Skip to main content

Sundance Film Festival · 2020

Sundance Film Festival 2020

Premieres

Programme

20 films · 11 reviews

Jump to a film

The Courier (Ironbark)

Review preview for The Courier

What makes the ensuing story special, besides Cooke’s elegant direction, are the relationships between the characters.

Jeremy Mathews · 4 out of 5
The true story of a British businessman unwittingly recruited into one of the greatest international conflicts in history. Forming an unlikely partnership with a Soviet officer hoping to prevent a nuclear confrontation, the two men work together to provide the crucial intelligence used to defuse the Cuban Missile Crisis.

(Country: UK; Year: 2020; Director: Dominic Cooke; Writer: Tom O'Connor; Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Merab Ninidze, Rachel Brosnahan, Jessie Buckley)

Full review

World premiere

Downhill

Barely escaping an avalanche during a family ski vacation in the Alps, a married couple is thrown into disarray as they are forced to reevaluate their lives and how they feel about each other. English-language remake of Force Majeure.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Nat Faxon, Jim Rash; Writer: Jesse Armstrong, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash, Ruben Östlund; Stars: Will Ferrell, Miranda Otto, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Zach Woods, Kristofer Hivju, Zoe Chao, Hélène Cardona, Giulio Berruti, Julian Grey, Ammon Jacob Ford, Matt Lindquist, Nadiv Molcho, Kimberly Rydell, Jono Bergmann, Peter Schorn)

World premiere

Dream Horse

Jan, a cleaner and bartender, decides on a whim to breed a race horse in her Welsh village. As the horse rises through the ranks against all odds, Jan and the townspeople are pitted against the racing elite in a nail-biting race for the national championship.

(Country: UK; Year: 2020; Director: Euros Lyn; Writer: Neil McKay; Stars: Toni Collette, Damian Lewis, Joanna Page, Siân Phillips, Lynda Baron, Peter Davison, Nicholas Farrell, Owen Teale, Anthony O'Donnell, Karl Johnson, Darren Evans, Asheq Akhtar, Di Botcher, Raj Paul, Pino Maiello)

World premiere

Falling

Review preview for Falling

Mortensen seems to draw particular focus to the aggression, fear and pejoratives associated with neurological disorders - a side only ever faintly explored in cinema.

Stephanie Brown · 3 out of 5
A man invites his conservative father to live with him and his husband in Los Angeles, but his progressing dementia becomes problematic for them both.

(Country: Canada, UK; Year: 2020; Director: Viggo Mortensen; Writer: Viggo Mortensen; Stars: Lance Henriksen, Viggo Mortensen, Terry Chen, Sverrir Gudnason, Hannah Gross, Laura Linney)

Full review

World premiere

The Father

Review preview for The Father

Zeller elegantly and scarily fuses dream logic with markers of past trauma.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4 out of 5
Anthony is 80 years old. He lives alone in London and refuses the caregivers that his daughter tries to impose upon him. Yet his need for help is becoming more pressing.

(Country: UK; Year: 2020; Director: Florian Zeller; Writer: Christopher Hampton, Florian Zeller; Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Colman, Mark Gatiss, Imogen Poots, Rufus Sewell, Olivia Williams)

Full review

World premiere

Four Good Days

Review preview for Four Good Days

Kunis’ performance is raw and ugly in just the way it needs to be.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Ten years of opioids have left Molly’s life in shambles. A new drug may give her a chance to break free if she is able to stay clean for four days, with the help of her mother Deb, a tough, clear-eyed woman. Their love will be tested to the limits.

(Country: US, Canada; Year: 2020; Director: Rodrigo García; Writer: Rodrigo García, Eli Saslow; Stars: Glenn Close, Mila Kunis, Stephen Root, Joshua Leonard)

Full review

World premiere

The Glorias

An equal rights crusader, journalist and activist: Gloria Steinem embodies these and more. From her role in the revolutionary women's rights movement to her travels throughout the US and around the world, Steinem has made an everlasting mark on modern history. A nontraditional chronicle of a trailblazing life.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Julie Taymor; Writer: Sarah Ruhl, Gloria Steinem, Julie Taymor; Stars: Julianne Moore, Alicia Vikander, Bette Midler, Janelle Monae, Timothy Hutton, Lorraine Toussaint)

World premiere

Herself

Review preview for Herself

Yes, Herself is first and foremost a film about a woman's journey. It is also, in a smaller way, about another journey, from selfishness to community spirit.

