The Ballad of Wallis Island

I really enjoyed The Ballad of Wallis Island at Sundance this year (it was one of the few comedies at the festival that actually worked for me) so I was secretly happy when my nephew expressed an interest in it because that meant I had an excuse to see it again!  It was the first in a double feature at the Broadway last night and he liked it as much as I did (I liked it even more upon a second viewing).  The awkward and eccentric Charles (Tim Key) retired to a remote island after winning the lottery not once but twice.  On the five year anniversary of the death of his wife Marie, he uses some of his winnings to bring Herb McGwyer (Tom Basden), one half of their favorite folk duo McGwyer Mortimer, to the island to perform a concert.  Charles is a very enthusiastic fan and Herb soon finds the whole arrangement to be strange, especially when he learns that Charles will be the only one in the audience, but he stays because he needs the money to finance a solo album.  Complications ensue when Nell Mortimer (Carey Mulligan), the other half of the folk duo, arrives on the island with her husband Michael (Akemnji Ndifornyen).  There are unresolved tensions between Herb and Nell stemming from their messy break-up both personally and professionally but, as they rehearse, Herb begins to romanticize their time as a duo because he is unhappy with the direction of his solo career.  Charles also romanticizes their music because it reminds him of his late wife and this is keeping him from pursuing a relationship with Amanda (Sian Clifford), the owner of a shop on the island.  Both Herb and Charles must learn to let go of the past in order to move forward into the future.  The story is incredibly charming and I love how music (my nephew and I both loved all of the songs) is used as a way to evoke memories because I am instantly transported back to a certain time and place whenever I hear some songs.  The humor is really dry (you have to listen very carefully to all of Charles's one-liners because they are absolutely hilarious) and it was a lot of fun to hear the large crowd laughing out loud with me because I was sometimes the only one laughing during the Sundance screening.  This is a movie with a lot of heart and I definitely recommend it!

Love Me

I really enjoyed Love Me at last year's Sundance Film Festival so I decided to see it again as part of my double feature last night.  I think it is really clever with an important message about living authentically.  After all life has become extinct on Earth, a smart buoy makes contact with a passing satellite that was launched during the last days of civilization to greet any lifeforms that might come to Earth in the future.  Worried that the satellite's programming will only allow it to communicate with a lifeform, the buoy accesses the internet to learn about life on Earth so it can imitate one.  The buoy creates the profile Me for itself and the profile I Am for the satellite and they begin interacting with each other (and begging each other for likes).  They eventually create avatars and a digital environment based on a social media influencer named Deja (Kristen Stewart) and her husband Liam (Steven Yeun) and they obsessively reenact one of their most popular videos in order to get the emotions just right.  However, I Am starts to feel like their relationship is fake.  Ultimately, Me and I Am must break away from these personas and see each other as their original selves in order to connect.  This features live action, motion capture performances, and animation and I think it is incredibly imaginative (I especially love the design of the buoy and the satellite because they are so expressive) even if it does lose steam before reaching an inevitable conclusion.  What makes this so compelling is the message that what is portrayed on social media is not real and that it is always better to be yourself rather than an imitation of someone online.  It is also fascinating (or horrifying) to think that humanity might be judged in the future by what is posted on YouTube.  Finally, Stewart and Yuen give really appealing performances (I especially loved Yuen's motion capture performance and Stewart's live action one) that ground some of the more existential themes.  This was one of my favorites at Sundance last year and I recommend it but it might be too quirky for some.

Presence

Since Sundance is now over, I decided to see Presence, a film I enjoyed at last year's festival, now that it is in wide release.  I liked it more upon a second viewing because I was able to notice a lot more details.  A dysfunctional family, including a cold and uptight executive named Rebecca (Lucy Liu), her docile husband Chris (Chris Sullivan), her cocky son Tyler (Eddy Maday), and her depressed and neglected daughter Chloe (Callina Liang), moves into a large suburban home hoping to have a fresh start after the recent death of Chloe's best friend Nadia from a overdose.  As tensions between the family members intensify, Chloe begins to feel a presence within the house.  Other family members reject the idea of a ghost but it soon begins to make contact in a way that is protective of Chloe, especially when Tyler and his new friend Ryan (West Mulholland) act aggressively towards her.  The entire movie is from the POV of the ghost, achieved by having director Steven Soderbergh operate a handheld camera to follow and eavesdrop on the characters in long unbroken takes.  I was particularly struck by how the subtle movements of the camera seem to convey how the ghost is feeling about what it is seeing (I noticed that some of the early shots, especially those before the family inhabits the house, foreshadow what eventually happens as well as the identity of the ghost).  This is more of an atmospheric psychological thriller about a family in turmoil than a horror movie (the trailer is a little bit misleading) but it is extremely compelling with a thought-provoking twist at the end (which definitely made more sense to me after watching it a second time).  This is a clever spin on the traditional ghost story and I would definitely recommend it.

