Five Sundance Films to Get Excited About
Thursday, December 5, 2019 at 5:45PM
Sundance announced its 2020 slew of films for the festival that kicks off in Park City on January 23rd. This writer is excited to start caring about a whole slew of new movies as the festival comes in at the thick of awards season when there’s almost nothing left to say about the previous year's movies.
Julianne Moore as Gloria Steinem in The Glorias
Sundance provided some statistics on their selection this year...
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118 feature-length films representing 27 countries and 44 first-time feature filmmakers.
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Of the 65 directors in all four competition categories, comprising 56 films, 46% are women, 38% are people of color, and 12% are LGBTQ+.
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44%, or 52, of all films announced were directed by one or more women; 34%, or 40, were directed by one or more filmmaker of color; 15% or 18 by one or more people who are LGBTQ+.
From this vast list I’ve chosen five films I’m excited about on first glance. Just because I liked the previous film from the filmmaker or have a long time affinity to an actor’s work. Last year I put Clemency at the top of my list because of Alfre Woodard yet didn’t add The Farewell or The Last Black Man in San Francisco until I heard the buzz on the ground in Park City. All three are among my favorites of the year, so take this list with a grain of salt.
Kajillionaire
Director and screenwriter: Miranda July
Cast: Evan Rachel Wood, Gina Rodriguez, Richard Jenkins, Debra Winger.
Low-stakes grifters, Old Dolio and her parents invite a chipper young woman into their insular clan, only to have their entire world turned upside down.
Reason to be excited: I have a long running love affair with Debra Winger's talent.
The Last Thing He Wanted
Director: Dee Rees, Screenwriters: Marco Vallalobos, Dee Rees.
Cast: Anne Hathaway, Ben Affleck, Willem Dafoe, Rosie Perez.
A veteran D.C. journalist loses the thread of her own narrative when a guilt-propelled errand for her father thrusts her from byline to unwitting subject in the very story she’s trying to break. Adapted from the Joan Didion novel of the same title.
Reason to be excited: Rees following up Mudbound (2018) with a Joan Didion adaptation.
Zola
Director: Janicza Bravo, Screenwriters: Janicza Bravo, Jeremy O. Harris
Cast: Taylour Paige, Riley Keough, Nicholas Braun, Colman Domingo.
2015: @zolarmoon tweets “wanna hear a story about why me & this bitch here fell out???????? It's kind of long but full of suspense.” Two girls bond over their “hoeism” and become fast friends. What's supposed to be a trip from Detroit to Florida turns into a weekend from hell.
Reason to be excited: Harris is the hottest current American playwright (Slave Play, Daddy) making his screenwriting debut. A film based on a twitter thread? Yes! Keough working again in American Honey milieu? double yes. My fave from If Beale Street Could Talk Domingo? Yes, yes, yes.
Shirley
Director: Josephine Decker, Screenwriter: Sarah Gubbins
Cast: Elisabeth Moss, Michael Stuhlbarg, Odessa Young, Logan Lerman.
A young couple moves in with the famed author, Shirley Jackson, and her Bennington College professor husband, Stanley Hyman, in the hope of starting a new life but instead find themselves fodder for a psycho-drama that inspires Shirley's next novel.
Reason to be excited:Decker's last film Madeline's Madeline (2018) showed a director at the top of their talent and this cast and premise sound promising.
The Nest
Director and screenwriter: Sean Durkin
Cast: Jude Law, Carrie Coon, Charlie Shotwell, Oona Roche.
Charismatic entrepreneur, Rory, relocates his family to England with dreams of profiting from booming 1980’s London. But as his wife, Allison, struggles to adapt, and the promise of a lucrative new beginning starts to unravel, the couple have to face the unwelcome truths lying beneath the surface of their marriage.
Reason to be excited: Where has Durkin been since Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)? We know he has directed TV but hoping this is a strong follow up to that singular film.
For the full list head to the festival's website.
Other titles I'm curious about include Carey Mulligan in Promising Young Woman, Steven Yeun in Minari and Nicole Beharie in Miss Juneteenth. Mostly I’m excited to be surprised by someone whose name and work I don’t know yet.
Reader Comments (26)
Thanks for this piece, Murtada! Looking forward to seeing these as well though I'm not so sure about Zola.
Julianne Moore playing a woman named Gloria? I’m there.
If you're going to keep using my nick try to write something witty.
3rtful called someone a fagot here and got away with it so you're not special Peggy Sue
Wendy not being in the top 5 most anticipated is an odd choice. Benh Zeitlin's sophomore film after 2012's MASTERPIECE BOTS deserves more attention.
They are actually letting Miranda July make another movie?!
Where’s the mention of THE GLORIAS? I see the picture but nothing related to it.
Please, let Kajillionaire be good. I'm still seething over The Future which is one of the worst films I had ever seen.
Was Julianne's head cut and pasted onto someone else's body? That is a weird Photoshop job.
Jono - I was wondering why that photo looked odd myself. I think the dimensions are just “squished,” for lack of a better word. If you’ll notice, everyone in it looks like a garden gnome.
I had no idea Jeremy Harris was one of the writers for Zola or that it had that cast attached. I was cautiously optimistic, but now I’m genuinely excited.
Glenn Close has a dark wig to play Mila Kunis' mother and you ignore this?
Love that (beautiful) shot of Carrie Coons from The Leftovers. Fingers crossed that she (finally) gets a film project worthy of her talents.
If you’re going to pretend you’re being imitated as me, write something witty yourself!
Elisabeth Moss as Shirley Jackson? Let her have her Oscar moment!
IMPETIGORE, a horror movie by the Indonesian director, Joko Anwar, has also been selected for Sundance. I think it was an excellent mood piece, so you can have that on your watchlist.
This is like comment Inception for impostors. Mind blown
An estranged mother (Close) and daughter (Kunis) work through their issues while the daughter is recovering from substance abuse.
Whaaaaat - is this Mila's juicy Black Swan follow-up role that I've waited a decade for?! I was happy Jacki Weaver made it in, but sad it came at Mila's expense. I hope this film is great.
Honestly no Peggy Sue’s or Suzanne’s would be great. I’ve ever retired Joan Castleman.
You were never the original Joan, you piece of shit.
I really liked July's Me and You and Everyone We Know and I LOVE Evan so I'll be watching Kajilionaire, but man did i forgot how much I hated The Future. Hopefully it's not like that at all.
I'm so excited that The Last Thing He Wanted is there. Also, The Nest!!!! Sean Durkin's follow-up to Martha Marcy May Marlene.
So much potential goodness!!!!!
When did the comment section here officially go off the rails?
Chris -- it happened about a month ago i think. It's very sad for me.
Ignore them,I do.
"When did the comment section here officially go off the rails?" Whenever 3rtful became a regular, so....a decade ago? It has been increasingly horrible since then with each new troll, which is a shame. TFE needs a log-in system a la Disqus to survive.
can't wait!! kajillionaire and zola are my two most anticipated.
Late, I know, but 'twas ever thus...
I was one of those who did not get Me and You and Everyone We Know when it came out (though I did enter Nathaniel's Sequel Contest that year with ...and Everybody Else). However, with that cast, I will certainly give Kajillionaire a look when it gets a release here.
There is a character in the Amazon TV series The Expanse who favors the phrase, "I don't shit where I eat." My enjoyment of this site is diminished by trolling, flame wars, and the like. If you are one of those responsible, including the name poachers, then stop. Please. Stop.