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Sundance Film Festival · 2022

Sundance Film Festival 2022

US Dramatic Competition

Programme

10 films · 6 reviews

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892

Review preview for 892

The filmmakers are so wrapped up in the importance of the social issues, that they forget to come up with anything to say about them.

Jeremy Mathews · 2.5 out of 5
When Brian Brown-Easley’s disability check fails to materialise from Veterans Affairs, he finds himself on the brink of homelessness and breaking his daughter’s heart. With no other options, he walks into a Wells Fargo Bank and says, "I've got a bomb".

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Abi Damaris Corbin; Writer: Abi Damaris Corbin, Kwame Kwei-Armah; Stars: Michael Kenneth Williams, Connie Britton, Jeffrey Donovan, Nicole Beharie, John Boyega, Olivia Washington, Carmine Giovinazzo, Selenis Leyva, Elise Neal, Michelle Bernard, Lily Keene, Bourke Floyd, Shannon Walsh, Keith Ewell, Miriam Silverman)

Full review

Alice

When a woman in servitude in 1800s Georgia escapes the 55-acre confines of her captor, she discovers the shocking reality that exists beyond the treeline...it's 1973. Inspired by true events.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Krystin Ver Linden; Writer: Krystin Ver Linden; Stars: Alicia Witt, Jonny Lee Miller, Keke Palmer, Common, Gaius Charles, Katie Gill, Craig Stark, Sharonne Lanier, Kenneth Farmer, David Andrew Nash, Shiquita James, Eddie King, Natasha Yvette Williams, Durrell Lyons, Linda D Gaines)

Blood

After the death of her husband, a young woman travels to Japan where she finds solace in an old friend. But when comforting turns to affection, she realises she must give herself permission before she can fall in love again.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Bradley Rust Gray; Writer: Bradley Rust Gray; Stars: Carla Juri, Takashi Ueno, Sachiko Ohshimo, Futaba Okazaki, Elika Portnoy, Issei Ogata, Reiko Ohbs, Koji Arai, Chieko Ito, Masayo Yamaguchi, Kyoko Kudo, Shogo Tajima, Elisa Yanagi, Setsuko Kurosawa, Sakuzo Higuchi)

Cha Cha Real Smooth

Review preview for Cha Cha Real Smooth

The reason all this earnestness works is because Raiff really cares about all his characters, taking time to consider each in their own right.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A directionless college graduate embarks on a relationship with a young mum and her teenage daughter while learning the boundaries of his new bar mitzvah party-starting gig.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Cooper Raiff; Writer: Cooper Raiff; Stars: Dakota Johnson, Leslie Mann, Odeya Rush, Brad Garrett, Raúl Castillo, Cooper Raiff, Kelly O'Sullivan, Phil Nardozzi, Brenna Sherman, Evan Assante, Tiffany Sander McKenzie, Felicia Reuter, Colton Osorio, Vanessa Burghardt, Drake Tobias)

Full review

Dual

After receiving a terminal diagnosis, Sarah commissions a clone of herself to ease the loss for her friends and family. When she makes a miraculous recovery, her attempt to have her clone decommissioned fails, and leads to a court-mandated duel to the death.

(Country: US, Finland; Year: 2021; Director: Riley Stearns; Writer: Riley Stearns; Stars: Karen Gillan, Aaron Paul, Beulah Koale, Andrei Alén, Maija Paunio, Kristofer Gummerus, Donat Balaj, June Hyde)

Emergency

Review preview for Emergency

It’s great to see comedy set against dark subject matter, but here the balancing act often falters.

Jeremy Mathews · 2.5 out of 5
Ready for a night of partying, a group of Black and Latino college students must weigh the pros and cons of calling the police when faced with an unusual emergency.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Carey Williams; Writer: KD Davila; Stars: RJ Cyler, Sabrina Carpenter, Madison Thompson, Nadine Lewington, Maddie Nichols, John Cenatiempo, Sebastian Chacon, Charity Cervantes, James Healy Jr., John Paul Kakos, Callan Wilson, Melanie Jeffcoat, Donald Elise Watkins, Casey Hendershot, Patrick Lamont Jr.)

Full review

Master

Three women strive to find their place at an elite New England university. As the insidious spectre of racism haunts the campus in increasingly supernatural fashion, each fights to survive in this space of privilege.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Mariama Diallo; Writer: Mariama Diallo; Stars: Regina Hall, Ella Hunt, Leslie Fray, Talia Ryder, Will Hochman, Joel de la Fuente, Molly Bernard, Olivia Boreham-Wing, Noa Fisher, Armand Schultz, Zoe Renee, Keelia Clarkson, Robert Emmet Lunney, Amber Gray, Kerry Flanagan)

Nanny

Review preview for Nanny

The lighting used by cinematographer Rina Yang is some of the best I can recall in an American independent film since Moonlight.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Aisha is an undocumented nanny working for a privileged couple in New York City. As she prepares for the arrival of the son she left behind in Senegal, a violent supernatural presence invades her reality, threatening the American dream she is painstakingly piecing together.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Nikyatu Jusu; Writer: Nikyatu Jusu; Stars: Michelle Monaghan, Anna Diop, Phylicia Rashad, Morgan Spector, Leslie Uggams, Sinqua Walls, Zephani Idoko, Billy Griffith, Princess Adenike, Mitzie Pratt, Rich Graff, Michael Cuomo, Rose Decker, Olamide Candide-Johnson, Keturah Hamilton)

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Palm Trees And Power Lines

Review preview for Palm Trees And Power Lines

Tucker's performance ripples like a mirage, all charm on the surface but with an air of something much less cuddly

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A bored 17-year-old falls for a man twice her age.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Jamie Dack; Writer: Jamie Dack, Audrey Findlay; Stars: Gretchen Mol, Jonathan Tucker, Auden Thornton, Armani Jackson, Kenny Johnston, Lily McInerny, Yvette Tucker, Michael Petrone, John Minch, Yolanda Corrales, Quinn Frankel, Timothy Taratchila, Rhied De Castro, Conn Bodkin, Angel Grey Cooper)

Full review

Watcher

Review preview for Watcher

Through this lens, through this empowered performance, familiar material feels very different.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A young woman moves into a new apartment with her fiancé and is tormented by the feeling that she is being stalked by an unseen watcher in an adjacent building.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Chloe Okuno; Writer: Zack Ford; Stars: Maika Monroe, Burn Gorman, Karl Glusman, Daniel Nuta, Ciubuciu Bogdan Alexandru)

Full review