Each year at the end of January, film fans, critics, and filmmakers alike from around the world gather in Park City, Utah, to witness the largest independent film festival in the United States. For those who weather the frigid winter temperatures to see world premieres at the Egyptian Theatre, the festival is often about discovery for both audiences looking for the next breakout film and distributors looking to add material to their libraries. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sundance has included significant virtual programming that allows audiences to engage with the films from the comfort and safety of their own home. Although the festival was back in person for the first time since 2020, resuming many of the traditional experiential qualities of the festival, I was able to see nine films virtually as part of the hybrid offerings (plus one film in wide release immediately after the festival). *

Here are my short reviews and rankings of the ten films I was able to see:

10. Bad Behaviour dir. Alice Englert

Ringing in at the unfortunate lowest end of this list is Alice Englert’s Bad Behavior. Not the only feature film from the child of a prominent filmmaker on this list (whispers nepo-baby in the background), but certainly the least successful, Bad Behaviour is, quite simply, an absolute disaster for most of its runtime. Following Lucy (Jennifer Connelly), a former child actor seeks enlightenment at a retreat led by spiritual leader Elon (Ben Whishaw) while she attempts to reconcile a turbulent relationship with her stunt-performer daughter, Dylan (Alice Englert). The narrative is an incoherent mess with poor characterization, and only sparing moments in the third act redeem a sense of chemistry between its central characters that the film badly lacks amidst its absurdisms. The screenplay makes an attempt at dark comedy in an incredibly specific setting and format that feels oddly personal (especially with a notable cameo) but is reckless in its approach, as if written from a collection of mad-libs with arbitrary decisions being made at each turn of the page. The film is best when Connelly and Englert are together in a grounded capacity, but it is nearly horrific when it’s attempting to parallel edit between their separate stories. Bad behavior on camera and bad execution behind it.

9. Cat Person dir. Susanna Fogel

Emilia Jones emerged from last year’s virtual iteration of Sundance a star as CODA navigated its way throughout the ensuing year to a massive deal with Apple TV+ and an Academy Award for Best Picture. Jones returned to Sundance this year with two films, one of them Cat Person, directed by Susanna Fogel. The story follows the brief relationship between a twenty-year-old sophomore college student Margot (Emilia Jones), and an older man Robert (Nicolas Braun), where their perceptions of each other shift and events spiral out of control. Fogel draws on the viral New Yorker short story that probed the anxieties of modern dating. The film plays with the premise in a way that puts us directly in the perspective of Margot, with her intrusive thoughts playing out in a way that effectively expresses her fears and adds tension to the central relationship. It is best explored in its more subtle relationship dynamics in the second act, particularly in a sex scene that raises compelling questions about consent in a modern lens while the texting platform allows insight into the way technology has shaped our views of communication. However, the third act goes completely awry losing any sense of nuance and struggles from an overall weak direction and overwritten script. The thriller components at the climax simply do not work. Solid effort, but still at the lower end of this list.

8. Sometimes I Think About Dying dir. Rachel Lambert

Rachel Lambert’s protagonist, at the center of this feature, likes to think about dying. It brings sensation to her quiet office life. Starring Daisy Ridley as Fran, Sometimes I Think About Dying uses the all too realistic beats of office life to frame depression/anxiety through a quietly evocative lens. The dialogue between what it means to be seen and unseen amidst the repetition of the 9-5 is effectively portrayed by Ridley, operating at her most nuanced level to date, who struggles to navigate work, romance, and social anxiety in a way that is grounded in representing the social isolation that is propagated by the routine and repetition of her job. The simple framing technique of the cubicle production design against the surrealist imagery in Fran’s head is the core of the film’s central premise, while details ranging from slack DM’s to small townhouse parties help build out the world. It does suffer from the short-to-feature transformation where it feels long even at 90 minutes, but a scene near the end sweeps you right back into the headspace of Fran and the representation of her depression from a unique interior perspective.

7. Shortcomings dir. Randall Park

Moving from in front of the camera to behind it, Randall Park’s directorial debut follows Ben Tanaka, a movie theater owner grappling with the implications of race and culture on the dating scene. While two of the aforementioned films on this list also investigate dating in a contemporary landscape, Shortcomings separates itself with a greater investigation of the intersectionality of race and politics in a format that takes on more thematic heft than your typical rom-com. The most divisive quality of the story is the film’s unyielding commitment to featuring an incredibly flawed and deeply unlikable protagonist, but that is where it becomes something fresh as a character study focusing on the lowest moment in Ben’s life. Sherry Cola’s comedy is the most engaging element throughout, and I’m glad the film took the direction it did in the third act rather than becoming a repetitive cliché. Overall, a sharp entry to the Sundance field from the respected Randall Park.