Sundance Film Festival 2025

The 2025 Sundance Film Festival concluded last night and I had the best time!  I got the Salt Lake City Pass again and I was able to see 28 films (which is the most I've ever seen at the festival).  I enjoyed most of what I saw but I especially loved reconnecting with friends who come to the festival every year as well as making a few new ones.  My first film was Jimpa.  Hannah (Olivia Colman) travels with her nonbinary teenage daughter Frances (Aud Mason-Hyde) to visit her gay father Jim (John Lithgow) in Amsterdam.  When Frances wants to stay in Amsterdam with Jim to escape the provincial attitude towards queer people back home, Hannah must reconcile her feelings about being abandoned by Jim for the same reason during her teenage years.  This is an emotional portrait of a family with lovely performances from Colman and Lithgow.  My second film was the documentary One to One: John & Yoko.  This covers the 18 months that John and Yoko lived in a Greenwich Village apartment.  Excerpts from their One to One benefit concert are interspersed with archival footage from that time period to provide context for the songs. The music sounds amazing (it was mastered by Sean Lennon) and this actually made me feel more sympathetic towards Ono (although I still say that she can't sing).  My third film was the documentary Folktales.  This focuses on three students, Hege, Bjorn Torne, and Romain, at the Pasvik Folk High School located above the Arctic Circle in Norway.  The students learn wilderness survival skills and are paired with a dog for sledding while studying Norse mythology.  I really loved this because it was heartwarming to see the transformation in the students and the dogs are adorable (lots of oohing and aahing from the audience). My fourth film was the documentary It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley.  I am a huge fan of Buckley (I love his voice) and I enjoyed this because it includes lots of never-before-seen archival footage, voicemail messages left to the people closest to him, and his journal entries.  My fifth film was Bubble & Squeak.  Declan (Himesh Patel) and Delores (Sarah Goldberg) are on their honeymoon when they are detained and then relentlessly pursued by a border agent named Shazbor (Matt Berry) for smuggling cabbages into the unnamed Slavic country.  I was expecting this to be a lot funnier for such a bizarre premise (the funniest scene involved a hilarious cameo from James Franco).  My sixth film was the documentary Come See Me in the Good Light.  This profiles poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley and their love story as they navigate the former's terminal cancer diagnosis.  It is incredibly moving and whenever I wasn't crying I was laughing out loud.  It features a beautiful song called "Salt Then Sour Then Sweet" performed by Sara Bareilles with lyrics by Gibson and music by Bareilles and Brandi Carlile.  My seventh film was All That's Left of You and it is one of my favorites from the festival.  It depicts three generations of a Palestinian family displaced from their home in Jaffa by the creation of Israel.  It culminates with the difficult decision to donate the organs of a teen after he is shot by an Israeli soldier only to discover that his heart went to an Israeli child.  It is incredibly moving with a powerful message that all life is precious.  My eighth film was Atropia and, because it was one of my most anticipated films of the festival, I was a bit disappointed because it is just okay.  Fayruz (Alia Shawkat) is an Iraqi actress unable to find work in Hollywood so she takes an acting job in a fake town used by the military to simulate conditions during war before troops are deployed.  It is funny (a cameo from Channing Tatum as an actor doing research for a war movie made me laugh out loud) but the themes that are initially developed go nowhere. My ninth film was the documentary Free Leonard Peltier.  This profiles the indigenous activist who has been in prison for nearly 50 years after being convicted of killing two FBI agents during a shootout on the Pine Ridge Reservation as well as the attempts by a new generation of activists to get his sentence commuted.  This was very eye-opening for me because it makes a pretty persuasive argument that he was falsely convicted so the FBI could save face.  My tenth film was the documentary Selena y Los Dinos.  I already knew a lot about Selena Quintanilla but this provides insights from her family, her husband, and other members of her band so I found it very compelling.  My eleventh film was The Ballad of Wallis Island.  After winning the lottery, Charles (Tim Key) arranges for musician Fred McGwyer (Tom Basden), of his favorite folk duo McGwyer Mortimer, to come to the remote island where he lives to perform a concert just for him.  However, unbeknownst to Fred, Charles has also invited Nell Mortimer (Carey Mulligan) and this brings up tensions stemming from their personal and professional break-up.  I am a huge fan of British humor and this delightful comedy had me laughing out loud from start to finish.  My twelfth film was Ricky.  After being incarcerated at age 15, Ricky (Stephan James), now age 30, is out on parole but he has difficulty adjusting to life on the outside and in meeting the demands of his tough-as-nails parole officer Joanne (Sheryl Lee Ralph).  James gives a highly sympathetic performance (one scene in particular had me in tears) and I loved the message that everyone deserves a second chance.  My thirteenth film was Oh, Hi!  Iris (Molly Gordon) and Isaac (Logan Lerman) go away for a romantic weekend in the country and, while Iris hopes that this is the beginning of a committed relationship, Isaac just wants to have a good time.  Iris eventually goes to great lengths to convince him that he loves her.  This is really funny with a hilariously unhinged performance from Gordon and, even though it starts to run out of steam, it has something interesting to say about the travails of dating.  My fourteenth film was The Thing with Feathers.  After the sudden death of his wife, a father (Benedict Cumberbatch) struggles to care for his two sons (Richard and Henry Boxall) so the Crow (voiced by David Thewlis), a character from his graphic novel, comes to life as the manifestation of his grief in order to help him.  I wanted to like this more than I did but, despite a committed performance from Cumberbatch, it doesn't really work as a horror film because it is not scary and it doesn't work as psychological character study because there isn't much of an arc for the father.  My fifteenth film was the documentary Life After.  Director Reid Davenport, who suffers from cerebral palsy, uses a right to die case brought by a disabled woman named Elizabeth Bouvia in the 1980s to begin a powerful discussion about why some disabled people might feel that medically assisted suicide is their only option.  I have very strong opinions about assisted suicide and this thought-provoking documentary challenged many of them.  My sixteenth film was Peter Hujar's Day.  This recreates an actual conversation recorded in 1974 by Linda Rosenkrantz (Rebecca Hall) in which she interviews photographer Peter Hujar (Ben Whishaw) about one day in his life. I loved the performances and the 1970s production design but, in my opinion, this is not compelling enough to warrant a full-length film and I was often bored.  My seventeenth film was Magic Farm and this was the worst film I saw at the festival (it is one of the worst films I’ve ever seen). A film crew for a series about unusual global trends mistakenly arrives in a rural town in Argentina (the mistake stems from the fact that most Latin American countries have a town called San Cristobal).  They wreak havoc on the locals while trying to manufacture a trend that they can film.  It has an intriguing premise (which is why I picked it) but I didn't find it even remotely funny and none of the sub-plots go anywhere.  My eighth film was Touch Me.  Joey (Olivia Taylor Dudley) and Craig (Jordan Gavaris) are co-dependent friends suffering from trauma and mental illness who bring out the worst in each other.  They meet up with a track-suit wearing alien named Brian (Lou Taylor Pucci) and eventually fight over him because his touch silences the voices inside their heads. This is absolutely wild (the sex scenes feature tentacles) but it has a lot to say about the nature of addiction and I really dug it.  My nineteenth film was Plainclothes.  Lucas (Tom Blyth) is an undercover police officer involved in sting operations in bathrooms conducted to apprehend gay men for indecent exposure in the 1990s.  He is struggling with his sexuality and this is further complicated when he is attracted to one of his marks, a pastor named Andrew (Russell Tovey).  They begin a secret relationship which puts Lucas in jeopardy as a police officer but Andrew ultimately ends it because he also cannot risk being found out.  This gives Lucas the courage come out to his family because he refuses to hide any longer.  I was impressed by Blyth's quietly powerful performance and I also loved the theme of identity.  My twentieth film was Lurker.  After a random encounter with the pop star Oliver (Archie Madekwe), Matthew (Theodore Pallerin) ingratiates himself to him and is soon part of his entourage.  However, when Oliver's attention turns to the next sycophant, Matthew is willing to do anything to keep his proximity to the musician.  This is definitely about obsession but I was really struck by the idea that fame can be alienating.  Madekwe and Pallerin do a great job portraying the power struggle between the two characters and I loved the ending.  My twenty-first film was Kiss of the Spider Woman which was my most anticipated film of the festival and I absolutely loved it.  This is an adaptation of the 1992 musical and is set in an Argentinian prison during a military dictatorship.  A hardened leftist revolutionary named Valentin Arregui (Diego Luna) shares a cell with Luis Molina (Tonatiuh), a gay window dresser, and they escape from the harsh realities of prison when Molina recounts his favorite musical starring Ingrid Luna (Jennifer Lopez).  Art imitates life when the themes of the musical begin to mirror what is happening to Valentin and Molina.  Lopez is absolutely brilliant but I was especially impressed with Tonatiuh (his rendition of "She's a Woman" is beautiful).  I loved the juxtaposition between the dark and drab prison and the technicolor dream world of Molina's fantasies which evoke the Golden Age of Hollywood.  My twenty-second film was Sorry, Baby and this is another favorite.  It is a meditative, and often humorous, portrait of how a young graduate student named Agnes (Eva Victor) tries to move on after a sexual assault by her professor.  I loved how her relationships, with her best friend (Naomi Ackie), a jealous colleague (Kelly McCormack), and a neighbor (Lucas Hedges), show her that she is stuck rather than help her become unstuck.  Victor (who also wrote and directed) gives a performance that is absolutely stunning (one that I won't soon forget).  My twenty-third film was Twinless.  After losing his twin brother Rocky, Roman (Dylan O'Brien) meets Dennis (James Sweeney) at a twin bereavement support group and they become unlikely friends.  This takes a wild turn, that I was not expecting but absolutely loved, and it is one of the few comedies at Sundance that is funny and has something to say (about the grieving process).  My twenty-fourth film was Opus which had a lot of buzz but proved to be disappointing.  Ariel (Ayo Edibiri) is a relatively inexperienced journalist who is invited by the legendary pop star Alfred Moretti (John Malkovich) to his isolated compound to listen to his first album in thirty years.  She soon finds herself among a cult of sycophants who do Moretti's bidding but she is even more horrified to discover that she has become one of them herself.  This had so much potential to say something of substance about the dangers of celebrity worship but it is derivative and shallow.  Watching Malkovich sing and dance while wearing one elaborate costume after the other makes this bearable but only just.  My twenty-fifth film was Rebuilding.  After he loses everything when a devastating fire destroys his ranch, Dusty (Josh O'Connor) finds himself after reconnecting with his young daughter Callie Rose (Lily LaTorre) and discovering a community with others who also lost everything.  I loved O'Connor’s sensitive, yet powerful, performance and the cinematography is beautiful.  My twenty-sixth film was the documentary Middletown.  In 1991 a group of students in Middletown, New York are inspired by their English teacher Fred Isseks to investigate toxic waste in the local landfill and expose wrongdoing within corporations and local government.  Thirty years later the students involved revisit their experience.  As a former English teacher I really loved hearing about how one teacher was able to give real world learning experiences to his students but I am now even more anxious about the possibility that regulatory agencies that guard against things like toxic waste might be eliminated by this current administration.  My twenty-seventh film was Last Days.  John Chau (Sky Yang) is idealistic and yearns for adventure so he rejects the life his father (Tony Leung) has planned for him to become a missionary.  He eventually becomes obsessed with converting an isolated tribe on North Sentinel Island while a police officer (Radhika Apte) in India tries to stop him.  This is a lot more compelling and suspenseful than I was expecting but the message is muddled because I am still not sure if John was really devout or just lost.  My twenty-eighth and final film was Didn't Die.  Two years into a zombie apocalypse, Vinita Malhotra (Kiran Deol) travels the country recording her podcast for everyone who didn't die but things don't go according to plan when she decides to return to her hometown to record the 100th episode.  I liked the black and white cinematography (an homage to Night of the Living Dead) but there are jarring tonal shifts and, like many of the films this year, none of the ideas really come to fruition.  Whew!  I am absolutely exhausted but I had so much fun and am already looking forward to seeing some of these films again when they get a wide release.

