Plan C is an illuminating, inspiring, and impeccably researched analysis of the modern fight for reproductive rights and the risks women take to bring access to all under governments that seek to silence them and with the threat of violence always looming. Superbly stirring, and terribly timely.
Fantastic Machine has some interesting insight on the power of a camera here-or-there - along with an impressive collection of archival footage - but the overall structure feels very scattered, and without a strong central thesis tying it all together, it’s hard to engage.
Mutt is an impressively authentic and refreshingly tender look at life post-transition, taking us through one trans man’s “worst day ever” and revisiting his relationships with his ex, sister, and father to explore how they’ve evolved. Powerful performances across-the-board.
ages is 90 minutes of pretty people having sex and being shitty to each other, which is basically what movies were made for. Horny, playfully humorous, and unflinchingly honest, with a trio of subtly profound performances to tie it all together. A provocative pleasure.
Landscape with Invisible Hand is an absurdist sci-fi comedy that doubles as a commentary on capitalism (among many other things), but it tries to shove too much into its short runtime to do any of these subjects justice. Too tonally inconsistent, and poorly paced.
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
The Starling Girl works within tried-and-true tropes of the coming-of-age genre to sensitively - and still uniquely - tell a story of a Christian girl’s sexual awakening and the forces (both physical and spiritual) that take advantage of her. A sincere Eliza Scanlen stuns.
Is Anybody Out There? is emotionally enlightening and empowering, emphasizing how important it is to find those who make you feel less alone in this world, centered around a woman with a disability so rare no reliable statistics for it exist. Lovely and life-affirming.
Cassandro has its heart in the right place, but it plays it too safe to do its spirited subject justice. Still, even when it succumbs to basic biopic conventions, Gael García Bernal gives his all in the lead role, tapping into something tender and true.
STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie honors the life and work of Michael J. Fox with heartwarming honesty and structures its story with subversive style and inventive editing. It’s full of intimate insight and never shies away from the star’s struggles, but also never forgets to have fun.
A Still Small Voice is an achingly affecting analysis of the emotional and existential cost of being a hospital chaplain in spiritual care, and how to find hope and meaning in seemingly hopeless and meaningless situations. Almost unbearably unflinching, but all the better for it.
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt is unlike anything else I’ve seen at Sundance. A non-linear, lyrical look at love, loss, and life itself, conveyed through Raven Jackson’s delicately dreamy direction and Jomo Fray’s consuming cinematography. Hushed, but full of heart in every frame.
2023 Ranked