Not even a pandemic can shut down all of Hollywood's beloved annual traditions. The 2021 edition of the Sundance Film Festival-the iconic independent film launchpad that helped put titles like Reservoir Dogs, Donnie Darko and Saw on the road to notoriety-begins tonight with its first ever hybrid edition that features online and nationwide drive-in screenings in addition to some physical showings at its traditional site in downtown Park City, Utah. Here are the 5 titles on this year's slate that I'm most intrigued by.
(Note: I've decided to exclude Judas and the Black Messiah, Land, The World to Come and Night of the Kings from consideration since they all have imminent release dates, active marketing campaigns and established buzz surrounding them.)
How It Ends: Band-Aid was a sneaky great dramedy and a return to that genre could mark a return to form for Zoe Lister-Jones after her directorial career took a bit of a hit with the poorly-received horror sequel/reboot The Craft: Legacy last fall.
John and the Hole: Movies about deranged kids/teenagers have been a mainstay Hollywood for decades, but John and the Hole has an innovative, particularly twisted hook (after finding a bunker in the woods by his house, a 13-year old boy proceed to drug his family and dump them in it so he can finally achieve the freedom he craves) that could make for a terrific psychological thriller that transcends the "creepy kid" subgenre.
On the Count of Three: Jerrod Carmichael has a dark, offbeat sense of humor that has made him standout in a very crowded modern stand up comedy scene and with his film debut as a writer/director/lead actor being a film centered around a pair of best friends (Carmichael, Christopher Abbott) that enter a suicide pact, it seems like he has a golden opportunity to bring those unique sensibilities into another medium.
Passing: While Passing's premise (a 1920's set drama about two childhood friends-both light skinned Black women-who reconnect in adulthood and discover that they've decided to live on opposite sides of the color line) has a clear window to turn into tacky melodramatic garbage, I'm still very curious to see if Rebecca Hall can join the increasingly long list of actors who seamlessly transitioned to directing with their debut effort and how formidable performers Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga fare in one of the (unfortunately) rare opportunities they get to headline a film.
Prisoners of the Ghostland: Nicolas Cage recently described Prisoners of the Ghostland-the English language debut of acclaimed Japanese B-movie director Sion Sono (Why Don't You Play in Hell?, Cold Fish)-as "maybe the wildest movie I've ever made". Considering that he's appeared in some truly unhinged shit like Mandy, Mom & Dad and Color Out of Space just in the past few years, that is one hell of a proclamation for Cage to make and the single greatest sales pitch for Prisoners of the Ghostland that he could've possibly come up with.
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