It’s always an amazing adventure to be a part of the Sundance Film Festival experience. Returning to snowcapped Park City, Utah for film, food, and friends has become an annual tradition that gets better every year. Even as Sundance works to determine the most efficient way to balance in-person viewing while also incorporating a virtual presence, it’s never a dull experience. This year the first week was in-person viewing only, while the availability to watch virtually was somewhat limited and did not begin until a week into the festival. As the Sundance Film Festival experience continues to grow and evolve, one thing never changes: the amazing diversity of films that are offered. From twisted games to wild 1987 Oakland lore, from stories of hitmen that don’t kill, to uncomfortable political documentaries, once again Sundance 2024 had a little bit of everything.
Opening the festival this year was Girls State, more than just a companion documentary to 2020’s Boys State. For those that don’t know, Girls States are camps held all across the country for incoming female high school seniors to experience building a mock government in an effort to better help understand the political process. The film follows a wide variety of Missouri high schoolers from various political and religious backgrounds as they attempt to run for a number of elected positions. In an interesting twist, Missouri Boys State is taking place simultaneously on the same campus. More than just the experience itself, we are drawn into the number of inequalities that exist between the two programs, even though they really should be exactly the same. Wisely, the directors are able to balance the differences between the programs without losing the overall narrative of female empowerment, echoed by all the girls that we get to know. Girls State was a fun watch that should be required viewing for anyone interested in the current state of politics and the challenges the next generation look to face.
1987 Oakland, California is the location of some rather unusual happening over the span of a few days with ties to real life events. Four seemingly unconnected stories are intertwined in writers/directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s Freaky Tales. A killer cast, highlighted by Pedro Pascal (Clint) and Jay Ellis (Sleepy Floyd), with narration by rap legend Too $hort and even a surprise cameo by Tom Hanks, Freaky Tales is a nonstop collection of stories that feels very much like a love letter to Oakland. Punk rockers versus Nazi scum, an epic rap battle, an enforcer with a conscience, and a badass mediating basketball player make Freaky Tales well worth the hype. Clever and cunning, all four chapters work individually and collectively, but the back half of the film is stronger than the first half. I would strongly recommend this California homage to anyone looking for something nostalgic in the form of the eighties!
If a somewhat dark spin on the Beauty and the Beast story that occasionally straddles real and surreal is your thing, then Your Monster is the film for you. Parts comedy, romance, drama, and horror, writer/director Caroline Lindy definitely takes the viewer on a rollercoaster of an adventure. Aspiring Broadway actress Laura (Melissa Barrera) gets dumped by her screenplay writing boyfriend during a cancer crisis and is forced to move back into her childhood home, where she encounters its one current occupant: her childhood monster (Tommy Dewey), who helps her deal with loss, recovery, and revenge. It’s a scene-stealing performance from Dewey, who shares some amazing chemistry with Barrera.
People of a certain age that grew up on early 90s teen drama series will more than likely find a lot to enjoy in the Lynchian I Saw the TV Glow. Two teenage outcasts bond over a late night sci-fi teen drama called The Pink Opaque, and its sudden cancellation becomes the catalyst for a host of strange occurrences. A dark and brooding adventure with great work from Justice Smith and Bridgette Lundy-Paine, this latest offering from Jane Schoenbrun is chock full of haunting sequences and disturbing images that viewers won’t soon forget.
Many, many years in a postapocalyptic future, a buoy and a satellite fall virtually in love in Sam and Andy Zuchero’s Love Me. A very ambitious tale of self examination and exploring what really makes us human, Kristen Stewart (the buoy) and Steven Yeun (the satellite) are the only actors in this romance spanning thousands of years, cleverly depicted in animation, CGI and live action performances. The story is full of heart and hope, even if it has a little WALL-E sensibility through out. Stewart and Yeun do great work with the material, and this film will undoubtably generate a fair amount of positive vibes.