A Real Pain

I enjoyed quite a few movies at Sundance this year but A Real Pain was my favorite by far so I was really excited to see it again with my nephew at the Broadway last night.  I loved it even more upon a second viewing!  Two cousins, outgoing and charismatic Benji (Keiran Culkin) and uptight and reserved David (Jesse Eisenberg), take a guided tour through Poland to see where their grandmother, a Holocaust survivor who has recently died, was born.  They come face to face with the tragedy of the Holocaust but they also feel the pain of realizing that, even though they were once close, they have drifted apart.  This is a moving, but surprisingly funny, portrait of generational trauma and the guilt that these cousins feel when they compare the vicissitudes of their daily lives with the horrors experienced by their grandmother.  I also really enjoyed the comparison between the way in which the cousins express their pain because David keeps everything bottled up inside while Benji expresses his every unfiltered emotion which endears him to the tour group despite the fact that he is often inconsiderate and offensive.  The scenes at the Majdanek concentration camp are very sobering and I was particularly struck by the observation from one of the characters that this evil was perpetrated so close to people going about their everyday lives because that was my response when I visited Dachau.  Eisenberg, rather unusually, is the more subdued straight man to Culkin's mania but they both give brilliant performances.  I frequently laughed at all of Culkin's antics but Eisenberg delivers a monologue that had me in tears.  Finally, I loved the use of Chopin in the soundtrack.  This is a very powerful exploration of how people confront pain and I highly recommend it.

Your Monster

A screening of Your Monster was the most fun I had at Sundance this year so I was really excited to see it again with my nephew at the Broadway last night.  I was afraid that I might have hyped it up too much (like I did for My Old Ass) but he told me that it was awesome as we walked out!  Aspiring actress Laura Franco (Melissa Barrera) moves back into her childhood home after her boyfriend Jacob Sullivan (Edmund Donovan) breaks up with her during her cancer treatment.  She wallows in self-pity until the monster (Tommy Dewey) she banished to her closet as a young girl suddenly reappears.  She tries to repress her anger and jealousy when Jacob gives the part he wrote for her in his new Broadway musical to another actress and then pursues an affair with her but the monster helps Laura to find her voice (and revenge) again.  This is a hilarious mash-up of a romantic comedy and a horror movie (with a little bit of musical theatre thrown in) and there were multiple times when I laughed out loud (the ending is absolutely bonkers in the best possible way).  I also really enjoyed the theme of female empowerment and the use of an actual monster to represent the inner rage that Laura feels is a clever twist.  Barrera is incredibly charming with great comedic timing as well as tremendous chemistry with Dewey and it was nice to see her show off her musical theatre background again with her lively performance of the songs and choreography.  The prosthetics for the monster are fantastic and I loved Laura's theatre kid aesthetic!  This is really delightful and I recommend seeing it for Halloween!

Note:  It would be a great double feature with Lisa Frankenstein.

The Outrun

I liked but didn't love The Outrun when I saw it at Sundance so I was eager to see where I would land after a second viewing at the Broadway last night.  Rona (Saoirse Ronan) is a graduate student in biology living in London when her drinking becomes problematic.  She hits rock bottom when her boyfriend Daynin (Paapa Essiedu) leaves her and she is physically assaulted while on a bender.  After a 90-day stint in rehab she returns home to the Orkney Islands in Scotland but her relationships with her father Andrew (Stephen Dillane), who is struggling himself with bipolar disorder, and mother Annie (Saskia Reeves), who believes that prayer is the answer, are complicated and she relapses.  She eventually retreats to a remote island north of Orkney where she takes inspiration from nature to become sober.  The first time I saw this I really struggled with the nonlinear timeline (it was a late screening and I was tired) but this time around I thought it was an effective way to portray Rona's disorientation and it made a lot more sense to me.  It is definitely a slow burn as Rona makes connections between herself and the landscape but the sequences on the island are beautiful and I was riveted by them.  I especially loved the use of the corn crake (the endangered bird she searches for while working for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) as a symbol for her journey to sobriety, especially in the final shot.  Ronan is absolutely brilliant (it is one of my favorite performances from one of my favorite actresses) because she very credibly depicts so many different aspects of her character: wild and exuberant as a party girl in London, mean and combative when confronted by her behavior, tearful and apologetic when begging her lover not to leave her, and brooding and contemplative as she reconciles everything that has happened to her.  I loved the scene where she interacts with the waves crashing on the beach because it is surprisingly powerful and emotional.  I definitely appreciated this more than I did at Sundance and I highly recommend it for Ronan's stellar performance.

My Old Ass

I enjoyed My Old Ass at Sundance this year so I was excited to see it again with my nephew (a big fan of Aubrey Plaza) at the Broadway last night.  He didn't like it as much as I thought he would but I loved this poignant (and often hilarious) coming of age story even more the second time.  Elliott Labrant (Maisy Stella) is restless and eager to leave her family's cranberry farm in rural Ontario for the excitement of attending university in the big city of Toronto.  She celebrates her eighteenth birthday by ingesting mushrooms while camping with her best friends Ro (Kerrice Brooks) and Ruthie (Maddie Ziegler) and, during a hallucination, she meets the 39-year-old version of herself (Plaza).  Older Elliott advises her to wear her retainer and moisturize, to treat her mom (Maria Dizzia), dad (Al Goulem), and brothers Max (Seth Isaac Johnson) and Spencer (Carter Trozzolo) better, and to avoid someone named Chad at all costs.  Elliott follows her advice and realizes that she has been taking her family for granted and that she should appreciate the time she has left with them before leaving but complications arise when she meets Chad (Percy Hynes White) and starts to fall in love with him.  Older Elliott contrives to visit her again to warn her that loving Chad will lead to heartbreak but her younger self teaches her a valuable lesson about being open to possibility.  I really loved the story because it is beguiling to think about what you might say to your younger self if given the chance.  Plaza is as humorous as ever with her usual deadpan delivery but she has a moment of vulnerability that is really affecting.  Stella is incredibly charismatic and she portrays all of the emotions her character experiences in a very natural and believable way (some scenes are heartwarming while others, including a hallucinogenic performance of "One Less Lonely Girl" by Justin Beiber, are laugh out loud funny).  She also matches Plaza's energy perfectly in their scenes together.  Finally, I loved seeing all of the beautiful scenery around Lake Joseph in Ontario (I am originally from Ontario) where the movie is set and was filmed.  This was an audience favorite at Sundance and one of the best coming of age movies I've seen in recent memory.  I highly recommend it!

