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Sundance Film Festival · 2020

Sundance Film Festival 2020

US Dramatic Competition

Programme

16 films · 8 reviews

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The 40-Year-Old Version

A down-on-her-luck New York playwright decides to reinvent herself and salvage her artistic voice the only way she knows how: by becoming a rapper at age 40.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Radha Blank; Writer: Radha Blank; Stars: Jacob Ming-Trent, TJ Atoms, Reed Birney, Peggy J Scott, Peter Y. Kim, Mina Joo, Imani Lewis, Michael Izquierdo, Julius Caba, Radha Blank, Haskiri Velazquez, Ashlee Brian, Corwin C. Tuggles, Dyme-A-Duzin, William Oliver Watkins)

World premiere

Blast Beat

After their family emigrates from Colombia during the summer of ‘99, a metalhead science prodigy and his deviant younger brother do their best to adapt to new lives in America.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Esteban Arango; Writer: Esteban Arango, Erick Castrillon; Stars: Moises Arias, Mateo Arias, Daniel Dae Kim, Kali Uchis, Diane Guerrero, Wilmer Valderrama)

World premiere

Charm City Kings

Mouse desperately wants to join The Midnight Clique, the infamous Baltimore dirt bike riders who rule the summertime streets. When Midnight's leader, Blax, takes 14-year-old Mouse under his wing, Mouse soon finds himself torn between the straight-and-narrow and a road filled with fast money and violence.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Angel Manuel Soto; Writer: Sherman Payne, Barry Jenkins, Kirk Sullivan, Christopher M. Boyd, Lotfy Nathan; Stars: Jahi Di'Allo Winston, Teyonah Parris, Jamaal Burcher, William Catlett, Rick Kelvin Branch, Marla Aaron Wapner, David A MacDonald, Meek Mill, Melanie Jewel Howard, Donielle T. Hansley Jr., Milan Ray, Charles D. Clark, Kezii Curtis, Tiana Melvina, Arnold Y. Kim)

World premiere

Dinner In America

Review preview for Dinner In America

Adam Rehmeier's latest film arrives with the anarchic energy of a cherry bomb tossed into the bathroom toilet of Middle America.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
An on-the-lam punk rocker and a young woman he meets by chance embark on an offbeat romance.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Adam Rehmeier; Writer: Adam Rehmeier; Stars: Kyle Gallner, Emily Skeggs, Lea Thompson, Hannah Marks, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Griffin Gluck, Nick Chinlund, Ryan Malgarini, Pat Healy, Nico Greetham, David Yow, Brittany Sheets, Brian Andrus, Robert Laenen, Ricky Wayne)

Full review See: Adam Rehmeier on control, the pandemic and dinner in America

World premiere

The Evening Hour

Cole Freeman maintains an uneasy equilibrium in his rural Appalachian town, looking after the old and infirm while selling their excess painkillers to local addicts. But when an old friend returns with plans that upend the fragile balance and identity he's so painstakingly crafted, Cole is forced to take action.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Braden King; Writer: Elizabeth Palmore, Carter Sickels; Stars: Lili Taylor, Kerry Bishé, Stacy Martin, Marc Menchaca, Tess Harper, Hannah Barefoot, Cosmo Jarvis, Ross Partridge, Allison Gabriel King, Philip Ettinger, Michael Trotter, Jayson Warner Smith, Hale Lytle, Vergena Fields, Frank Hoyt Taylor)

World premiere

Farewell Amor

Review preview for Farewell Amor

Jah is superb.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Reunited after a 17-year separation, Walter, an Angolan immigrant, is joined in the US by his wife and teenage daughter. Now absolute strangers sharing a one-bedroom apartment, they discover a shared love of dance that may help overcome the emotional distance between them.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Ekwa Msangi; Writer: Ekwa Msangi; Stars: Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine, Zainab Jah, Jayme Lawson, Joie Lee, Marcus Scribner, Nana Mensah)

Full review

World premiere

Minari

Review preview for Minari

The idea of a younger family member gradually forming a connection with an older one is a constant in cinema but it has a purity here that is shorn of unnecessary sentiment.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
David, a seven-year-old Korean-American boy, gets his life turned upside down when his father decides to move their family to rural Arkansas and start a farm in the mid-1980s, in this charming and unexpected take on the American Dream.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Lee Isaac Chung; Writer: Lee Isaac Chung; Stars: Steven Yeun, Han Yeri, Youn Yuh Jung, Will Patton, Alan Kim, Noel Kate Cho)

Full review See: Steven Yeun, Lee isaac Chung, Alan Kim and Noel Cho on Minari

World premiere

Miss Juneteenth

Review preview for Miss Juneteenth

What makes the film interesting is the depth and complexity of its characters, together with the connections between them, which feel real and often defy expectations.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Turquoise, a former beauty queen turned hardworking single mother, prepares her rebellious teenage daughter for the “Miss Juneteenth” pageant, hoping to keep her from repeating the same mistakes in life that she did.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Channing Godfrey Peoples; Writer: Channing Godfrey Peoples; Stars: Nicole Beharie, Kendrick Sampson, Alexis Chikaeze, Lori Hayes, Marcus Maudlin)

Full review

World premiere

Never Rarely Sometimes Always

Review preview for Never Rarely Sometimes Always

It is a portrait of loneliness and alienation, yes, but also of resourcefulness, resilience and unity.

