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Sundance Film Festival · 2017

Sundance Film Festival 2017

Spotlight

Programme

7 films · 5 reviews

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Colossal

Review preview for Colossal

Vigalondo's film is very funny in places but the characters are undercooked.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
A going-nowhere party girl discovers a mysterious connection between herself and a giant monster wreaking havoc on the other side of the globe.

(Country: Canada, Spain; Year: 2016; Director: Nacho Vigalondo; Writer: Nacho Vigalondo; Stars: Anne Hathaway, Dan Stevens, Jason Sudeikis, Austin Stowell, Tim Blake Nelson, Agam Darshi, Hannah Cheramy, Rukiya Bernard, Sarah Surh, Miho Suzuki, Christine Lee)

Frantz

Review preview for Frantz

Frequently and not at all randomly, the film switches to colour, posing a charming riddle that reflects states of happiness or other kinds of intensity.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4 out of 5
In the aftermath of WWI, a young German who grieves the death of her fiancé in France meets a mysterious French man who visits the fiancé's grave to lay flowers.

(Country: France, Germany; Year: 2016; Director: François Ozon; Writer: François Ozon, Philippe Piazzo; Stars: Pierre Niney, Paula Beer, Ernst Stötzner, Marie Gruber, Johann von Bülow, Anton von Lucke, Cyrielle Clair, Alice de Lencquesaing, Axel Wandtke, Rainer Egger, Rainer Silberschneider, Merlin Rose, Ralf Dittrich, Michael Witte, Lutz Blochberger)

Lady Macbeth

Review preview for Lady Macbeth

Just when you think you know this story, Oldroyd and Birch begin to show you that you don't.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A woman sold into a loveless marriage develops a mind for murder after starting an affair.

(Country: UK; Year: 2016; Director: William Oldroyd; Writer: Alice Birch, based on the novel by Nikolai Leskov; Stars: Florence Pugh, Christopher Fairbank, Cosmo Jarvis, Naomi Ackie, Paul Hilton, Golda Rosheuvel, Anton Palmer)

US premiere

Look And See: A Portrait Of Wendell Berry

This cinematic portrait of the changing landscapes and shifting values of rural America in the era of industrial agriculture is seen through the mind’s eye of farmer and writer Wendell Berry.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Laura Dunn, Jef Sewell; Stars: John Berry Jr, Mary Berry, Tanya Berry, Wendell Berry, John Logan Brent, Earl L. Butz, Curtis Combs, Arwen Donahue, Michael Douglas, Juan Javier Reyes, Dale Roberts, Mark Roberts, Steve Smith, Phoebe Wagoner, Andy Zaring)

The New Climate

Raw (Grave)

A girl from a family of vegetarians decides to eat raw meat for the first time with unexpected consequences.

(Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2016; Director: Julia Ducournau; Writer: Julia Ducournau; Stars: Garance Marillier, Ella Rumpf, Rabah Nait Oufella, Laurent Lucas, Bouli Lanners, Joana Preiss, Marion Vernoux, )

US premiere

Sami Blood (Sameblod)

Review preview for Sami Blood

This is a powerful film that not only resonates with the recent cycle of films concerning rebellious girls, but with films made by indigerous peoples.

Sarah Artt · 5 out of 5
A Sámi girl experiences racism in the 1930s.

(Country: Denmark, Sweden, Norway; Year: 2016; Director: Amanda Kernell; Writer: Amanda Kernell; Stars: Hanna Alström, Anders Berg, Katarina Blind, Beata Cavallin, Malin Crépin, Julius Fleischanderl, Ylva Gustafsson, Tom Kappfjell, Anna Sofie Bull Kuhmunen, Andreas Kundler, Marika Lindström, Maj-Doris Rimpi, Olle Sarri, Tove Skeidsvoll, Anne Biret Somby)

US premiere

Their Finest

Review preview for Their Finest

A charming and entertaining take on the film within the film scenario, with solid performances from all of its cast.

Evelin Toth · 3 out of 5
A British film crew in the Second World War makes a propaganda film.

(Country: UK; Year: 2016; Director: Lone Scherfig; Writer: Gaby Chiappe, based on the novel by Lissa Evans; Stars: Gemma Arterton, Sam Claflin, Bill Nighy, Jack Huston, Paul Ritter, Rachael Stirling, Richard E Grant, Henry Goodman, Jake Lacy, Jeremy Irons, Eddie Marsan, Helen McCrory, Hubert Burton, Claudia Jessie, Stephanie Hyam)

US premiere