Sundance: Discussing Grief in “Mass”

By Abe Friedtanzer

 It’s always interesting to see actors step behind the camera to direct, both for the subject matters they choose and the times they decide not to cast themselves in their projects. I was particularly moved by William H. Macy’s debut in that role with Rudderless, which played at Sundance in 2014 but didn’t go very far after that. It dealt with a father struggling to connect with his late son through his music after a school shooting. Now, Fran Kranz, who I always remember as Topher on Dollhouse, is exploring a similar concept as writer and director of Mass.

The film opens with church staff members setting up a room for an awkward meeting set to occur between two sets of parents...

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Sundance: “On the Count of Three” review

By Abe Friedtanzer

 

Meeting characters at a moment where they want to end their lives is a complicated endeavor. It’s important to introduce them and explain who they are while communicating what has happened to get them to this mental place. Such narratives are often melancholy, but they can also be unexpectedly funny, as is the case with On the Count of Three...

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Sundance: Clifton Collins Jr. in “Jockey”

By Abe Friedtanzer

 

It feels like there’s at least one memorable horse movie every year at Sundance. Dream Horse played last year (as did Horse Girl), The Mustang was a hit in 2019, and Chloé Zhao’s The Rider screened in 2018. There’s just something about the bond between man and the animal that’s not necessarily known as his best friend but is still thought of in quite an endearing manner. The best of those films tend to focus just as much on the human protagonist’s own internal and interpersonal struggles as they do on their relationship with their prized steed. This year’s signature Sundance entry, Jockey, does just that… 

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Sundance: "John and the Hole" review

by Jason Adams

Titled like a Bible story or a fable of ol' Aesop's (or perhaps it's the start of a dirty limerick), John and the Hole does indeed contain both a John, and a hole. John, played by Captain Fantastic's Charlie Shotwell (and seen just recently doing the disaffected youth thing, and to better effect if you ask me, in Sean Durkin's The Nest), is an absent-eyed 13-year-old sociopath who only seems to spurt to life when playing video-games and screaming obscenities at his best friend via headset. Otherwise he wanders his cavernous home in a daze, occasionally aided by some pills he steals from his parent's drawer...

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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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