Tag: 2023 Sundance Film Festival
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Sundance Review: ‘The Accidental Getaway Driver’
Director Sing J. Lee’s Debut Feature Is A Searing, Moody True Crime Story Packed With Powerful Performances
Late one night in Orange County, California, elderly cab driver Long Mã (Hiep Tran Nghia) is persuaded to pick up a group of men and drive them around. It becomes clear rather quickly that the three individuals placed in the back of his cab are escaped convicts. Taken hostage, Long’s story could have turned out…
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Sundance Review: ‘Theater Camp’
Molly Gordon And Ben Platt Lead This Off-Key Musical Mockumentary
When their over-the-top leader and theater camp director is put into a coma after a strobe-light incident, the staff of Adirond-ACTS must come together to get their campers through the summer. Directed by Nick Lieberman and Molly Gordon and starring Gordon, Ben Platt, Noah Galvin, and Jimmy Tatro, Theater Camp is a messy and unlikeable…
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Cinema Royale: Talking The Best & Worsts Of Sundance 2023
We are back from the seriously frigid climate of Park City, following what has been another great Sundance Film Festival. On this episode, I’ll be joined by Cortland Jacoby, who made her first in-person trip to the festival, to look back at some of our favorites and the stuff they could’ve left buried in the…
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Sundance Review: ‘A Little Prayer’
David Strathairn And Jane Levy’s Strong Performances Can’t Save Angus MacLachlan’s Insular Family Drama
In A Little Prayer, David Strathairn plays a modern Southern gentleman. He drinks coffee with his daughter-in-law every morning, runs the family business with his son, and struggles to open up with others about their problems. It’s the latter issue that drives the tension in Angus MacLachlan’s latest writing and directing effort. Strathairn’s Bill, along…
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Sundance Review: ‘Mutt’
A Newly Transitioned Trans Man Faces Three Broken Relationships In Vuk Lungulov-Klotz’s Astounding First Feature
Mutt is a mesmerizing character study to watch. With a compelling and finely-written script from writer/director Vuk Lungulov-Klotz and a fantastic leading performance from Lio Mehiel, the film takes us through a normal day in the life of a transman, one that’s filled with more than one type of transition. Over one summer day, three…
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Sundance Review: ‘You Hurt My Feelings’
Julia Louis-Dreyfus And Tobias Menzies Can’t Face The Truth In Nicole Holofcener’s Relatable And Charming Comedy
When we create something, what reaction do we really want? Do we want the truth? Approval? A weird medium? That’s the question at the heart of Nicole Holofcener’s latest feature, You Hurt My Feelings. In it, Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays a published author very much in love with her therapist husband, Don (Tobias Menzies). They share…
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Sundance Interview: ‘Blueback’ Director Robert Connolly And Star Radha Mitchell Bring Environmentalism To The Family-Adventure Movie
Robert Connolly has been trying to get Tim Winton’s 1997 novella, Blueback made into a movie for years. The oceanic children’s story follows the life of a young marine biologist as he returns home to care for his dying activist mother. The tale flashes between the past and present, focusing on their time together fighting against…
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Sundance Review: ‘The Pod Generation’
Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor Lead Sophie Barthes’ Frustrating, Futuristic Third Feature
Director Sophie Barthes’ The Pod Generation is a 101-minute-long movie version of a Black Mirror episode. Starring Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor, who would most likely show up in the dystopian anthology series, star as a married couple in the near future who live in a technology-obsessed New York. Rachel (Clarke), the breadwinner, works for…
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Sundance Review: ‘Shortcomings’
Randall Park And Justin H. Min Are A Comedic Director/Actor Duo To Watch In This Well-Intentioned Comedy
For the last couple of years, Randall Park has been the best part of a lot of projects. He gained a loyal following in Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp and WandaVision, his cameo in The People We Meet At The Wedding is the funniest thing about the film, and his Netflix rom-com Always Be My…
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Sundance Interview: ‘The Accidental Getaway Driver’ Team Talk Cultural Sensitivity And Therapy Sessions
Sing J. Lee is a rare director and his cast of The Accidental Getaway Driver know it. When I sat down with him and Dustin Nguyen, Gabrielle Chan, Phi Vu, and Dali Benssalah, they recalled the rare amount of prep time the director had with the group. They would get together in Zoom either one on one…