Sundance Film Festival 2024

I was so happy to be back at the Sundance Film Festival again this year!  Just like last year I got a Salt Lake City pass and I recognized quite a few pass holders from last year!  I'm usually really wary of talking to people I don't know but, for some reason, I love talking to people at Sundance about independent film and I had so much fun!  I was able to see 21 films (which beats the record of 18 set last year) and I liked almost all of what I saw (I only disliked one).  My first film was How to Have Sex which was one of my most anticipated films because I had heard so much about it.  It begins as a fun and lighthearted look at three young girls on holiday in Greece after taking their exams but then it suddenly becomes more sinister as it explores themes of peer pressure and consent.  I was very impressed with Mia McKenna-Bruce's performance because it is so raw and powerful.  My second film was Eno, an innovative documentary (it uses an algorithm to change the sequence of scenes and the footage used so every screening is different) about the innovative record producer Brian Eno.  I loved the deep dive into his creative process and, as a huge fan of U2, I especially enjoyed his discussion about producing the song "Moment of Surrender" (Bono also wrote about recording this song in his memoir Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story).  My third film was Frida.  This documentary about the painter Frida Kahlo is incredibly compelling because her own words from letters, interviews, and diaries are used to tell her story and I loved the beautiful animations created from her paintings.  My fourth film was Out of My Mind which, as a former teacher, I absolutely loved!  Melody Brooks (Phoebe-Rae Taylor) is a non-verbal sixth-grader with cerebral palsy who fights to be placed in a mainstreamed classroom because, even though she cannot speak, she has a lot to say.  This is such a powerful film that, in my opinion, should be seen by every educator because more often than not the education system fails students who are different.  Taylor, who has cerebral palsy, gives an authentic and affecting performance that moved me to tears at times.  The audience gave her a standing ovation when she appeared on stage for the Q & A after the film!  My fifth film was The Greatest Night in Pop which is a behind the scenes documentary about how some of the greatest pop stars of the day came together to record "We Are the World" to aid those suffering from famine in Africa during the 80s.  I remember when this song was released so this was very nostalgic for me.  I especially enjoyed the contemporary interviews with some participants, such as Lionel Ritchie, Huey Lewis, Bruce Springsteen, and Cyndi Lauper, because they all mention feeling intimidated by all of the talent in the studio!  My sixth film was Thelma and it is both delightful and heartwarming!  When 93-year-old Thelma Post (June Squibb) is scammed out of $10,000 by someone impersonating her grandson, she is inspired by the Mission: Impossible movies to go on a quest to get her money back!  Squibb (who is 94) is so charming as an unlikely action hero and the packed crowd at my screening howled with laughter at her antics!  My seventh film was Love Me, which was another one of my most anticipated films (I’m a big fan of Kristen Stewart).  After humanity has been annihilated, a smart buoy and a satellite make contact and interact as Me (Stewart) and I Am (Steven Yuen).  As they get to know each other, they access the internet to learn what it means to be human and adopt the personas of Deja and Liam, a popular influencer couple, but in order to love each other they both must eventually learn to be their authentic selves.  It features live action, motion capture performances, as well as animation and I think it is incredibly clever.  It meanders a bit but I really dug it!  My eighth film was The American Society of Magical Negroes and this satire is hilarious but also very thought-provoking!  A mild-mannered Black artist named Aren (Justice Smith) is recruited by Roger (David Alan Grier) to be a member of a secret society dedicated to making white people comfortable around Black people (referencing the "Magical Negro" movie trope involving a Black character who only exists to advance the arc of a white character).  However, it is only when he realizes that he has been doing this his whole life that he begins to assert himself.  I was a bit uncomfortable because I recognize the reality being satirized but there were lots of moments when I laughed out loud!  My ninth film was Sasquatch Sunset which I found strangely compelling.  It chronicles a year in the life of a Sasquatch family (portrayed by Jesse Eisenberg, Riley Keough, David Zeller, and Christophe Zajac-Denek who are very expressive even though they are covered in makeup and fur) as they eat, vomit, defecate, urinate, copulate, give birth, and die (very realistically).  They periodically encounter civilization as man encroaches on their environment and the film ends with a powerful visual.  It was weird (is it even Sundance if you don't see something really out there?) but I couldn't look away.  My tenth film was Presence which is another film I was eagerly anticipating because it is directed by Steven Soderbergh.  A family in turmoil, including Chris (Chris Sullivan), Rebecca (Lucy Liu), Chloe (Callina Liang), and Tyler (Eddy Maday), moves into a suburban house hoping for a new start.  However, their chaotic relationships with each other are not improved when Chloe begins feeling a presence in the house.  This is more of an atmospheric psychological thriller than the horror movie I was expecting (a good thing) and I loved all of the camera work because it shows the POV of the ghost for the entire film.  My eleventh film was Winner which tells the true story of how Reality Winner (Emilia Jones) leaked information about Russia's involvement in the 2016 election to an online publication.  I've seen several versions of this story before but I really liked the use of dark humor in this one.  My twelfth film was Love Lies Bleeding which was the one I was most hyped for because, as a fan of director Rose Glass and of Kristen Stewart, I was excited to see a collaboration between them.  Jackie (Katy O'Brian) is an ambitious bodybuilder who stops in a small town in New Mexico on her way to a competition in Las Vegas and becomes involved with Lou (Stewart), the manager of a gym.  Her life becomes increasingly chaotic when Lou introduces her to steroids and to her dysfunctional family, including her gunrunning father (Ed Harris) as well as her sister (Jena Malone) and her sister's abusive husband (Dave Franco).  This is sexy, violent, and absolutely bonkers and I loved it but not as much as I thought I would because the ending didn't quite work for me.  My thirteenth film was Between the Temples and it was my only big miss at the festival.  Ben Gottlieb (Jason Schwartzman) is a grief-stricken cantor who is brought back to life when his former grade school teacher (Carol Kane) comes to him for instruction before her bat mitzvah.  I liked the story and the performances but I hated how it was shot and edited because all of the extreme closeups are incredibly jarring.  My fourteenth film was A Real Pain and I really loved it!  Two cousins, outgoing and charismatic Benji (Kieran Culkin) and uptight and reserved David (Jesse Eisenberg), take a guided tour through Poland to see where their grandmother, a Holocaust survivor who has recently died, came from.  They come face to face with the tragedy of the Holocaust (scenes where they visit a concentration camp are incredibly poignant) but they also feel the pain of realizing that, even though they were once close, they have drifted apart.  Kulkin gives a brilliant performance that made me laugh out loud but a monologue by Eisenberg had me in tears.  This was definitely my favorite of the festival.  My fifteenth film was DEVO and, while it is pretty straightforward documentary, I did learn a lot about a band I loved in my youth.  They formed during the aftermath of the Kent State massacre in an attempt to combine music, performance art, and their philosophy about the de-evolution of mankind and unexpectedly rose to prominence with the song "Whip It" which they say was misunderstood.  My sixteenth film was Your Monster and this screening was the most fun I had at Sundance!  Laura Franco (Melissa Barrera) is an actress in the middle of a cancer diagnosis when her boyfriend Jacob (Edmund Donovan) breaks up with her and gives the part in a Broadway musical that he wrote for her to another actress.  As she wallows in self-pity, the monster (Tommy Dewey) she banished to the closet in childhood appears again to help her find love, and revenge, again.  I laughed and laughed at this musical theatre, romantic comedy, and horror mash-up and so did the entire audience (much to the delight of the producers who were there for the Q & A).  My seventeenth film was Girls State which is a documentary about a program run by the American Legion Auxiliary for high school girls to participate in a week long immersive simulation to learn about the workings of government.  It follows several girls from Missouri and I found all of their stories to be compelling but my favorite was about a girl who investigates the disparity between Boys State and Girls State (Fun fact: I applied to participate in Girls State when I was in high school but I wasn't selected and I am still bitter!).  My eighteenth film was Super/ Man: The Christopher Reeve Story.  I didn't necessarily learn anything new about the actor but I liked the structure because it emphasizes that Reeve became Superman when he was cast in a movie but he became a real superhero after his paralysis.  It includes lots of footage from his personal home movies and it is incredibly moving (lots of people near me were wiping tears from their eyes throughout).  My nineteenth movie, Hit Man, was another one I was really hyped to see!  Gary Johnson (Glen Powell) is a mild mannered psychology professor and amateur bird watcher who sometimes provides technical support for the police.  He is roped into going undercover as a hit man during a sting operation and, because he uses psychology to appeal to the would-be criminal (and some hilarious disguises), he is very successful.  Complications ensue when he falls for a woman who hires him (Adria Arjona).  This is wildly entertaining and I predict it will be a big hit when it streams on Netflix.  My twentieth film was The Outrun which was another one I was excited to see because I am a huge fan of Saoirse Ronan.  Rona (Ronan) is an alcoholic who attempts to get sober by returning home to the Orkney Islands where she is inspired by the beautiful but wild landscape.  The non-linear narrative didn’t always work for me but Ronan gives a brilliant performance.  My twenty-first (and final) film was My Old Ass which I decided to see because I am a fan of Aubrey Plaza.  Eighteen year old Elliott Labrant (Maisy Stella) is restless and eager to leave her small rural town for the big city but, when she is visited by an older version of herself (Plaza), she learns to appreciate the life she has now.  This is a fun YA romantic comedy and I really loved the message about labels.  Whew!  I loved every minute of Sundance this year and I am already looking forward to next year!