Jane Fae · 4 out of 5
A domestic abuse survivor tries to build a new life - and home - for her kids.

(Country: Ireland, UK; Year: 2020; Director: Phyllida Lloyd; Writer: Clare Dunne, Malcolm Campbell; Stars: Clare Dunne, Harriet Walter, Conleth Hill, Ian Lloyd Anderson, Molly McCanne, Ruby Rose O'Hara)

Full review

World premiere

Horse Girl

A socially awkward woman with a fondness for arts and crafts, horses, and supernatural crime shows finds her increasingly lucid dreams trickling into her waking life

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Jeff Baena; Writer: Jeff Baena, Alison Brie; Stars: Alison Brie, Paul Reiser, Debby Ryan, Robin Tunney, Matthew Gray Gubler, Molly Shannon, Angela Trimbur, Jay Duplass, John Ortiz, David Paymer, Aaron Stanford, John Reynolds, Dendrie Taylor, Lauren Weedman, Jake Picking)

World premiere

Kajillionaire

Review preview for Kajillionaire

Kajillionaire is strong, disturbing stuff.

Jane Fae · 3.5 out of 5
Low-stakes grifters, Old Dolio and her parents invite a chipper young woman into their insular clan, only to have their entire world turned upside down.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Miranda July; Writer: Miranda July; Stars: Evan Rachel Wood, Gina Rodriguez, Richard Jenkins, Debra Winger, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Diana Maria Riva, Rachel Redleaf, Mark Ivanir, Adam Bartley, Madeleine Coghlan, Challen Cates, Steve Park, Nikki Castillo, David Ury, Rebecca Lee Robertson)

Full review

World premiere

The Last Shift

Stanley, an ageing fast food worker, prepares to work his final graveyard shift after 38 years. When he's asked to train his replacement, Jevon, Stanley's weekend takes an unexpected turn.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Andrew Cohn; Writer: Andrew Cohn; Stars: Richard Jenkins, Shane Paul McGhie, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Birgundi Baker, Allison Tolman, Ed O'Neill)

World premiere

The Last Thing He Wanted

A veteran DC journalist loses the thread of her own narrative when a guilt-propelled errand for her father thrusts her from byline to unwitting subject in the very story she’s trying to break.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Dee Rees; Writer: Dee Rees, Marco Villalobos, adapted from the novel by Joan Didion; Stars: Anne Hathaway, Ben Affleck, Willem Dafoe, Rosie Perez)

World premiere

Lost Girls

When Mari Gilbert's daughter disappears, police inaction drives her own investigation into the gated Long Island community where Shannan was last seen. Committed to finding the truth, her search brings attention to over a dozen murdered sex workers Mari will not let the world forget. Inspired by true events.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Liz Garbus; Writer: Robert Kolker, Michael Werwie; Stars: Thomasin McKenzie, Dean Winters, Amy Ryan, Gabriel Byrne, Lola Kirke, Kevin Corrigan, Oona Laurence, Miriam Shor, Austyn Johnson, Rosal Colon, Reed Birney, Jimi Stanton, Molly Brown, Matthew F. O'Connor, Haskiri Velazquez)

World premiere

The Nest

Review preview for The Nest

The screenplay and direction deftly let the audience put together the pieces, making the discrepancies plain to see without hitting us over the head with their existence.

Jeremy Mathews · 4 out of 5
Charismatic entrepreneur, Rory, relocates his family to England with dreams of profiting from booming 1980s London. But as his wife, Allison, struggles to adapt, and the promise of a lucrative new beginning starts to unravel, the couple have to face the unwelcome truths lying beneath the surface of their marriage.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Sean Durkin; Writer: Sean Durkin; Stars: Jude Law, Carrie Coon, Oona Roche, Charlie Shotwell, Anne Reid, Adeel Akhtar, Michael Culkin, James Nelson-Joyce, Bernardo Santos, Polly Allen, Kaisa Hammarlund, Julian Ferro, Abby Stretch, Andrei Alen, Marcus Cornwall)

