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Sundance Film Festival · 2019

Sundance Film Festival 2019

US Dramatic Competition

Programme

16 films · 9 reviews

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Before You Know It

A long-kept family secret thrusts codependent, thirty-something sisters Rachel and Jackie Gurner into a literal soap opera.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Hannah Pearl Utt; Writer: Hannah Pearl Utt, Jen Tullock; Stars: Hannah Pearl Utt, Jen Tullock, Judith Light, Mandy Patinkin, Mike Colter, Alec Baldwin)

World premiere

Big Time Adolescence

A suburban teenager comes of age under the destructive guidance of his best friend, a charismatic college dropout.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Jason Orley; Writer: Jason Orley; Stars: Pete Davidson, Griffin Gluck, Jon Cryer, Sydney Sweeney, Emily Arlook, Colson Baker)

World premiere

Brittany Runs A Marathon

Review preview for Brittany Runs A Marathon

The problem - and it's a massive, elephant in the room style problem - is that it is very hard to tell whether this is a woke film trapped in a judgemental body or vice-versa.

Jane Fae · 2.5 out of 5
A woman living in New York takes control of her life – one city block at a time.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Paul Downs Colaizzo; Writer: Paul Downs Colaizzo; Stars: Jillian Bell, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Lil Rel Howery, Michaela Watkins, Kate Arrington, Alice Lee, Peter Vack, Juri Henley-Cohn, Gene Gabriel, Micah Stock, Erica Hernandez, Miriam A. Hyman, Ian Unterman, Esteban Benito, Frances Eve)

Full review

World premiere

Clemency

Review preview for Clemency

Despite the raw power of its performances, the film suffers from an impulse to spell out some of its points.

Jeremy Mathews · 3.5 out of 5
Years of carrying out death row executions have taken a toll on prison warden Bernadine Williams. As she prepares to execute another inmate, Bernadine must confront the psychological and emotional demons her job creates, ultimately connecting her to the man she is sanctioned to kill.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Chinonye Chukwu; Writer: Chinonye Chukwu; Stars: Alfre Woodard, Richard Schiff, Aldis Hodge, LaMonica Garrett, Wendell Pierce, Noshir Dalal, Vernee Watson, Michael O'Neill, Danielle Brooks, Dennis Haskins, Debbie Pollack, Michelle C. Bonilla, Richard Gunn, Jed Bernard, Anahi Bustillos)

Full review

World premiere

The Farewell

Review preview for The Farewell

Wang proves adept at slowly and gently building up the onion layers of this family as more and more of them come into each other’s orbit.

Owen Van Spall · 4 out of 5
A headstrong Chinese-American woman returns to China when her beloved grandmother is given a terminal diagnosis. Billi struggles with her family’s decision to keep grandma in the dark about her own illness as they all stage an impromptu wedding to see grandma one last time.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Lulu Wang; Writer: Lulu Wang; Stars: Awkwafina, Tzi Ma, Gil Perez-Abraham, Jim Liu, Diana Lin, Yongbo Jiang, Shuzhen Zhou, Awkwafina, Tzi Ma, Gil Perez-Abraham, Jim Liu, Diana Lin, Yongbo Jiang, Shuzhen Zhou)

Full review

World premiere

Hala

Muslim teenager Hala copes with the unraveling of her family as she comes into her own.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Minhal Baig; Writer: Minhal Baig; Stars: Geraldine Viswanathan, Jack Kilmer, Gabriel Luna, Purbi Joshi, Azad Khan, Anna Chlumsky)

World premiere

Honey Boy

Review preview for Honey Boy

This is a highly personal work that opens the door on some dark truths of Hollywood and fame, but it also doesn’t quite know what to do to elevate itself beyond a peep show into human misery.

Jeremy Mathews · 2.5 out of 5
A child TV star and his ex-rodeo clown father face their stormy past through time and cinema.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Alma Har'el; Writer: Shia LaBeouf; Stars: Lucas Hedges, Shia LaBeouf, Maika Monroe, Natasha Lyonne, Noah Jupe, Laura San Giacomo, Martin Starr, Clifton Collins Jr., Dorian Brown Pham, Craig Stark, FKA Twigs, Sandra Rosko, Ludwig Manukian, Chala Savino, Leana Chavez)

Full review

World premiere

Imaginary Order

The sexual, psychological and moral unravelling of an obsessive-compulsive suburban mom.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Debra Eisenstadt; Writer: Debra Eisenstadt; Stars: Wendi McLendon-Covey, Christine Woods, Max Burkholder, Steve Little, Catherine Curtin, Amy Anderson, Naomi Ekperigin, Graham Sibley, Keri Safran, Kate Alberts, Sheila M. Robinson, Chris Pentzell, Theresa Laib, Ted Elrick, Kristjan Aru)

World premiere

The Last Black Man In San Francisco

Jimmie Fails dreams of reclaiming the Victorian home his grandfather built in the heart of San Francisco. Joined on his quest by his best friend Mont, Jimmie searches for belonging in a rapidly changing city that seems to have left them behind.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Joe Talbot; Writer: Jimmie Fails, Joe Talbot; Stars: Thora Birch, Finn Wittrock, Danny Glover, Tichina Arnold, Mike Epps, Tonya Glanz, Rob Morgan, Jonathan Majors, John Ozuna, Cassie Hendry, Leah Shesky, Michael J Gwynn, Javier Chavarin, Mari Kearney, Jimmie Fails)