Jeremy Mathews · 4.5 out of 5
Faced with an unintended pregnancy and a lack of local support, Autumn and her cousin Skylar embark on a brave, fraught journey across state lines to New York City.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Eliza Hittman; Writer: Eliza Hittman; Stars: Sidney Flanigan, Talia Ryder, Théodore Pellerin, Ryan Eggold, Sharon Van Etten, Drew Seltzer)

Full review See: Interview with Eliza Hittman and Sidney Flanigan about Never Rarely Sometimes Always

World premiere

Nine Days

In a house distant from the reality we know, a reclusive man interviews prospective candidates - personifications of human souls - for the privilege that he once had: to be born.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Edson Oda; Writer: Edson Oda; Stars: Winston Duke, Zazie Beetz, Benedict Wong, Bill Skarsgård, Tony Hale, David Rysdahl)

World premiere

Palm Springs

Review preview for Palm Springs

Palm Springs is appealingly playful and deceptively smart.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
When carefree Nyles and reluctant maid of honour Sarah have a chance encounter at a Palm Springs wedding, things get complicated the next morning when they find themselves unable to escape the venue, themselves, or each other.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Max Barbakow; Writer: Andy Siara, Andy Siara, Max Barbakow; Stars: Andy Samberg, Cristin Milioti, JK Simmons, Meredith Hagner, Camila Mendes, Peter Gallagher)

Full review

World premiere

Save Yourselves!

A young Brooklyn couple head upstate to disconnect from their phones and reconnect with themselves. Cut off from their devices, they miss the news that the planet is under attack.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Alex Huston Fischer, Eleanor Wilson; Writer: Alex Huston Fischer, Eleanor Wilson; Stars: Sunita Mani, John Reynolds, Ben Sinclair, Johanna Day, John Early, Gary Richardson)

World premiere

Shirley

Review preview for Shirley

Before, it often felt as though Decker was drifting off onto self-indulgent tangents but her latest feels much more under control, with those tangents are a fully fledged part of the portrait.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A young couple moves in with the famed author, Shirley Jackson, and her Bennington College professor husband, Stanley Hyman, in the hope of starting a new life but instead find themselves fodder for a psycho-drama that inspires Shirley's next novel.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Josephine Decker; Writer: Sarah Gubbins, Susan Scarf Merrell; Stars: Elisabeth Moss, Logan Lerman, Michael Stuhlbarg, Odessa Young, Margarita Allen, Steve Vinovich, Ryan Spahn, Lexa Hayes, Adelind Horan, Molly Fahey, Allen McCullough, Thomas Racek, Edward O'Blenis, Emily Decker, Tony Manna)

Full review

World premiere

Sylvie's Love

Years after their summer romance comes to an end, an aspiring TV producer and a talented musician cross paths, only to find their feelings for each other never changed. With their careers taking them in different directions, they must choose what matters most.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Eugene Ashe; Writer: Eugene Ashe; Stars: Tessa Thompson, Eva Longoria, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Lance Reddick, John Magaro, Ryan Michelle Bathe, Ron Funches, Aja Naomi King, Erica Gimpel, Jemima Kirke, Tone Bell, Nnamdi Asomugha, Regé-Jean Page, MC Lyte, Alano Miller)

World premiere

Wander Darkly

New parents Adrienne and Matteo are forced to reckon with trauma amid their troubled relationship. They must revisit the memories of their past and unravel haunting truths in order to face their uncertain future.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Tara Miele; Writer: Tara Miele; Stars: Sienna Miller, Diego Luna, Beth Grant, James Landry Hébert, Tory Kittles, Ayden Mayeri, Brett Rice, Inde Navarrette, Dan Gill, Cailan Robinson, Serena Laney, Henrik Rutgersson, Leo Oliva, Bamm Ericsen, Danielle Nottingham)

World premiere

Zola

Review preview for Zola

Bravo too often steps back from more serious interrogation in favour of more surface thrills as the girls wave their derrieres in the air like they don't care.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
A waitress goes on a pole dancing trip to Florida with a new found friend and gets a lot more than she bargained for.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Janicza Bravo; Writer: Janicza Bravo, A'Ziah King, David Kushner, Andrew Neel, Jeremy O. Harris, Mike Roberts; Stars: Taylour Paige, Riley Keough, Nicholas Braun, Colman Domingo)

Full review

World premiere