Sundance Film Festival 2023 Recap - Part One
Theater Camp, Jamojaya, Shortcomings, Talk to Me, Fair Play, and More
It’s been a few weeks since I’ve had time to write a column, but that’s partially because I’ve been so busy watching stuff for Sundance. Sadly, I once again had to cover Sundance virtually, since I didn’t have anyone backing me taking a trip to Park City, Utah. I generally feel like I was able to watch enough stuff on Sundance’s virtual platform to make it still worth covering, even if I had less time than I did last year to write full reviews during the fest.
This wasn’t a bad year for Sundance, although this might be the first year, where I didn’t see anything that I felt deserved a 9 out of 10 as I did with Cha Cha Real Smooth last year, though I did watch a few strong 8.5s.
It’s pretty well known that I’m a big fan of the documentary genre of filmmaking, which means there was a pretty good chance my favorite movies at Sundance would indeed be documentaries. That said, I don’t always get to cover docs at festivals for a number of reasons, one being that it’s tougher for me to have a lot to say about docs I like and even those that I don’t. There also just isn’t the interest in docs (from editors or reader) that there are for narrative features with big stars, and honestly, there wasn’t much of that this year either.
That said, I did see three portrait docs that I quite liked this year, beginning with the two-part Hulu doc Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields, which is not just about her treatment as a child actor on the Louis Malle movie but covers her entire career, which includes a harrowing story of being raped. This is directed by Lana Wilson, who also directed the Taylor Swift doc, Miss Americana, who does a good job covering Shields’ entire life and career (with the actress’s full participation and involvement, of course).
There weren’t nearly as many salacious moments in Davina Pardo and Leah Wolchok’s doc, Judy Blume Forever, about the hugely popular and successful young adult author of the ‘70s, but it was just as exciting for someone who grew up reading her books, and there’s so much about the author I never knew, maybe because I was fairly young when her books first came out. This doc includes lots of great archival footage but also a great string of subjects who grew up or were influenced by Blume’s writing as it goes through each of her books and how she continues to fight to get her books into libraries. This will hit Prime Video sometime later this year, and it’s another great doc to premiere at Sundance ala last year’s Lucy & Desi.
I also saw Lisa Cortes’ doc Little Richard: I Am Something, which is a CNN Films doc, so presumably it will eventually end up on CNN. I guess I don’t have nearly that much to say about this, although it’s another quality doc that really gets you into the ups and downs of Little Richard’s career. I knew that he probably dealt with a lot of racism and hatred during his early days because he was black, but I’m not sure I realized how his sexuality also led to problems. Maybe if I was more of a fan of his music, I would have liked this as much as the docs above, but this one was still very good, and considering the huge influence he had on Elvis and the Stones, he can rightfully claim himself to be the “architect of rock ‘n’ roll.”
I think one of the strongest non-docs I saw this year was Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman’s Theater Camp, which is pretty much what it sounds like, a mockumentary about a summer camp for musical theater kids called AdirondActs, which turned out to be a lot funnier than I was expecting. Considering how many grown-up theater kids there are out there, especially in New York, this ended up being a wise pick-up by Searchlight, who got it for $8 million (I think). Gordon co-wrote, co-directed and co-stars in the movie, playing Rebecca-Dianne, a long-time camp attendee who has become a counselor along with her partner Amos (played by Ben Platt – the connection being that Lieberman has directed a number of Platt’s music videos). The general premise revolves around the camp director Joan (Amy Sedaris) falling into a coma, leaving her son Troy (Jimmy Tatro) to run the camp even though he’s quite clueless and isn’t accepted by the campers or counselors.
