Sundance: 'Eileen' is the movie 'Carol' couldn't be

by Jason Adams

The blonde woman in expensive clothes explodes into the dowdy brunette’s life like fireworks. She just appears one day, flung out of space, and nothing will ever be the same for the Plain Jane working girl again. Everything is upended in Midcentury America, surprise feelings warming in the brunette's belly she doesn’t even have a name for, inspiring a sudden need to run. And yes you’d be forgiven if you thought I was speaking about Carol, Todd Hayne’s 2015 masterpiece about a love affair between Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, who no matter what Harge says were not ugly people. 

No I speak of a different lesbian potboiler that just popped off at Sundance this year, director William “Lady Macbeth” Oldroyd’s Eileen, based on Ottessa Moshfegh’s 2015 novel...

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Sundance: Penélope Cruz and Luana Giuliani are Radiant in ‘L’Immensità’

By Abe Friedtanzer

People who don’t fit a particular mold have existed since long before society had a label for them. Poor mental health was often assigned as a reason that someone might not be “normal,” an unfortunate part of history that still persists in many places today. L’Immensità, which premiered at the Venice International Film Festival last fall (here’s Elisa’s take) and now arrives in North America at another major film festival, is a colorful portrait of a trans teenager misunderstood by just about everyone around him, and his loving mother, who also struggles to be taken seriously when she seeks to find joy in her life despite her abusive marriage...

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Sundance: Here are your 2023 winners!

by Cláudio Alves

Another year, another Sundance Film Festival reaches its end, concluding a grand celebration of independent cinema in the snowy Utah landscape. This edition, the reviews were especially glowing across the international press, with many a title earning acclaim - sadly, that's not always guaranteed. One of those productions was the eventual winner of the U.S. Dramatic Competition – A.V. Rockwell's A Thousand and One. The jurors (Jeremy O. Harris, Eliza Hittman, and Marlee Matlin) praised the film's tenderness and how it felt real, so and full of pain. In its citation, the jury further mentioned the project's fearless commitment to emotional truth born of oppressive circumstances. American audiences won't have to wait long to see this award-winning feat in theaters, as the film's scheduled for a March 31st release. 

After the jump, find the full list of winners and some stray observations…

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Sundance: An Entertaining Love Triangle in ‘Passages’

By Abe Friedtanzer

What happens when you put Franz Rogowski (Great Freedom), Adèle Exarchopoulos (Blue is the Warmest Color), and Ben Whishaw together in a film directed by Ira Sachs (Married Life)? The result is Passages, a love triangle drama layered with humor about a filmmaker who finds himself simultaneously drawn to two different people…

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Sundance: A Futuristic Parenting Comedy in ‘The Pod Generation’

By Abe Friedtanzer

Just how far are we from being able to manufacture babies without a woman actually having to be pregnant? According to Sophie Barthes, the writer and director of The Pod Generation, she conceived her film as science fiction but it should now be considered closer to documentary, given medical and technological advances that make its events feel not nearly as distant as they once did. The way in which she presents a couple deciding to have a baby leans decidedly towards the humorous, sending up the way society portrays pregnancy, motherhood, attachment, and much more.

In the near future, Rachel (Emilia Clarke) is a successful employee at a major tech company, and learns that, along with a promotion, she’s also eligible for a large subsidy for the Womb Project, which enables parents to grow a baby in a pod...

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