World premiere

Luce

Review preview for Luce

There's a rare intelligence to this film, which explores issues around race, wealth, class, gender and what it means to be a real American in a nuanced, multifaceted way.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A married couple is forced to reckon with their idealised image of their son, adopted from war-torn Eritrea, after an alarming discovery by a devoted high school teacher threatens his status as an all-star student.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Julius Onah; Writer: JC Lee, Julius Onah; Stars: Kelvin Harrison Jr, Octavia Spencer, Naomi Watts, Tim Roth, Norbert Leo Butz, Andrea Bang, Faith Logan, Astro, Christopher Mann, Amanda Troya, Marsha Stephanie Blake, Souleymane Sy Savane, Hannah Cabell, Ian Unterman, Noah Gaynor)

Full review

World premiere

Ms Purple

Kasie, stuck in LA’s Koreatown, works as a karaoke hostess getting paid for her companionship by drunken men. When her dad’s hospice nurse quits she reconnects with her estranged brother, Carey, forcing them to enter a period of intense self-reflection as their single father who raised them nears death.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Justin Chon; Writer: Justin Chon, Chris Dinh; Stars: Alfredo Tavares, Mark Krenik, Octavio Pizano, Virgo Phillips, Alma Martinez, Bridget Wilmes, Tiffany Chu, Suzshi Lang, Sarah Hamilton, Kristy Ontiveros, Hector de Leon, Jimmy Leihe, Lillian Cheung, James Kang, Teddy Lee)

World premiere

Native Son

In this modern reimagining of Richard Wright’s seminal novel, a young African-American man named Bigger Thomas takes a job working for a highly influential Chicago family, a decision that will change the course of his life forever.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Rashid Johnson; Writer: Suzan-Lori Parks, based on the novel by Richard Wright; Stars: Nick Robinson, Margaret Qualley, Sanaa Lathan, Ashton Sanders, Bill Camp, Barbara Sukowa, KiKi Layne, Lamar Johnson, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Ashleigh Morghan, Tara O. Horvath, Jerod Haynes, Ron Haynes, Joe Kurak, Bryant Carroll)

World premiere. Day One Film

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Review preview for Share

Moody images don't make for high drama and even at a trim 87 minutes, the story feels stretched.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
After discovering a disturbing video from a night she doesn’t remember, 16-year-old Mandy must try to figure out what happened and how to navigate the escalating fallout.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Pippa Bianco; Writer: Pippa Bianco; Stars: Rhianne Barreto, Charlie Plummer, Poorna Jagannathan, J.C. MacKenzie, Nicholas Galitzine, Lovie Simone, Danny Mastrogiorgio, Ivan Wanis-Ruiz, Emily Debowski, Darlene Cooke, Milcania Diaz-Rojas, Daimen Landori-Hoffman, Jai Jai Jones, Jhaleil Swaby, Kimmy Choi)

Full review

World premiere

The Sound Of Silence

Review preview for The Sound Of Silence

This is a treat of a film.

Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
A successful "house tuner" in New York City, who calibrates the sound in people's homes in order to adjust their moods, meets a client with a problem he can't solve.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Michael Tyburski; Writer: Ben Nabors, Michael Tyburski; Stars: Peter Sarsgaard, Rashida Jones, Tony Revolori, Austin Pendleton)

Full review

World premiere

Them That Follow

Review preview for Them That Follow

In terms of mood, directors Britt Poulton and Dan Madison Savage do a lot with a little, allowing the plot to coil round the characters.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Inside a snake-handling church deep in Appalachia, a forbidden relationship forces a pastor’s daughter to confront her community’s deadly tradition.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Britt Poulton, Dan Madison Savage; Writer: Britt Poulton, Dan Madison Savage; Stars: Olivia Colman, Kaitlyn Dever, Walton Goggins, Thomas Mann, Jim Gaffigan, Alice Englert, Lewis Pullman, Bradley Gallo, Brooks Roseberry, Erik Andrews, Kami Amore, Chris Breen, Buddy Candela, Greg Danko, Megan Dettone)

Full review

World premiere

To The Stars

Review preview for To The Stars

Director Martha Stephens uses a palette full of soft browns and pastels designed to evoke nostalgia but shows us plenty of cruelty just under the surface.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
Under small town scrutiny, a withdrawn farmer’s daughter forges an intimate friendship with a worldly but reckless new girl in 1960s Oklahoma.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Martha Stephens; Writer: Shannon Bradley-Colleary; Stars: Kara Hayward, Malin Akerman, Shea Whigham, Jordana Spiro, Liana Liberato, Madisen Beaty, Adelaide Clemens, Tony Hale, Lucas Jade Zumann, J.D. Evermore, Natalie Canerday, Tina Parker, Farah White, Quinn Gasaway, Sophi Bairley)

Full review

World premiere