The movie takes a Christopher Guest approach to filmmaking, though I’m not sure if there as much or any improvisation being done by the duo’s young cast. But there are certainly a few ringers in the mix, including Patti Harrison (from last year’s Sundance comedy Together Together) as the director of a neighboring (and competing) summer camp and Ayo Edebiri, who I’ve heard great things about from her appearance on Hulu’s The Bear, which I still haven’t watched! The movie even has a cameo by Minari’s young breakout star Alan T. Kim as a kid at the camp who wants to be a theater agent. Between the terrific cast and a solid screenplay written by Gordon, Platt, Lieberman and Noah Galvin (who also plays a key role in the film), this is a thoroughly fun look at the most maniacal of theater enthusiasts.
Theater Camp seems like one of the more commercially-viable movies from this year’s Sundance since there are so many musical lovers, both young and old, who will appreciate and enjoy the humor in the movie. I think this was a very wise and frugal pick-up by Searchlight for just $8 million, because I think it will make that and a lot more.
Another terrific film that surprised me how much I loved it was Justin Chon’s Jamojaya, and though I walked out of Chon’s Gook when it played Sundance a bunch of years ago (and ended up winning prizes, too), I’ve become more of a fan from his more recent Blue Bayou, which he starred in himself. (Pachinko, which Chon co-directed is another series I haven’t watched yet.) This one takes another look at the Asian immigrant experience through the eyes of James, an Indonesian rapper (played by real-life Indonesian star Rich Brian), who is about to record his first album for a major American label, and he feels it’s time to break ties with his elderly father (played by Yayu A.W. Unru). Years earlier, James’ older brother was killed in the Indonedian plane crash, and he’s constantly having imposter syndrome since his father clearly loved him more, but James is ready to go off on his own, a plan that’s stymied when his father shows up in Hawaii, where James is recording his album.
I don’t know that much about Chon’s background, but he wrote this one with Maegan Houang, and the real-life father-son story is intermeshed with an Indonesian fable about two brothers, one who vanished and turned into a tree and his brother who transforms into a bird to look for him. But that’s just a background since it’s more about James’ tenuous relationship with his father who is constantly getting into his son’s business, which leads to problems with the record label and others who are trying to help James’ career.
It’s just more terrific filmmaking and storytelling from Chon, accompanied by a gorgeous score by Roger Suen, which really helps to draw out the emotions in some of the more heartfelt moments between the two main characters. The movie does sometimes branch off into some fantasy or dream sequence realms which might throw some people off, but otherwise, it’s a pretty straight-ahead character drama. (Blink and you might miss Anthony Kiedies from the Red Hot Chili Peppers as a music video director with whom James butts head.)
Jamojaya is just a beautiful film with an incredibly touching father-son story, but it’s also a daring film since it doesn’t feature any known American stars to take away the focus from the two Indonesian leads. Very well done indeed, and I hope it can find distribution.
I was even more thrilled to watch Randall Park’s directorial debut Shortcomings, an adaptation of graphic novelist Adrian Tomine’s serialized series from “Optic Nerve,” which is one of the better indie comics out there, and Park’s film really stands up to what I enjoy so much about it.
It stars Justin H. Min from After Yang as Ben Tanaka, a film lover who works at a local indie theater, and whose girlfriend Miko is played by Ally Maki from Hacks. They’ve been having problems, one of them being her accusations that he’s more into white girls, plus he also gets similar crap from his lesbian best friend Alice Kim, played by Sherry Cola. Things get more complicated when Miko moves to NYC for an internship, leaving him behind to try to make something happen with his new employee, a quirky performance artist named Autumn.
Make no mistake that Ben is a bit of schlub, but he’s actually a pretty typical Tomine protagonist, and a character that allows him to deal with inter-Asian relationships (such as between Japanese and Koreans). Randall Park seems the perfect filmmaker for the subject, and besides putting together a great cast of young Asian talent, he has a fun cameo. This is such a great debut for him as a filmmaker, working from Tomine’s own adaptation of his own work, which helps Shortcomings achieve a Ghost World level of adaptation that I think will allow it to work for those unfamiliar with the comics.