6. Infinity Pool dir. Brandon Cronenberg*

Although I saw Brandon Cronenberg’s sophomore feature just after Sundance ended in wide release, I’m counting it here because the film premiered at the festival and landed in theaters just shortly after (plus a top ten list is a lot more satisfying than a top nine). The Cronenberg-ian cinematic style is on full display yet again with a surrealistic atmosphere that blends a dream setting with a nightmare reality. James (Alexander Skarsgård) finds himself seduced by the mysterious Gabi (Mia Goth) at an isolated island resort, but when they find themselves outside the resort grounds, a culture of violence, hedonism, and horror reveals itself. Added to the recent influx of “eat the rich” class satire narratives flooding theaters in 2022 (The Menu, Triangle of Sadness), Infinity Pool heightens Cronenberg’s capacity to film the human body in all its repulse and pleasure. The film is an audiovisual smorgasbord of strange fluids and flashing lights that are, unfortunately much stronger as an experience than as a narrative. A disorienting psychosexual thriller that holds back many of its punches, but maybe the NC-17 cut would be more incisive.

5. Kokomo City dir. D. Smith

Kokomo City, directed by D. Smith, was one of two documentaries I saw at the festival, as Sundance has a significant track record of propelling great work on the documentary front. Capturing the lives of four Black transgender sex workers who explore the dichotomy between the Black community and their transgender identity, the film was awarded the NEXT Audience and Innovator Awards, and rightfully so. A visually striking documentary shot in exquisite high contrast black and white, D. Smith’s work paints an honest and authentic portrait of Black trans women telling their story. In a swift, simple format that achieves exactly what it intends to do, powerful storytelling from everyone involved is on full display. The raw emotions of her subjects are allowed to own the screen in their full beauty and objectification in the sex industry. In just 73 minutes, the film is one of the most honest and vast artistic explorations of the intersectionality between womanhood, transness, and Blackness.

4. Shayda dir. Noora Niasari

Shayda is an intensely personal and moving examination of the strength and resilience of women in the face of crushing oppression and abuse. As a striking example of personal filmmaking, Noora Niasari tells the semi-autobiographical story of a young Iranian woman finding refuge in an Australian women’s shelter with her six-year-old daughter. The film showcases Zar Amir Ebrahimi who gives another brilliant effort after her Cannes-winning performance in Holy Spider proving she is a tour de force among working actresses. Highlighting the undying bond between mother and daughter, the chemistry between Ebrahimi and her daughter Mona (Selina Zahednia) is the emotional centerpiece. The film won the World Cinema Dramatic Audience Award.

3. Scrapper dir. Charlotte Regan

If films could have a baby of their own, Scrapper would be the divorced child of Charlotte Wells’s Aftersun and Sean Baker’s The Florida Project that spends a lot of time hanging out with Celine Sciamma’s Tomboy. An endearing debut effort from Charlotte Regan, this coming-of-age story is carried by newcomer Lola Campbell who has limitless charisma, with a script that has a heart of gold. Georgie (Lola Campbell) is the heartbeat as a 12-year-old girl living alone and pawning stolen bike parts from her London flat in the wake of her mother’s sudden death. Her estranged father (Harris Dickinson) shows up unexpectedly and the pair are forced to deal with the reality of their financial and emotional situations. Dickinson allows Campbell to shine but holds his own as their relationship develops in a predictable yet earnest way. Although simple in structure, what the film may lack in narrative complexity beyond the slice-of-life format, it makes up for in charm and quirk as a delightfully melancholic exploration of childhood grief. If not for the ingenuity of the top two films, Scrapper would have been a top personal favorite.

2. Beyond Utopia dir. Madeleine Gavin

The second documentary on this list is not only in the top two but a film that will almost certainly make waves again later in the awards season. An overwhelmingly important hidden camera documentary, Madeleine Gavin’s Beyond Utopia is a harrowing testament to the bravery of its subjects and the dedication of the people that helped them in the face of danger/death. The rawest, eye-opening look at the topic of North Korea and the best use of hidden camera footage that seems impossible to exist, this film falls into the category of documentaries that seems illegal to even have access to watch. My perspective from the comfort of my own home seems wrong to even bear witness to the tragedy, pain, and suffering of these people, and it is almost incomprehensible that this film will have widespread accessibility. One misstep in the making of the film not only would have ended its making, but likely resulted in the death of its subjects, creators, or both. The must-see doc of Sundance 2023 and a sure bet to be in the Oscar conversation later this year.

1. All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt dir. Raven Jackson

Taking the top spot in my Sundance 2023 experience is a poetic meditation on love, life, and loss as it intertwines between our past, present, and future. Raven Jackson’s feature debut All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt is an impressionistic visual poem told with tender care. As a lyrical stream of nonlinear consciousness stripped down to striking visuals and the ambient soundscape of rural Missipippi, Jackson orchestrates a symphony of nostalgic texture that captivates from beginning to end. Loosely following Mack (Kaylee Nicole Johnson, Charleen McClure) over multiple generations, it is not a story we follow but the people, places, and moments that make us who we are as human beings. The rhythm of Jackson’s provocation aches with longing through her sensuous editing style that mimics the sensibility of a life remembered in fractured moments of indelible consequence. Distributed later this year by A24, the film is exactly the type of discovery you hope to witness from a festival like Sundance and the top discovery in my experience this year.

Article courtesy of Danny Jarabek

Feature Image Arthur Mola/Invision/AP