Full review

World premiere

Promising Young Woman

Review preview for Promising Young Woman

Fennell explores the lasting effects of traumatic events with care, never making light of the situation even amid moments of comedy.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Everyone said Cassie was a promising young woman... until something abruptly derailed her future. Nothing in Cassie’s life is as it appears: she’s smart, cunning, and living a double life by night. Now, Cassie has a chance to right the wrongs of the past in this thrilling take on revenge.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Emerald Fennell; Writer: Emerald Fennell; Stars: Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham, Laverne Cox, Clancy Brown, Jennifer Coolidge, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Molly Shannon, Angela Zhou, Sam Richardson, Steve Monroe, Alison Brie, Adam Brody, Connie Britton, Alfred Molina, Max Greenfield)

Full review

World premiere

Sergio

A sweeping drama set in the chaotic aftermath of the US invasion of Iraq, where the life of top UN diplomat Sergio Vieira de Mello hangs in the balance during the most treacherous mission of his career.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Greg Barker; Writer: Craig Borten; Stars: Wagner Moura, Ana de Armas, Brían F. O'Byrne, Garret Dillahunt, Clemens Schick, Will Dalton, Jason Anthony, Bradley Whitford, Vithaya Pansringarm, Sahajak Boonthanakit, Alice Assef, Sameera Asir, Dollar Tan, Bonnie Zellerbach, Pedro Hossi)

World premiere

Tesla

Review preview for Tesla

The fact that Michael Almereyda's playful biopic doesn't quite fire on all cylinders feels more like a tribute than a failing.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Highlighting the Promethean struggles of Nikola Tesla, as he attempts to transcend entrenched technology –including his own previous work – by pioneering a system of wireless energy that will change the world.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Michael Almereyda; Writer: Michael Almereyda; Stars: Ethan Hawke, Eve Hewson, Kyle MacLachlan, Josh Hamilton, Jim Gaffigan, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Lucy Walters, James Urbaniak, Rebecca Dayan, David Kallaway, Vincent De Paul, Blake DeLong, Tom Farrell, Emma O'Connor, Ava Loren Tropeano, Luna)

Full review

World premiere

Uncle Frank

Review preview for Uncle Frank

Despite its dense plot, the story is as predictable as the route back to Creekville and it is testimony to Bettany and Lillis that Ball gets as much mileage out of it as he does.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
A teenage girl and her uncle go on a road trip to a family funeral, with his boyfriend in tow, as her uncle tries to come to terms with his past.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Alan Ball; Writer: Alan Ball; Stars: Sophia Lillis, Judy Greer, Paul Bettany, Stephen Root, Steve Zahn, Margo Martindale, Burgess Jenkins, Lois Smith, Jane McNeill, Cole Doman, Peter Macdissi, Colton Ryan, Hannah Black, Dave Blamy, Michael Perez)

Full review

World premiere

Wendy

Review preview for Wendy

Wendy makes an important point about children’s connection to nature.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 3.5 out of 5
Lost on a mysterious island where ageing and time have come unglued, Wendy must fight to save her family, her freedom, and the joyous spirit of youth from the deadly peril of growing up. The classic story of Peter Pan is wildly reimagined in this ragtag epic.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Benh Zeitlin; Writer: Benh Zeitlin, Eliza Zeitlin; Stars: Devin France, Yashua Mack, Gavin Naquin, Gage Naquin, Shay Walker, Tommie Lynn Milazzo, Stephanie Lynn Wilson)

Full review See: Benh Zeitlin in conversation on nature, a donkey tale, casting and the wild mothers in Wendy

World premiere

Worth

Kenneth Feinberg, a powerful DC lawyer appointed Special Master of the 9/11 Fund, fights off the cynicism, bureaucracy, and politics associated with administering government funds and, in doing so, discovers what life is worth. Based on true events.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Sara Colangelo; Writer: Max Borenstein; Stars: Michael Keaton, Stanley Tucci, Amy Ryan, Tate Donovan, Laura Benanti, Talia Balsam, Chris Tardio, E.R. Ruiz, James Ciccone, Victor Slezak, Zuzanna Szadkowski, Wass Stevens, Steve Vinovich, Anthoula Katsimatides, Carolyn Mignini)

World premiere