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Sundance Film Festival · 2021

Sundance Film Festival 2021

Premieres

Programme

14 films · 11 reviews

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Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir

Amy Tan has established herself as one of America's most respected literary voices. Born to Chinese immigrant parents, it would be decades before the author of The Joy Luck Club would fully understand the inherited trauma rooted in the legacies of women who survived the Chinese tradition of concubinage.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: James Redford; Stars: Amy Tan)

World premiere. Documentary

Bring Your Own Brigade

A character-driven verité and revelatory investigation takes us on a journey embedded with firefighters and residents on a mission to understand the causes of historically large wildfires and how to survive them, discovering that the solution has been here all along.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Lucy Walker; Writer: Lucy Walker)

World premiere. Documentary

Eight For Silver (The Cursed)

Review preview for Eight For Silver

A compelling story, effectively told.

James Gracey · 4 out of 5
In the late 1800s, a man arrives in a remote country village to investigate an attack by a wild animal but discovers a much deeper, sinister force that has both the manor and the townspeople in its grip.

(Country: UK; Year: 2021; Director: Sean Ellis; Writer: Sean Ellis; Stars: Boyd Holbrook, Kelly Reilly, Alistair Petrie, Amelia Crouch, Roxane Duran, Aine Rose Daly)

Full review See: Sean Ellis interview about Eight For Silver

World premiere. Narrative

How It Ends

Review preview for How It Ends

The end result is sweet but its best ideas are underdeveloped, leaving it with the slightness of something conceived on the hoof.

Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
A woman and the embodiment of her younger self try to find closure on the day before the Apocalypse.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Zoe Lister-Jones, Daryl Wein; Writer: Zoe Lister-Jones, Daryl Wein; Stars: Zoe Lister-Jones, Cailee Spaeny, Whitney Cummings, Tawny Newsome, Finn Wolfhard, Nick Kroll, Logan Marshall-Green, Bobby Lee, Fred Armisen, Glenn Howerton, Bradley Whitford, Ayo Edebiri, Sharon Van Etten, Olivia Wilde, Paul W. Downs)

Full review

World premiere. Narrative

In The Earth

Review preview for In The Earth

In the Earth begins as an unassuming creep-show about a scientist venturing out into a dangerous woods, but has far greater ambitions than a mere slasher or monster movie.

Jeremy Mathews · 4 out of 5
As a disastrous virus grips the planet, a scientist and a park scout venture deep into the forest for a routine equipment run. Through the night, their journey becomes a terrifying voyage through the heart of darkness as the forest comes to life around them.

(Country: UK; Year: 2021; Director: Ben Wheatley; Writer: Ben Wheatley; Stars: Hayley Squires, Joel Fry, Reece Shearsmith, Ellora Torchia, Mark Monero, Hayley Squires, Joel Fry, Reece Shearsmith, Ellora Torchia, Mark Monero)

Full review

World premiere. Narrative

In The Same Breath

Review preview for In The Same Breath

This isn’t just a tale of Chinese manipulation, however, as Wang goes on to show how America, too, played down the story initially, in ways that chillingly mirror what happened in Wuhan.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
How did the Chinese government turn pandemic cover-ups in Wuhan into a triumph for the Communist party? An essential narrative of first-hand accounts of the coronavirus, and a revelatory examination of how propaganda and patriotism shaped the outbreak’s course – both in China and in the US.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Nanfu Wang)

Full review

World premiere. Documentary. Day One

Land

Review preview for Land

The setup may call to mind other films about women starting life anew in beautiful exotic locales — let’s say Tuscany for example. However, Land puts forth a quieter and darker tone.

