A virtual Youn Yuh-Jung retrospective

by Nathaniel R

If you're done catching up with the Oscar nominated films, here's a edifying diversion for you. Film at Lincoln Center is doing a mini 5 film Youn Yuh-jung celebration for her Oscar run in Minari. Unfortunately the series only looks at her work as a revered senior citizen actress, but it's still worth noting. Films are $12 to stream (except Minari which is $19.99) or $32 for a bundle of four...

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SXSW: The Fallout, Lily Topples the World, and The End of Us

 by Christopher James

Lily Topples the World won the juried Documentary Feature prize at the 2021 SXSW Film Festival.We are far enough into the 2021 SXSW Film Festival that the Jury awards have been handed out. There were a variety of awards handed out. The Narrative Feature Competition went to The Fallout, and Documentary Feature Competition went to Lily Topples the World. As premieres were lighter in these final days of the festival, today felt like the right day to give both of these winners a chance. Add in a dash of pandemic comedy, in the form of The End of Us, and you have my Day Four at the 2021 SXSW Film Festival...

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SXSW: Reviews of "WeWork" and "Language Lessons"

 by Christopher James

Day Two of the SXSW Festival provided even more interesting, high profile premieres. Between a billion dollar flamout and a star-studded movie shot entirely on zoom, it would be hard to find more disparate projects on the second day of the festival. Both WeWork: or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn and Language Lessons were engaging and worthwhile watches in very different ways. One was a grandiose look at the rise and fall of a famous company born out of the ashes of the financial crisis. The other was a heartfelt dramedy where two lonely souls connect via online Spanish lessons...

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Sundance 2021 is a Wrap

by Nathaniel R

CODA was the big winner at Sundance and sold for an extravagant amount of money.

Thank you to Jason, Abe, Murtada, and Eurocheese for their coverage of the traditionally snowy but now virtual and room temperature Sundance Film Festival which wrapped on Wednesday. In case you missed any of the reviews here they all are in one place. As with ALL Sundance film festivals, some of these picture will fade quickly from awareness, others will be talked about incessantly upon release, and still others might strangely go into hiding for a year and all but forgotten before being rediscovered when they get a streaming deal or some such in the not so near future. But which ones? It all depends on the vagaries of distribution, media and public reaction, and future awards play. For example at the 2020 Sundance Awards Minari and I Carry You With Me (both on my top ten list for 2020) were both multiple winners but only Minari seems to have any heat going into the Oscar nominations while I Carry You With Me just kind of sat out awards season despite a qualifying week in virtual cinemas and now won't be released until May 21st, 2021 (sigh) one and a half years after its high profile success at Sundance. 

Our complete list of reviews plus all the Sundance 2021 winners are after the jump...

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Sundance: "Flee" beautifully animates a family's struggle

by Eurocheese

As the first acquisition at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Flee made headlines as an early success story. To anyone who attended the premiere screening, it was no surprise that the film was snapped up so quickly. Between its lovely animation and personal message, it speaks to a refugee’s journey in a heartfelt way. I shed tears at several points during the film, and based on the reactions I heard during the Q&A afterwards, we’ll be hearing much more about its emotional impact in the future.

The story begins as a conversation between two friends, one of whom (Amin) seems to be hesitating when considering marriage to his longtime boyfriend...

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