. It is not. In fact, it is pretty stark and depressing.
Stand Storm — A sensitively-made film about the challenges that many generations of Israeli Bedouin women — and men — face in navigating relationships, marriage, and love. Winner of the world cinema dramatic grand jury prize, first-time filmmaker Elite Zexer’s labor of love was borne out of her ongoing relationship with a Bedouin community and the difficult choices she watched women make. An honest, non-judgmental look at a part of the world that rarely receives our attention.
The Settlers — A documentary about the Israeli settlements in the West Bank told from the voices of the settlers. While an interesting history lesson, the film is one-sided and falls a little flat from only having one side of the conversation being voiced.
Sing Street — John Carney broke out at Sundance in 2007 with the Oscar-bound hit Once, cementing him as a strong new voice in reinventing the film musical. After a so-so Hollywood detour, Sing Street brings Carney back to Ireland and independent film. Fiercely enjoyable, the almost-autobiography follows a student at a Catholic school in Dublin in the 1980s who finds his voice by starting rock band. A definite toe-tapper and crowd-pleaser.
Shorts — The experience of seeing a shorts program at Sundance is like taking the entire festival experience and smashing it into under two hours: I saw documentaries on underground LA comedy and Glaswegian welders, a narrative based on the true story of an African refugee in Britain that was told in reverse, and dramatic films on subjects from a mother’s funeral to an ongoing lesbian relationship. All high quality, all interesting, and in all, a little overwhelming.
Not in the shorts program, but paired with The First Girl I Loved was Temple-alum Bill Crossland’s film Catching Upabout a physically disabled high school teacher who seeks assistance from his cynical friend after falling in love with an able-bodied coworker. Another great local film that we look forward to showcasing on our screens.
Sleight — A gritty take to the superhero genre in which a street magician turns to drug dealing to keep a roof over his younger sisters’ head. But, what starts off as a good-intentioned plan, spins out of control. The film works better as a metaphor for an urban youth breaking free and reaching his actual potential. It stumbles at moments with a couple 2D characters and some slow patches, but the finale is a good payoff. An impressive breakthrough for writer-director J.D. Dillard, who has now been marked as one to keep an eye on.
Tallulah — The plot, about a homeless girl who kidnaps a baby and passes it off as her own, is at times hard to take seriously, but giving Ellen Page and Allison Janney ample screentime together is completely worth it. A strange meditation on family, parenting, and relationships. Netflix bought the rights to the film before the festival, and I have my fingers crossed that they will give this a theatrical run.
Wiener — Still has me shaking my head and raising my eyebrows. The filmmakers, one of whom was Anthony Wiener’s chief-of-staff while he was a Congressman, had complete access to the entirety of Wiener’s 2014 campaign for NYC mayor, from his successful comeback with the public to its implosion around yet another sex scandal. What Wiener and his wife Huma Abedin allowed the filmmakers to capture and what transpired are astounding for the messages they reveal about politics, media, and the willingness of some to live life in public today.
Unfortunately, our schedule and choices meant that we missed the most talked about film of the festival: Birth of a Nation. Directed by Nate Parker, the film brings to life the story of Nat Turner and the Southampton Rebellion of 1831. Winning the Grand Jury Prize and setting the record for the highest sale price in Sundance history with a $17.5 million acquisition by Fox Searchlight, expect this film to be one of the most anticipated come fall and the next round of award season conversation.
Also missed the completely bizarre Swiss Army Man starring Paul Dano as a man stranded in the wilderness with a magical-realist, flatulent corpse played by Daniel Radcliffe. And Equity, which was shot in Philly and featured a couple former Renew Theaters employees in the crew, premiered the day after we left. We also missed AbracaDeborah, but for reasons beyond our control.
At some point I would also like to catch up with the Oscar-nominated Embrace of the Serpent, Ira Sach’s Little Men, and the intriguing underground tickle fight documentary Tickled.