Eileen

I enjoyed the psychological thriller Eileen at Sundance this year so, now that it is in wide release, I decided to see it again with my nephew after he suggested it last night.  Eileen Dunlop (Thomasin McKenzie) is a lonely and repressed young woman working a thankless job as a secretary at a juvenile detention center in a small town in Massachusetts during the 1960s while caring for her alcoholic and abusive father Jim (Shea Whigham).  Her drab and dreary world is transformed when she meets and becomes infatuated with Dr. Rebecca Saint John (Anne Hathaway), the alluring new prison psychologist.  Rebecca draws Eileen into her orbit but the balance of power shifts between them when they take an interest in Lee Polk (Sam Nivola), an inmate convicted of stabbing his father to death.  This is an atmospheric and stylish slow-burn with a wild twist in the third act (it happens so suddenly that I was shocked the first time I saw it because I had no idea where the narrative was going and several people in the audience last night audibly gasped) but the abrupt ending left me wanting more.  Both Hathaway and McKenzie are outstanding and have great chemistry, especially as the intense connection between their characters is explored with lingering close-up shots of their faces, but Maren Ireland steals the show with a brief but devastating monologue.  I loved the score by Richard Reed Parry because it really adds to the tension and the cinematography brilliantly highlights the desolation all around.  I would ultimately recommend this because it is incredibly unnerving and compelling but I wish that it had gone a little further.

You Hurt My Feelings

The second movie in my double feature at the Broadway last night was You Hurt My Feelings, another favorite from Sundance this year.  This is a simple, funny, and honest exploration of the ways in which we deceive the ones we love in order to spare their feelings.  Beth (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and Don (Tobias Menzies) are a loving and devoted couple living in NYC.  He is a therapist and she is an author who has just finished her latest novel but, because she is feeling insecure about it, he gives her encouraging feedback.  However, she and her sister Sarah (Michaela Watkins) overhear Don tell Sarah's husband Mark (Arian Moayed) that he doesn't like her work and she is understandably devastated.  She is not appeased when he explains that he was just trying to be supportive but then she realizes how often she has been guilty of telling little white lies to those around her, particularly her son Eliot (Owen Teague).  She also realizes that she doesn't appreciate the unvarnished truth her mother (Jeannie Berlin) tells her.  The dialogue is sharp and very witty and I laughed out loud several times, especially in the scenes involving Don's bickering patients (real-life couple David Cross and Amber Tamblyn) who are juxtaposed with Don and Beth.  The cast is wonderful (I really enjoyed the interactions between Louis-Dreyfus and Watkins because they actually seemed like sisters) and the situations are very relatable because we have all told a little white lie to avoid hurting the ones we love.  This reminded me of the kind of character-driven slice-of-life comedies about quirky New Yorkers that Woody Allen used to make.  It is charming little gem and I highly recommend it.

Past Lives

Not only is Past Lives my favorite from Sundance this year, it is my favorite movie of 2023 so far!  I had the chance to see it again last night as the first in a double feature at the Broadway and I loved it even more!  I can't imagine that another movie will overtake it (but you never know!).  Na Young (Seung Ah Moon) and Hae Sung (Seung Min Yim) are childhood sweethearts (and rivals for the best marks in school) in Seoul, South Korea.  They are separated when Na Young's family emigrates to Canada and she leaves without saying goodbye to him.  Twelve years later Na Young, who has changed her name to Nora (Greta Lee), is in college in NYC studying to be a playwright when she discovers that Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) has been trying to find her on social media.  They happily reconnect and begin spending all of their time talking and reminiscing with each other via Skype.  They eventually discuss the possibility of visiting each other but, because Nora has been accepted to a writing retreat and Hae Sung is about to do a language course in China, she thinks it best that stop talking in order to concentrate on their studies.  Twelve years later Nora is married to Arthur (John Magaro) and working as a playwright in NYC.  Hae Sung has just ended a relationship because he cannot commit to marriage and decides to vacation in NYC as an excuse to see Nora.  They spend several days together and their undeniable connection leads them to speculate about their destiny.  This is a beautiful story about two people who yearn for the past and the life they might have lived together but understand that the lives they now lead are the ones they are meant to have.  Lee and Yoo give highly nuanced performances where just a glance expresses more emotion than pages of dialogue and I especially loved a scene where Hae Sung is nervously waiting to meet up with Nora because you can see everything he is feeling from just a few gestures.  This is definitely a love story but I felt a deep emotional connection to Nora's experience as an immigrant (I even had a childhood friend that I had to leave behind in Canada and I've always wondered about him) and two incredibly poignant moments brought me to tears.  The first is when Nora tells Arthur that she is where she is meant to be because it is where she ended up and the second is when Nora tells Hae Sung that the twelve year old girl he knew was left behind in Korea.  I sometimes wish that I had stayed in Canada but I know that I am who I am today because I left and seeing Nora eventually come to the same realization was extremely cathartic for me.  The hype I felt for this at Sundance is real and I cannot recommend it enough!

Living

The second movie in my double feature yesterday was Living.  I saw this virtually at Sundance last year and it was so lovely that I decided to see it on the big screen now that it is in wide release.  The always wonderful Bill Nighy is Rodney Williams, a paper-pushing bureaucrat at the ministry of public works in post-war London.  He is mild-mannered, set in his ways, and largely ineffective at his job.  When he receives a terminal diagnosis he chooses not to tell his son (Barney Fishwick) and daughter-in-law (Patsy Ferran) and, instead, withdraws a large sum of money and travels to Brighton where he hopes to live a little but doesn't know how.  He takes a dissolute writer (Tom Burke) that he meets by chance as his guide through the unseemly but this proves unsatisfactory.  Upon returning home he forms an unlikely friendship with a vivacious young woman (Aimee Lou Wood) from his office because he is attracted to her zest for living but this relationship becomes fodder for gossip.  Ultimately, he decides to use the time he has left to make a difference and returns to work to see a project long buried in paperwork to fruition which inspires a young colleague (Alex Sharp).  This is a very subtle character study of a man living with regret about the way in which he has lived his life and it might be too subdued for many but I was incredibly moved by it.  This is due, in large part, to the quietly powerful performance by Nighy (who is nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor).  He conveys more with just a minute change of expression than many other actors do with pages of dialogue, especially in a scene where he reacts to flashbacks from his life.  The production design, costumes (I love that a hat is used as a symbol of transformation), and washed out cinematography are brilliant because this actually looks like it could be a film from the 1950s, particularly the opening credits.  I really enjoyed this exquisite little gem and I highly recommend seeking it out.