Jeremy Mathews · 4 out of 5
The poignant story of one woman’s search, in the aftermath of an unfathomable event, for meaning in the vast and harsh American wilderness.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Robin Wright; Writer: Jesse Chatham, Erin Dignam, Liz Hannah; Stars: Robin Wright, Warren Christie, Kim Dickens, Demián Bichir, Brad Leland, Barb Mitchell, Finlay Wojtak-Hissong, Jill Maria Robinson, Laura Yenga, Jordan Gooden, Sarah Dawn Pledge, Travis Willier, Travis Gordon Phillips, CJ Collard, Matthew Godden)

Full review

World premiere. Narrative

Marvelous And The Black Hole

A teenage delinquent befriends a surly magician who helps her navigate her inner demons and dysfunctional family with sleight of hand magic.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Kate Tsang; Writer: Kate Tsang; Stars: Miya Cech, Rhea Perlman, Beth Hall, Paulina Lule, Raymond McAnally)

World premiere. Narrative

Mass

Review preview for Mass

Kranz, best known for his acting career, certainly didn’t pick an easy project for his debut behind the camera, but his work proves exceptional.

Jeremy Mathews · 4 out of 5
Years after a tragic shooting, the parents of both the victim and the perpetrator meet face-to-face.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Fran Kranz; Writer: Fran Kranz; Stars: Jason Isaacs, Martha Plimpton, Ann Dowd, Breeda Wool, Reed Birney, Michelle N. Carter, Kagen Albright, Jason Isaacs, Martha Plimpton, Ann Dowd, Breeda Wool, Reed Birney, Michelle N. Carter, Kagen Albright)

Full review

World premiere. Narrative

My Name Is Pauli Murray

Review preview for My Name Is Pauli Murray

Cohen and West draw on the rich archive of Murray's own work further illustrating it with archive footage and photographs of the periods the film refers to in order to paint a picture of quiet but firm activism.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Profile of the legal trailblazer.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Julie Cohen, Betsy West; Writer: Talleah Bridges McMahon, Julie Cohen, Cinque Northern, Betsy West; Stars: Dylan Raffin, Dylan Raffin)

Full review

World premiere. Documentary

Philly D.A.

Review preview for Philly D.A.

Although the directors are obviously rooting for Krasner to succeed, they try to present the situation 'in the round', giving plenty of room for those who worked under the previous administration to air their views as well.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A groundbreaking inside look at the long shot election and tumultuous first term of Larry Krasner, Philadelphia's unapologetic District Attorney, and his experiment to upend the criminal justice system from the inside out.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Yoni Brook, Ted Passon; Writer: Yoni Brook, Ted Passon, Nicole Salazar)

Full review

World premiere. Documentary

Prisoners Of The Ghostland

Review preview for Prisoners Of The Ghostland

Despite the whole thing being incredibly messy, it's eye-gogglingly enjoyable at the same time.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A notorious criminal is sent to rescue an abducted woman who has disappeared into a dark supernatural universe. They must break the evil curse that binds them and escape the mysterious revenants that rule the Ghostland, an East-meets-West vortex of beauty and violence.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Sion Sono; Writer: Aaron Hendry, Reza Sixo Safai; Stars: Nicolas Cage, Sofia Boutella, Nick Cassavetes, Bill Moseley, Tak Sakaguchi, Yuzuka Nakaya) , Trailer

Full review

World premiere. Narrative

The Sparks Brothers

Review preview for The Sparks Brothers

Wright doesn't try to reinvent the documentary form, but draws on the Maels' energy, matching their playfulness and incorporating both stop-motion and a decoupage styles of animation into their back story.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
How can one rock band be successful, underrated, hugely influential, and criminally overlooked all at the same time? Take a musical odyssey through five weird and wonderful decades with brothers Ron & Russell Mael, celebrating the inspiring legacy of Sparks: your favorite band's favorite band.

(Country: UK; Year: 2021; Director: Edgar Wright; Stars: Ron Mael, Russell Mael)

Full review

World premiere. Documentary

Street Gang: How We Got To Sesame Street

Review preview for Street Gang: How We Got To Sesame Street

There’s a lot of great archive footage here from pivotal moments in the programme’s history.

Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
How did a group of rebels create the world’s most famous street? In 1969 New York, this “gang” of mission-driven artists, writers and educators catalysed a moment of civil awakening, transforming it into Sesame Street, one of the most influential and impactful television shows in history.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Marilyn Agrelo; Writer: Michael Davis)

Full review

World premiere. Documentary