5 SUNDANCE OFFERINGS WORTH CHECKING OUT
Some thought-provoking films are in the lineup
If you’re planning to “attend” the online-only version of the Sundance Film Festival, why not sample these five films? Each has piqued my interest.
“HATCHING” » A prevailing Sundance misconception is that the festival is out of touch when it comes to genre filmmaking. Wrong. The fest features a dynamite Midnight section where you can catch out-there delights. Finland filmmaker Hanna Begholm’s bizarre horror-thriller revolves around a camera-ready blogging family and a bird’s egg that hatches something unsavory.
“HAPPENING” » In looking to the past, we learn about the potential hazards of our future. That concept echoes throughout Audrey Diwan’s unsparing second feature, a painfully relevant 1963 tale about a pregnant French university student (Anamaria Vartolomei) who endures a nightmarish ordeal in trying to get an abortion.
“MASTER” » I’ll see anything with Regina Hall in it, and this genre hybrid sounds like it could be “Get Out” good. Set at a hoity-toity New England university, it finds Hall’s dean of students encountering racism and sexism that haunts the corridors. This pointed horror-thriller directed and written by first-time filmmaker Mariama Diallo looks like it could haunt our dreams as well.
“AFTER YANG” » Colin Farrell and Jodie Turner-Smith anchor this trippy effort from talented director and screenwriter Kogonada. True, ethical debates about AI are all the rage right now, but Kogonada’s A24 feature is said to make us feel like the future is now as it plumbs how a human tries to better understand an android.
“LUCY AND DESI” » Did you feel a little let down by Aaron Sorkin’s yakity-yakity “Being the Ricardos”? Try Amy Poehler’s first documentary, which delves into the key points in the lives and careers of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.