Sundance 2023 round-up
Theater Camp, The Persian Version, Eileen, Sometimes I Think About Dying, and more
The close of January in Utah means only one thing to me: Sundance Film Festival. This year I watched seven films, four at the opening weekend of the festival and three online. I hope Sundance continues with a hybrid of in person and online screenings as it makes the festival so much more accessible for moviegoers everywhere, not just for Utah residents.
When the Sundance program drops, I intentionally seek out movies made by and starring mostly women, and this year it was not difficult to do that at all. 56% of the filmmakers in the festival were women and of the seven films I watched, four of them were directed/co-directed/written by women. They were also my favorite four. You love to see it!
Without further ado, here are my mini reviews and rankings for each of the films I watched at Sundance 2023:
(I linked the synopses from the Sundance website for each title because it is tiresome to try to paraphrase all of them…so just read those first lol)
Theater Camp: U.S. Dramatic Competition - dir. by Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman, written by Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman, Noah Galvin
Told in the same mockumentary style as Christopher Guest movies, this comedy had me LOLing the entire run-time. Unsurprisingly, this movie oozes theater kid energy, but in the absolute best way possible. My favorite kind of movie-going experience is sitting in a packed theater watching a genuinely funny movie and laughing along with everyone else. I can’t recall any jokes that didn’t land for me! The cast won the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award: Ensemble at the festival’s awards ceremony. Rightly so, as the kids playing the campers were all stars in the making, with Molly Gordon (love her), Noah Galvin (love him), and Ben Platt (don’t love him but he is kind of perfectly insufferable in this role so it works) all delivering delightful lead performances. Thankfully it will have a theatrical release with Searchlight Pictures, where it will no doubt be a crowd favorite later this year. 4.5/5 stars
The Persian Version: U.S. Dramatic Competition - written and directed by Maryam Keshavarz
A coming-of-age story about children of immigrants will literally always work for me and this was no exception. When said story centers on the fraught relationship between a mother and daughter too?? Check and check. This movie really does have a little bit of everything I love: dual cultural identity, realistic portrayals of womanhood and motherhood, queer love, big musical dance numbers, the list goes on! It was especially touching to see the audience’s overwhelmingly positive reaction at the premiere after watching such an empowering tale about Iranian women in their male-dominated family. After winning both the Audience Award and The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award in the U.S. Dramatic Category, Sony Pictures Classics picked it up with a theatrical release set for the fall. Add it to your watchlist! 4.5/5 stars
Polite Society: Midnight - written and directed by Nida Manzoor
I typically never even consider the Midnight category in the Sundance program because I do not gravitate towards horror movies, but the screen grab intrigued me and the synopsis intrigued me even more. This was fun! And not really a horror movie. In fact, it combines almost too many genres: comedy, action-adventure, martial arts, heist, and Bollywood, with a bit of horror sprinkled in too. At the heart of it is a story about two sisters and their loving, complex relationship that only sisters fully understand. I would guess that the target demographic for this movie is teenagers, but I still had a blast. Focus Features picked it up and already set a theatrical release for April 28. I would advise not watching the trailer though, because like so many trailers these days it spells out the entire movie and spoils some fun surprises and action sequences! 4/5 stars
Sometimes I Think About Dying: U.S. Dramatic Competition - dir. by Rachel Lambert, written by Stefanie Abel Horowitz, Kevin Armeto, Katy Wright-Mead
A little too quirky, but ultimately an affecting movie about loneliness and depression, grounded by Daisy Ridley’s performance that made me forget she is the lead in Star Wars movies. The gray and gloom of the Oregon Coast is the perfect backdrop for this story and I liked many of the stylistic choices made here. Some of the more surreal visuals did not work for me, but the cinematography, score, and even the credits set in a large, loopy cursive font were the details that made the scenes in the movie without any dialogue especially memorable. And my favorite surprise: the always hilarious Meg Stalter’s supporting role as the office manager added some much-needed humor to the awkward workplace dynamics. 3.5/5 stars