Infinity Pool

I had a strange (thematically) double feature at the Broadway yesterday starting with Infinity Pool.  I recently saw this at Sundance but I decided to take another dip because I was really curious to see the differences in the theatrical release (also because I am a freak).  James Foster (Alexander Skarsgard) and his wife Em (Cleopatra Coleman) are vacationing at a luxurious resort located in a developing island country.  They are advised not to leave the compound because the island suffers from abject poverty and has a high crime rate with inhabitants who often target wealthy tourists.  However, fellow guests Gabi (Mia Goth) and Alban Bauer (Jalil Lespert) convince them to leave the resort with them in a hired car for a day at a secluded beach.  On the way back to the resort James accidentally hits and kills a local resident with the car.  He is eventually arrested and, according to custom, the victim's next of kin is allowed to kill him for the sake of the family's honor but there is an alternative, offered to tourists and diplomats, which allows him to avoid the execution for an exorbitant fee.  This alternative is reprehensible but he takes it and soon learns that many of the other guests at the resort, including Gabi and Alban, have had the same experience and return to the resort year after year for the freedom it allows them.  James is titillated by what he has done and is soon drawn into the violent and hedonistic exploits of his fellow guests because there are no longer any consequences for his actions.  Even with several scenes edited from the version I saw at Sundance (yes that scene), this is incredibly shocking and disturbing with some really trippy cinematography but it has a lot of interesting things to say about both privilege and morality and I found it very compelling.  Both Skarsgard and Goth, who is completely unhinged in the best possible way, give fully committed performances and you simply cannot look away from them but there is such a feeling of escalating dread, even upon a second viewing, that I often wanted to.  This definitely won't be for everyone but I loved it and recommend it to fans of Brandon Cronenberg.

Sundance Film Festival 2023

I am so happy that I got to attend the Sundance Film Festival in person this year!  I really missed the excitement of seeing a film on the big screen with a large and enthusiastic crowd as well as all of the wonderful conversations with people who love independent film as much as I do!  I was able to see eighteen films (at the Grand Theatre and the Rose Wagner Center for the Performing Arts) which is my record for in-person screenings!  My first film was Sometimes I Think About Dying.  Fran (Daisy Ridley) is a lonely young woman in a mundane job who struggles to make connections with people because she thinks that her life isn't interesting enough.  To compensate for her boring existence she has elaborate daydreams about dying.  She eventually finds a reason to engage with life when she meets a new co-worker (Dave Merheje) but can she overcome her anxiety to have a relationship with him?  I loved Ridley's restrained, yet highly nuanced, performance and I laughed out loud at Fran's awkwardness because it is such a realistic portrayal of an introvert.  My second film was the psychological thriller Run Rabbit Run.  Sarah (Sarah Snook) is disconcerted when her daughter Mia (Lily LaTorre) turns seven and seems to become possessed by Sarah's sister who mysteriously disappeared when she was seven.  Mia's behavior brings up a repressed childhood trauma for Sarah and, eventually, the audience is left to wonder if she needs protection from Mia or if Mia needs protection from her.  There is such a sense of foreboding (the sound design is brilliant) but the filmmakers can't seem to commit to it because just when the tension is at its peak it is dialed back and I found that incredibly frustrating.  My third film was The Pod Generation where a couple (Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor) living in the near future decide to have a baby using an artificial womb.  I loved the world-building (especially the A.I. psychologist) and the message about becoming too reliant on technology but it does go on a bit.  My fourth film was Other People's Children.  A 40-year-old teacher named Rachel (Virginie Efira) fears that she is running out of time to have a child but things become complicated when she grows attached to her partner's four year old daughter.  I really loved Rachel's character arc (especially since I am a teacher and an aunt who doesn't have children) as well as Elfira's luminous performance.  My fifth film was Magazine Dreams, which was one of my most anticipated because I really like Jonathan Majors.  After surviving a childhood filled with violence, Killian Maddox (Majors) channels all of his obsessive energy into bodybuilding and his highest aspiration is to be on the cover of a magazine so he will be remembered.  However, anger management issues, setbacks in his personal and professional life, and disillusionment after meeting his bodybuilding hero cause Maddox to contemplate another way of achieving fame.  This has some really heavy themes that won't be for everyone but Majors delivers a brilliant performance. My sixth film was Birth/Rebirth which is a horror film based on Frankenstein involving a pathologist (Maren Ireland) and a labor and delivery nurse (Judy Reyes) who conspire to bring a child back to life.  Both Ireland and Reyes give captivating performances that explore the lengths to which one will go for science and the other for the love of a child.  It is plenty gory but I also enjoyed the dark humor.  My seventh film was Theater Camp and this screening was the most fun I had at the whole festival!  This is a feel-good mockumentary about saving a theater camp after the owner has a seizure and her clueless son takes over.  It stars Ben Platt, Molly Gordon, and Noah Galvin who give hilarious performances.  The audience in my screening laughed out loud through the whole thing!  My eighth film was The Deepest Breath which was my first documentary of the festival.  This is about the extreme sport of freediving which follows Alessia Zecchini and Stephen Keenan in their quest for her to complete a notoriously dangerous dive.  I found it interesting, engaging, and emotional with stunning underwater photography.  My ninth film was the noir thriller Eileen.  A repressed young woman named Eileen (Thomasin McKenzie) becomes infatuated with the new psychologist, Rebecca Saint John (Anne Hathaway), at the prison where she works.  They begin a relationship but the balance of power shifts in one of the wildest third act twists I've seen!  It is stylish and atmospheric with fantastic performances from McKenzie and Hathaway.  My tenth film was Infinity Pool which was the film I was most excited to see when the festival program was announced and the late night crowd was absolutely wild!  While on vacation at an exclusive resort located in a developing country, a wealthy couple (Alexander Skarsgard and Cleopatra Coleman) discovers that the consequences of their actions can go away for the right price but this discovery leads the husband on a path to hedonism, violence, and, eventually, madness (with the help of an unhinged Mia Goth).  It is shocking and disturbing (I've heard that the theatrical release has been cut) but I really dug it!  My eleventh film was You Hurt My Feelings which is a light and breezy comedy about the little white lies we tell people to spare their feelings.  It is pretty insubstantial but I did laugh out loud many times and the cast is great, particularly Julia Louis-Dreyfus.  My twelfth film was My Animal which blends the coming of age genre with horror.  Heather (Bobbi Salvor Menuez) is an outsider in her small town but her secret is harder to hide when she becomes infatuated with Jonny (Amandla Stenberg).  The werewolf mythology is just a metaphor for Heather's sexual awakening but I wanted a bit more bite in the third act after all of the build-up.  My thirteenth film was It's Only Life After All, a documentary about the Indigo Girls that details how Amy Ray and Emily Saliers became one of the most influential folk-rock duos despite the backlash about their gender, sexuality, and political activism.  I am a casual fan but I loved this intimate, and often humorous, portrait (I had to laugh when Ray gets embarrassed by the angst in “Blood and Fire” because I love that song).  My fourteenth film was Shortcomings which was another one of my most anticipated.  Ben (Justin H. Min) is an aspiring filmmaker who is forced to recognize his insufferable behavior when he loses his job and his girlfriend Mika (Ally Maki) and best friend Alice (Sherry Cola) move to New York.  Despite a few *ahem* shortcomings, I enjoyed the commentary on race and identity as well as the humor.  My fifteenth film was Past Lives and I really loved it because it struck a chord with me.  Childhood friends Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) are separated when her family emigrates from South Korea to Canada.  Twelve years later they reconnect on Facebook but lose touch again and move on with their lives.  After another twelve years, Hae Sung visits her in New York and they speculate about what their lives would be like if she had stayed in South Korea or if they had kept in touch.  This film is about idealized memories of people and places and I could really relate to this theme as someone who left a childhood friend behind after emigrating to the U.S.  This is my favorite film of the festival and will probably be one of my favorites this year!  My sixteenth film was the hip romantic comedy Rye Lane.  Dom (David Jonsson) and Yas (Vivian Oparah) meet and spontaneously spend the day walking through various London neighborhoods while commiserating about their recent break-ups and helping each other get revenge on their exes.  There are lots of fun and surrealistic flashback sequences and some great cameos.  My seventeenth film was Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie and I really enjoyed this documentary about Fox's rise to fame and diagnosis with Parkinson's Disease.  Archival footage and reenactments are edited together very effectively and I loved the needle drops.  My eighteenth and final film was Flora and Son and I definitely picked a good one to end with!  This is another feel-good movie about the power of music from John Carney (the director of Once and Sing Street) with a great performance from Eve Hewson as a single mom trying to find a connection to her delinquent son (Oren Kinlan).  I loved the chemistry between Hewson and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who plays her guitar teacher) and the original songs are fun and catchy.  There you have it!  I declare the festival a success because I had so much fun watching some great films and meeting some wonderful people!