Sure, this won’t be for everyone, and it might lose a little as it goes along, but for those who really enjoy Tomine’s distinctive work should be tickled by his unique take on the rom-com. This will actually be distributed by Roadside Attractions sometime soon.
This seemed like a particularly good year for Sundance’s Midnight track from the previous ones I’ve seen, but the best of the bunch was clearly Australian filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou’s Talk to Me, which I can see breaking out big time.
It stars Sophie Wilde as Mia, a young woman whose mother died, but one night while at a party, someone pulls out an embalmed hand, and they begin a game that allows them to see and even be possessed by the dead. Before we get to Mia and her friends, we watch a horrifying scene at another party where one guy stabs his brother and then himself, which is more shocking when you’re unaware of what’s to come.
Much of the conflict comes from Mia’s best friend Jade, who doesn’t want her younger brother Riley to play this sick game with the hand, but Mia lets him do it anyway, and things go horribly wrong, which adds another layer of drama as Jade’s family pushes Mia out of their circle.
But beyond the drama stuff, the horror and make-up effects are so good in this, that I could totally see this becoming a high-concept horror hit ala Smile, and sure, those who enjoy lesser horror films like Ouija and Truth or Dare should enjoy it, too, but it might require a bit more thought ala It Follows. Thankfully, this is being released by A24 who have had quite their share of horror hits with The Witch and Hereditary, and yes, A24 released It Follows, as well.
Besides being absolutely horrifying, Talk to Me is also a dramatically powerful film with amazing acting. I have a feeling, the Philippous and Wilde are on track to become very well known in the States, and this is a fine start to their careers.
Another movie that’s gotten a lot of buzz out of Sundance and got picked up by Netflix for a reported $20 million is Chloe Domont’s directorial debut Fair Play, starring Alden Ehrenreich and Phoebe Dyvenor from Bridgerton as Luke and Emily, a couple who work together at a financial consulting firm. It shows what happens when she gets a promotion to being his supervisor and how that throws a spanner into their relationship.
This was actually one of the first movies I saw at Sundance this year, and as I assumed, it ended up being one of the better movies, mainly due to Domont’s script and the performances she got out of her two leads. We meet them as they’re having sex in the bathroom at a wedding before he proposes to her, and that’s meant to set-up what kind of relationship they have, though that changes when she’s given a promotion by their boss (played by Eddie Marsan) and he assumes maybe she did something sexual to get that promotion. Of course, when you accuse your partner of having sex with someone else or using sex to move up the ranks at work, things can’t go well after that, and sure enough, we watch this relationship going downhill slowly at first and gradually even faster.
Fair Play is on par with other Sundance premieres like Margin Call and Arbitrage, although Domont gives the movie more of a feminine slant without completely siding with Emily or forgiving her for some of her actions and behavior. Her being a woman in the male-dominated world of finance certainly gives Ms. Domont’s film something different to base its look on male-female power dynamics and relationships, especially as Emily moves up and leaves Luke behind, while at the same time keeping their relationship a secret from others.
I’ve long been a fan of Aldenreich’s and he gives one of his stronger performances, but I’m more impressed by Dynevor, mainly because I’ve never watched Bridgerton and wasn’t familiar with her work.
As much as I love this movie (and I’m not alone, going by Indiewire’s critics poll), I certainly wasn’t sure what Netflix was thinking by paying $20 million for it, since I don’t think this is something on par with Glass Onion in terms of being able to get a wide theatrical release or it doing much to help Netflix’s status as a streamer. I’m sure that it will be positioning the movie for awards, particularly for its screenplay and two leads, but it still feels like it might be a tough sell.
That said, Fair Play is a fantastic debut, one that explores every day things in a truly unique way, and I know that I’ll be giving it another view once I have a chance to see the movie in a theater as with those who saw it at Sundance proper.
I think that’s it for now, but I’ll be back with Part 2 and probably a Part 3 over the next couple days.