Eileen: Premieres - dir. by William Oldroyd, written by Luke Goebel and adapted from the novel by Otessa Moshfegh
Sorry Otessa hive…this was not it! Eileen was my most anticipated movie of the festival but it fell a little flat for me. I read the novel by the same name and while the movie adaptation is very true to the book, I liked the book more. My expectations were set a little too high after seeing Anne Hathaway in a blonde wig starring opposite Thomasin McKenzie- I love them both and thought the casting choices were excellent! Ultimately there was just not enough Anne for me. Thomasin’s character Eileen is the main character, but things don’t really pick up in the story until Rebecca (Anne’s character) shows up, and I would have liked to see their relationship develop further. The ending also felt rushed immediately after the big climax of the film. I know that is also true to the book, but in a movie format it just didn’t work and felt unfinished. Curious to see how this is received since it was one of the buzziest movies of the festival. 3/5 stars
Aliens Abducted My Parents and Now I Feel Kinda Left Out: Kids - dir. by Jake Van Wagoner, written by Austin Everett
My husband worked on this movie! And it was filmed in Utah and most of the filmmakers are from Utah so shout-out to this local movie. It is cute and cheesy but I am not going to dissect or rate a kids movie because it is not for me. I will say that I could totally see this as a Disney Channel Original Movie, which is honestly a compliment. I grew up on DCOMs and I love them. It was fun attending the premiere with an audience full of friends and family of the cast and crew. Congrats to everyone on this movie getting picked up by Visit Films! Plus it was beautifully colored! By my husband! Who is the best colorist in Utah!
Shortcomings: dir. by Randall Park, written by and adapted from the novel by Adrian Tomine
On paper this movie had a lot of things I like to see, but it wasn’t my favorite. Randall Park’s directorial debut centers on a very unlikeable character Ben, who unfortunately reminded me of one too many film bros I’ve met in real life. We aren’t meant to like him and his character is supposed to challenge us, but I was just annoyed for most of the run-time. I love Justin H. Min though! He is so cute and everyone should watch him in After Yang! Overall, the movie felt disjointed and the use of title cards made me feel like the filmmakers were dumbing down an already easy-to-follow storyline and it was unnecessary. I liked the supporting cast though! Sherry Cola’s performance as Ben’s best friend Alice was my favorite and I am excited to see her in the upcoming film Joy Ride alongside Stephanie Hsu. 3/5
In K-pop news…
The Recording Academy remains in their flop era after Sunday’s ceremony where they once again refused to grant a single Grammy to BTS. At least they didn’t try to get any ARMY viewers to tune in by booking any of the members to perform, only to make us wait until the end of the four hour ceremony for their performance, only to THEN not give them any awards afterwards…something they did three years in a row… :) This article written last spring “BTS Deserves a Grammy, but Do the Grammys Deserve BTS?” is a good reminder that the Grammys are stupid, outdated, and racist. But it still sucks that BTS hasn’t been given this global recognition from the most prestigious American music awards show when they want it so bad. And as for that Album of the Year win…I’m just gonna leave these here:
BSS, the SEVENTEEN special sub-unit comprised of DK, Hoshi, and Seungkwan released their first EP Second Wind yesterday. The music video for “Fighting” is so cute and fun and all three tracks are certified bops. Any Carats in the chat?! For those wondering my bias is DK with Mingyu and S.Coups rounding out my bias line <3
Yet to Come in Busan, BTS’s last concert of 2022 that was livestreamed globally back in October was brought to theaters for a limited run and it was glorious. Where were you when you witnessed the debut performance of “Run BTS” ?!? I was sitting on my couch at 3 AM MST and felt a shift in the universe the first time I saw that choreography. Watching it on the big screen almost four months later was just as magical. I made sure to attend a ScreenX screening so I could watch 270 degrees of Bangtan with a theater full of ARMYs. Run bulletproof, run, yeah you gotta run !!!
You are so lucky you have good access to Sundance! I've always wanted to attend the film festival, and it is definitely on my bucket list. I am very intrigued by Theatre Camp, and even moreso excited to watch Past Lives after all the amazing reviews! Hope it ends up coming to the Toronto film festival eventually.