I’m sure I’ve said this since the pandemic started, but the one thing I’m grateful for is that it made and kept a virtual component to the Sundance Film Festival. This gives me the opportunity to enjoy something I love so much from the comfort of my own home and significantly cheaper, too! I was happy to have an interest in many more films this year. Let’s check them out!
Stress Positions – So, I know not all the films I choose can be winners, but I wasn’t expecting a dud straight out the gate! Terry is in the midst of a divorce in the early months of the pandemic in Brooklyn. So that means every day he’s banging on pots and pans while trying to manage the chaos of his life, which includes taking care of his nephew who’s recently been run over by a car. On top of that, he has to try and appease his overstepping best friend, creepy upstairs neighbor, and the threat of the coronavirus. I’m sure there was a deeper message here, but I couldn’t really decipher what was trying to be said in the voiceovers. Really, Terry just needs to start over somewhere else with none of these people in his life.
Exhibiting Forgiveness – What I was sure was going to be a bore was actually quite engaging. Tarrell is an extremely talented painter who is haunted by the abuse he suffered as a child at the hands of his father. Not only his own abuse, but that of his mother, as well. He channels this past into debilitating nightmares, but they are also certainly inspiration for his work. Now, some few decades later, his father is back in his life against his will, but this film is about forgiveness and what it can ultimately bring you.
Between the Temples – I really wanted to like this more, but this rom-com drama lost a bit of steam for me about halfway through. Jason Schwartzman plays Ben, a recently widowed cantor who’s grief has left him a little bit religious-less and unable to sing. His life takes an odd upswing after his old teacher decides to take bat mitzvah classes from him. This is ultimately a love story, and it’s an odd one at that.
Suncoast – I wasn’t sure that I was expecting something good from this film. The premise of four teenagers hanging out sounded interesting, but I was preparing for the worst. Instead, I got a unique coming of age tale in the form of Doris, a high schooler whose world doesn’t seem to revolve around her. And for the most part, she’s well-adjusted, but I can understand a teenager wanting to be a little selfish when she’s spent the last five years or so looking after her brain cancer-stricken brother who is on death’s door at the start of the film. She makes some questionable school-aged friends, but also befriends Woody Harrelson’s character in some of my favorite scenes. I was not prepared for the gut-punch of emotion at the end, though I was a fool for thinking it would never come. I just didn’t know it was going to be so affecting.
Good One – I think this film came out on top for me this weekend. I wasn’t at all sure what to expect, but what I got was a very serene story of a girl, Sam, going on an extended camping trip with her dad and his best friend. Most of the film shows them comfortably walking through the woods and going through the motions of camping. Conversations throughout show that Sam’s dad is a bit of a self-centered jerk and that his best friend is kind of a mess. Sam herself is quite wise and assured, so her handling of a situation later in the film is maybe exactly what I would expect from someone like her. Very powerful for something so simple.
Thelma – This is another film that soared to the top for me! Think Going in Style, but better. June Squibb plays the titular Thelma, an old woman still living on her own, but being regularly checked in on by her grandson. When she gets duped into sending some criminals ten thousand dollars, she just wants to try and get he money back. When her family turns her down, she turns to old friends to help her get there. Very funny and really cute.
A Real Pain – As much as I like Jesses Eisenberg, I went in with reservations on his second film. Last year’s effort was kind of painful, and I wasn’t sure that even Kieran Culkin could save this one. I was wrong! Eisenberg and Culkin plays somewhat estranged cousins, David and Benji, respectively, who go on a group tour to explore Poland and the home of their recently deceased grandmother. David is a bit boring and rigid, while Benji is both abrasive but magnetizing to everyone he meets. Admittedly, Benji is a kind of person I would avoid in real life, but I can see the appeal of a person like this. They both care deeply and at the same time are obliviously selfish, but their good outweighs the bad. It’s interesting seeing these cousins try to learn each other again.
Veni Vidi Vici – In Latin this means, “I came, I saw, I conquered,” and I suppose that is an accurate assessment of this film’s premise. In Austria, a family whose wealth is so immense, means that they can do whatever they want and no one will ever stop them. That doesn’t mean locals won’t try, but the authorities have been bought, so that means the patriarch can hunt people instead of animals and it’s almost as if he’s a ghost operating in plain sight. The more complex characters in this film are the wife and eldest daughter, but this film has made me realize that I just don’t connect with European satire.
Ponyboi – This film offered a very unique take on the crime drama! Ponyboi is intersex and works a menial job at a laundromat while supplementing his income at truck stops if you catch my drift. Though he’s got the long hair, nails, and makeup to present as a woman, we learn that he’s actually taking testosterone. He gets into real trouble though when his pimp’s latest drug ends up killing someone from the mob. Ponyboi takes the money and attempts to get out of town, but doesn’t get too far before things start heading south fast. A very unique film that also manages to be a bit educational, as well.
Sebastian – Man, I really wanted to like this drama. We meet Sebastian at the start of his “career” in sex work, but come to find he’s actually an aspiring writer, Max. He wants a lived in experience to write his novel, but ends up getting sucked too deep into it. Though he tries to exude confidence, you can see immense shame in his actions, but eventually he does find something akin to love. It’s a shame though that he can’t figure out the balance between this world and his “real one.” If this film could have wrapped it up a bit sooner I might have had a different opinion on this film, but it just kind of dragged on for too long.
Love Me – This is perhaps the most unique film I have ever seen! It’s a futuristic rom-com, I suppose. Me is an AI buoy, left long after earth has become inhabitable, and she meets IAM, a satellite meant to help new lifeforms that come to earth. As AIs do, Me gets sucked into social media and tries to build her own life based on this one, super fake human. She eventually convinces IAM to do the same, though he’s not privy to Me’s search history. Though this is set futuristically, all of life’s current pitfalls play right off of Me and IAM, letting us all know that history is doomed to repeat itself in even the smallest ways.
Handling the Undead – Admittedly, I had no clue this was based off of a book, but the cover I found was super creepy, and that prepared me a little bit for this slow-burn horror film. Somehow, the dead are coming back to life and ultimately ruining the lives of their living loved ones. Some try to ingratiate them back into the fold as if they were never dead to begin with, while others are afraid of what it means for them to be back. They certainly aren’t the same, and you’d be a fool to think the story was going to end well. A bit slow for my taste, but I’m definitely interested in checking out the novel it’s based on!
Brief History of a Family – In China, after the one-child rule is no longer a thing, we get to see the effect of that on one particular family, though not in the way you’d expect. Wei gets shy and odd Shuo to start coming around to his home to hang out and play video games. Shuo soon starts to gain the favor of Wei’s parents after they learn that he suffers physical abuse from his alcoholic father. After an incident, Wei’s parents decide that Shuo entering their lives is a shot at a second chance and to gain a son who they don’t have to pressure to be the smartest or most driven. This of course, causes some of the family’s cracks to start to become visible, and it’s never quite clear if Shuo is intentionally ingratiating himself into their lives or if it’s all happening innocently. I would love to give this another watch someday, but I really liked how it balanced itself between certain genres.
Little Death – Ugh, ending the festival the same way I started it. With a stinker. The film, though trying to make a point, stupidly gives us two incomplete stories. The first focuses on Martin, a former TV writer, trying to get his first feature off the ground. He is a complete ass and totally self-centered, though I’m sure he represents a large chunk of Hollywood this way. Just when I started to get settled into this slog, I was suddenly jerked into another completely separate storyline involving some twenty-somethings trying to run and food truck and get prescription drugs. I’d like to say I enjoyed this half better, but I just felt unsatisfied as a whole.