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Brian and Charles

Another favorite from Sundance that is now playing at the Broadway is Brian and Charles and it was the second film in my double feature last night.  This is a mockumentary about Brian (David Earl), a lonely and eccentric handyman in a small village in Wales, who has a penchant for inventing unusual items which sometimes work but mostly do not.  One day he finds a head from a mannequin in a pile of rubbish on the side of the road and decides to make a robot by attaching it to an old washing machine and using other sundry parts found in his cowshed.  The resulting robot, named Charles Petrescu (Chris Hayward), comes to life during a thunderstorm and he and Brian become the best of friends.  Trouble arises when Charles wants to explore (he is especially keen to see Honolulu after watching a travel program on the telly) but Brian wants him to stay at home to keep him safe from the harsh world.  Charles ultimately plays matchmaker between Brian and a lonely woman (Louise Brealey) who lives with her mother, helps Brian find the courage to stand up to a bully (Jamie Michie) who has been terrorizing the village, and convinces Brian to let him live his dream of traveling the world.  This might not be everyone's cup of tea but I absolutely love British humor and I think it is hilarious.  It reminds me of all of the old British comedies that I used to watch on PBS when I was a teenager and I laughed out loud through the whole thing.  I am so glad that I decided to see this on the big screen (Sundance was completely virtual this year) because it was definitely a lot more fun watching it with a crowd that was laughing as much as I was!  It is as heartwarming as it is funny and I highly recommend it!

Note:  Stay through the credits to hear Charles Petrescu rapping!

Cha Cha Real Smooth

The Broadway is currently showing two of my favorite films from Sundance this year so I decided to see them both as a double feature yesterday.  I started with Cha Cha Real Smooth, which was the darling of the festival, and I think I enjoyed it even more the second time.  After graduating from college, Andrew (Cooper Raiff) is at loose ends because his girlfriend has moved to Barcelona to study and he living at home in the suburbs with his mom (Leslie Mann), stepdad (Brad Garrett), and younger brother David (Evan Assante) while working a dead end job at the food court in the mall.  When asked to drive David to a Bat Mitzvah, he crashes the party and eventually gets everyone dancing.  He meets Domino (Dakota Johnson) and impresses her when he is able to get her autistic daughter Lola (Vanessa Burghardt) out on the dance floor.  All of the other mothers are impressed with his energy and enthusiasm so they hire him to be a party starter for all of their upcoming Bat and Bar Mitzvahs which keeps him in frequent contact with Domino.  They eventually form a complicated friendship.  Domino flirts with him because, even though she is engaged, he makes her feel young and carefree and he believes that he is in love with her because he feels needed by both her and Lola.  Their relationship eventually runs its course after Domino finds the courage to commit to her fiance and Andrew finds some direction in his life.  This is a heartfelt and charming coming of age story with incredibly appealing performances from Raiff, who is as irrepressible as a puppy, Johnson, who is absolutely luminous, and Burghardt, who steals every scene she is in.  Even though I am a bit older (ahem) than the target audience I really related to the main character because I also felt completely lost during this period in my life.  I loved everything about this film (the attention to detail with all of the Bat and Bar Mitzvah themes is a highlight) and I left the theater with a huge smile on my face.  Go see it!

The Worst Person in the World

One of my very favorite films at the Sundance Film Festival this year was The Worst Person in the World so I was really happy to be able to see it again at my favorite art house theater last night.  I think I loved it even more upon a second viewing!  Julie (Renate Reinsve) changes majors, boyfriends, and, rather amusingly, hairstyles several times before deciding to leave school to pursue photography.  She takes a temporary job in a bookstore and moves in with Aksel (Anders Danielsen Lie), a comic book artist who is several years her senior, after meeting him at a party.  She is ambivalent when Aksel presses her about starting a family and, even though she loves him, her dissatisfaction with the direction of her life causes her to question their relationship and whether she is ready to make a commitment.  She becomes infatuated with Eivind (Herbert Nordrum), a man she meets when she crashes a wedding, and eventually leaves Aksel to move in with him but he also proves to be a disappointment.  She continually wonders when life will begin but it takes a tragedy for her to realize that she has been living all along.  I love the character of Julie so much because, even though I am a bit (ahem) older than she is, I can really relate to feeling like you should have life figured out by a certain age and I definitely appreciate the message that there is not necessarily a timeline for doing so.  Reinsve give an absolutely captivating and moving performance (I think she deserved a Best Actress Oscar nomination), particularly in an emotionally charged but incredibly honest scene in which she breaks up with Aksel.  Danielsen Lie is also outstanding, giving a powerful monologue in the third act about the things we hold on to in life.  Trier uses the time of day (and the city of Oslo) very effectively in three brilliant scenes depicting Julie's state of mind.  First, she walks home wistfully at dusk feeling disillusioned with life until she is distracted by a party.  Next, she is giddy as she runs through the streets during the day, while time stops for every one else, to follow a sudden impulse.  Finally, she is heartbroken as she wanders the city in tears all night before she finds some peace at sunrise.  I love the imagery of these scenes because they are all so evocative and the time of day is a great metaphor for the ebb and flow of life.  I laughed out loud multiple times and I shed a tear or two!  This is one of the best romantic comedies that I've seen, mostly because it subverts the genre, and I highly recommend it!

