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Sundance Film Festival · 2023

Sundance Film Festival 2023

Midnight

Programme

8 films · 4 reviews

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Birth/Rebirth

Review preview for Birth/Rebirth

Young Lister is a marvel, showing a remarkably sophisticated understanding of what her role requires as Lila, having suffered significant brain damage, gradually begins to require verbal and motor skills.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A single mother and a childless morgue technician are bound together by their relationship to a little girl they have reanimated from the dead.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Laura Moss; Writer: Laura Moss; Stars: Marin Ireland, Judy Reyes, AJ Lister)

Full review See: Interview with Laura Moss about Birth/Rebirth

World premiere. Fiction. Day One

Infinity Pool

James and Em are enjoying an all-inclusive beach vacation when a fatal accident exposes the resort's perverse subculture of hedonistic tourism, reckless violence, and surreal horrors.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Brandon Cronenberg; Writer: Brandon Cronenberg; Stars: Alexander Skarsgård, Mia Goth, Cleopatra Coleman)

World premiere. Fiction

In My Mother's Skin

Stranded in the Philippines during the Second World War, a young girl finds that her duty to protect her dying mother is complicated by her misplaced trust in a beguiling, flesh-eating fairy.

(Country: Philippines; Year: 2023; Director: Kenneth Dagatan; Stars: Beauty Gonzalez, Felicity Kyle Napuli, Jasmine Curtis-Smith, James Mavie Estrella, Angeli Bayani)

World premiere. Fiction

My Animal

Heather, an outcast teenage goalie in a small northern town, falls for newcomer Jonny, an alluring but tormented figure skater. As their relationship deepens, Heather’s growing desires clash with her darkest secret, forcing her to control the animal within.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2023; Director: Jacqueline Castel; Writer: Jae Matthews; Stars: Bobbi Salvör Menuez, Amandla Stenberg, Stephen McHattie, Heidi von Palleske, Cory Lipman, Joe Apollonio)

World premiere. Fiction

Onyx The Fortuitous And The Talisman Of Souls

Review preview for Onyx The Fortuitous And The Talisman Of Souls

Crucially, there is enough here that doesn’t depend on in-jokes to give it some broader entertainment value.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
Onyx joins a group of fellow occultists to attend a dark ritual at the mansion of their idol, Bartok. Suspecting Bartok's nefarious intentions, Onyx is suddenly immersed in a world of monsters, mystery, and mayhem.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Andrew Bowser; Writer: Andrew Bowser; Stars: Olivia Taylor Dudley, Jeffrey Combs, Ralph Ineson, Rivkah Reyes, TC Carson)

Full review

World premiere. Fiction

Polite Society

Review preview for Polite Society

Manzoor operates a controlled chaos that blends the colour and splendour of Bollywood with sly British satire reminiscent of early Edgar Wright.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Aspiring martial artist Ria Khan believes she must save her older sister, Lena, from her impending marriage. With the help of her friends, Ria attempts to pull off the most ambitious of all wedding heists in the name of independence and sisterhood.

(Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: Nida Manzoor; Writer: Nida Manzoor; Stars: Priya Kansara, Ritu Arya, Shobu Kapoor, Seraphina Beh, Ella Bruccoleri, Jeff Mirza, Nimra Bucha, Akshay Khanna)

Full review

World premiere. Fiction

Run Rabbit Run

As a fertility doctor, Sarah has a firm understanding of the cycle of life. However, when she is forced to make sense of the increasingly strange behavior of her young daughter, Sarah must challenge her own beliefs and confront a ghost from her past.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2023; Director: Daina Reid; Writer: Hannah Kent; Stars: Sarah Snook, Lily LaTorre, Damon Herriman, Greta Scacchi)

World premiere. Fiction. Day One

Talk to Me

Review preview for Talk to Me

The reason the film works so well is in its well-established teenage relationships - with the Philippous showing the attraction of being in with the cool kids and that the dangers this presents are particularly acute for those, like Mia, who are already emotionally vulnerable or, like Riley, desperate to be included in an older peer group.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
When a group of friends discover how to conjure spirits using an ancient embalmed hand, they become hooked on the new thrill. Until one of them goes too far and opens the door to the spirit world.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2023; Director: Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou; Writer: Danny Philippou, Bill Hinzman; Stars: Sophie Wilde, Miranda Otto, Alexandra Jensen, Joe Bird, Zoe Terakes, Otis Dhanji)

Full review

International premiere. Fiction