Sundance Film Festival 2022

I didn't participate in the Sundance Film Festival last year because it was completely virtual and I prefer seeing films on the big screen and I really enjoy interacting with film aficionados from all over the world.  When I heard that the festival would be in-person this year, I immediately bought a Salt Lake City package which entitled me to ten tickets rather than access to every film screened in SLC as in year's past.  It seemed like a lot of money for only ten tickets but I eagerly selected my films and began anticipating an experience that I really love.  Then came the disappointing news that, due to the surge in Covid cases from the Omicron variant, the festival was canceling all in-person screenings in order to be completely virtual once again.  I assumed, incorrectly, that refunds would be issued to those who didn't want to watch films on their computers but festival organizers insisted that all packages were non-refundable and refused.  I was really angry about this but, since my only other option was to donate the cost of the tickets to the festival, I decided to make the best of it and I eventually picked 21 films.  My first film was The Princess and I was really excited about this documentary because I have been fascinated by Diana ever since I got up early to watch her wedding.  This is a story that has been told many times but the use of archival footage without any narration or contemporary interviews provides an intriguing new take on the Princess of Wales and I really enjoyed it.  There was even footage that I, a self-avowed expert on the Royal Family, had never seen before!  My second film was The Worst Person in the World and this was, without a doubt, my most anticipated film of the festival (it will have a wide release in theaters in a few weeks and I will definitely be seeing it again).  Renate Reinsve is incredibly appealing as an aimless young woman who drifts from relationship to relationship, first with Aksel (Anders Danielsen Lie) and then Eivind (Herbert Nordrum), in order to discover that you don't need to have life figured out yet.  As someone who does not even remotely have life figured out yet, I loved this film!  My third film was Good Luck to You, Leo Grande and, even though it was not at all what I was expecting (I thought it would be a lot funnier), I loved Emma Thompson's brilliant, and incredibly brave, performance as a widow who has a sexual awakening after hiring a male prostitute.  I also loved her chemistry with Daryl McCormack.  My fourth film was Summering, a coming of age story about four girls who have an unexpected adventure the weekend before they start middle school.  It reminded me of Stand By Me but it wasn't nearly as endearing.  I enjoyed the magical realism but the story doesn't really go anywhere with too many unresolved plot points.  My fifth film was A Love Song.  This is a subdued (maybe too subdued?) but moving portrait of grief and loneliness with fantastic performances from Dale Dickey and Wes Studi as former high school sweethearts who meet each other once again.  My sixth film was Emergency and it is another festival favorite for me.  Two Black college students, along with their Latino roommate, are forced to take racism into account when deciding how they will respond to an emergency.  It brilliantly combines comedy, suspense, and biting social commentary to create a thought-provoking and entertaining film that I absolutely loved!  My seventh film was FRESH and it gives new meaning to the term "meat market."  Daisy Edgar-Jones plays a woman fed up with dating apps and Sebastian Stan is the charming but psychotic man she falls for after meeting him in the produce section.  It is a gruesome dark comedy but I loved the killer soundtrack.  My eighth film, 892, was another one of my most anticipated.  It is a tense and heartbreaking true story about a former marine who holds up a bank for the $892 disability check that is owed him but is caught up in the bureaucracy of the VA.  It features a riveting and powerful performance by John Boyega.  My ninth film was Living and I selected it because it stars Bill Nighy and I will see anything he is in!  He plays a paper-pushing bureaucrat in post-war London who decides to live a more meaningful life after receiving a terminal diagnosis.  It is very slow but charming and features a lovely performance by Nighy, especially in a scene where he sings on a playground swing that he helped build.  My tenth film was Call Jane, the first of two films I saw about a real-life underground collective that helped women have access to abortions in the late 1960s.  This is a fictionalized account about a suburban housewife (Elizabeth Banks) who finds the group when she needs a life-saving abortion and the hospital refuses to perform it.  The lighthearted tone didn't quite work for such an important and timely subject, although I really enjoyed Sigourney Weaver's irreverent performance.  I got a last minute ticket to my eleventh film, After Yang, because it received such glowing praise and it definitely didn't disappoint.  When an android companion malfunctions, his owner accesses his memories and they cause him to reevaluate the nature of humanity.  This is beautiful, contemplative, and moving with lovely performances from the whole cast.  I loved it!  My twelfth film was Master which follows the recent trend of using the horror genre to explore the theme of racism.  A young Black student at an elite New England college is haunted by an incident from the past and plagued by an ongoing problem in the present.  In my opinion the social commentary works better than the supernatural elements do but they both contribute to a very palpable sense of dread.  My thirteenth film was Dual and I chose it because I absolutely loved The Art of Self-Defense and was eager to see another film by Riley Stearns.  I am a huge fan of dark absurdist comedies and this is a fantastic satirical exploration of identity in which a woman is forced to fight her clone in a duel to the death.  Karen Gillan's deadpan delivery as both characters really worked for me because it emphasizes the dehumanization they both experience.  My fourteenth film was Resurrection and I don't know what this says about me because it is absolutely bonkers but I loved it.  Rebecca Hall is brilliant as a woman who comes undone when an emotionally manipulative former lover suddenly reappears in her life and it is her committed performance that makes the bizarre twist in the third act seem completely plausible.  My fifteenth film was Lucy and Desi, a touching portrait of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz that emphasizes their enduring legacy.  It is a very straightforward documentary but it is at its best when it utilizes their own voices culled from hours of audio tapes provided by their daughter Lucie Arnaz.  My sixteenth film, Cha Cha Real Smooth, was one of the biggest crowd-pleasers of the festival and I was lucky enough to snag a ticket when more were released.  This is a heartfelt and charming coming of age story about a recent college graduate trying to navigate life and love and features incredibly appealing performances from Cooper Raiff and Dakota Johnson.  Even though I am a bit older (ahem) than the target audience I really related to the main character because I also felt completely lost during this period in my life.  I loved everything about this film!  My seventeenth film was Brian and Charles and this put a huge smile on my face.  It is a hilarious mockumentary about an eccentric inventor in Wales who builds a robot to be his friend and it reminded me of the British comedies I loved as a teenager.  My eighteenth film, Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul, was another mockumentary this time about a pastor of a megachurch and his wife as they attempt to rehabilitate their tarnished image after a scandal.  It is laugh out loud funny but it is also a scathing indictment of the hypocrisy so often found in the megachurch culture.  Regina Hall is fantastic, especially when the cameras stop rolling and the mask drops.  My nineteenth film was LAST FLIGHT HOME and it was incredibly difficult for me to watch having recently lost my own father.  This documentary is a beautiful and moving tribute from a daughter to her extraordinary father as he ends his life on his own terms.  I cried through most of it.  My twentieth film was The Janes and I was really eager to see this having watched Call Jane.  This documentary explores the same underground collective that helped women gain access to abortions in Chicago during the late 1960s but it is much more compelling because it puts the real names and faces to the characters in the fictionalized story.  My final film was the funny and delightful Am I OK?  I loved this story about friendship and self-discovery with yet another fantastic performance from Dakota Johnson.  It was nice to end on such a lighthearted note after so much heavy content.

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2015

Nine Days

Not only was Nine Days my favorite selection at the Sundance Film Festival last year, it was my favorite movie of 2020.  I absolutely loved this beautiful exploration of what it means to be alive the first time I saw it and I think I loved it even more when I saw it again yesterday!  On an alternate plane of existence, Will (Winston Duke), a man who was once alive but had a difficult life experience, is tasked with choosing which souls will get the privilege of being born and then monitoring and recording the details of their life experience.  He is assisted by Kyo (Benedict Wong), a soul who is in limbo, and the two of them watch video footage from the POV of each person Will selected on vintage TV screens.  He is worried about a young man who is being bullied by his classmates and a veteran who has suffered a disabling injury but he takes great pride in a violin prodigy named Amanda.  On the day that she is about to perform a concert, she has a fatal car crash that is presumed to be a suicide.  Will is devastated by this loss and obsessively searches through his video archives to look for a sign as to what went wrong.  In the meantime, he must select a soul to replace her and several candidates arrive at his door to be interviewed over a period of nine days: Maria (Arianna Ortiz), Mike (David Rysdahl), Alexander (Tony Hale), Kane (Bill Skarsgard), and Emma (Zazie Beetz).  Afraid of making another mistake, Will tries to determine which candidate will be tough enough to handle all of the hardships and miseries of life.  When a candidate is dismissed, Will creates elaborate simulations of a life experience chosen by each one before he or she disappears from existence.  The final candidate to be dismissed asks for the experience that made Will feel the most alive which, ultimately, teaches him that life is also filled with joy.  Once again, the final scene brought me to tears because it is such a thought-provoking and poignant moment.  I loved the message that happiness can be found in the simplest of moments and that we shouldn't take any of our time on Earth for granted.  I also enjoyed all of the philosophical discussions that Will has with all of the candidates about the nature of humanity, particularly the question about the Holocaust.  Duke gives a phenomenal performance as a man afraid of life who eventually learns to live.  I cannot recommend this movie enough and it is definitely worth seeking out.