The 2024 Sundance Film Festival is well under way, and there’s already been some big premieres in Park City, Salt Lake City, and online. Last year’s festival delivered some of the best experiences of the year. It’s time to see if this year can provide the same results.
A Real Pain
A Real Pain tells the story of two cousins (played by Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin), who travel to Poland after their grandmother’s death to see where she once lived, while they also join a Holocaust tour group.
This is a very personal story within a travelogue tour of historical parts of Poland. Eisenberg, who also directs, plays what you’d expect; a very precocious, but anxious person who wants to keep a sense of social grace, whereas Culkin’s character is more than happy to burst out and say anything without shame. Both actors are great here and you can sense both rapport and hostility between them. While on this very somber tour, we get an insight of two people who grew up extremely close, but over time will continue to lose touch. I appreciated this movie’s more personal tone. It kept the focus on the far less glamorous side of European cities. This is a character piece that allows these two actors to breathe, and also get into their emotional sides that they try and hold back. B
Love Me
Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun voice and star in this very unconventional love story. This post-apocalyptic tale focuses on the chance meeting of a thawed out buoy and a orbiting satellite that was built to share the history of humankind. These two creations connect and attempt to navigate a virtual relationship that comes with all the trappings of a modern relationship combined with the complications of the insincerity of social media.
It may be easy to consider this the indie version of Wall-E, given that these are two anthropomorphic remnants of the human world falling in love. However, the love story within is built on manipulation and the need to duplicate what seemingly looks healthy on the outside. The format of this billion year robot romance does tend to get tedious. Most of the movie is animated, with the two leads “living together” in their Sims apartment, while having the appearance of iPhone emoji animations. The parts that rang the most sincere were the scenes where they finally evolved and found self actualization without the phony lifestyle. Overall, the script is quite redundant, and outside of the first few minutes, it’s difficult to root for the compatibility of these two. C
Krazy House
Set in the 1990s, Krazy House follows religious homemaker Bernie and his sitcom family. When Russian workers in Bernie’s house turn out to be wanted criminals, Bernie has to man up and save his imprisoned family, while slowly going crazy.
On its face, Krazy House seems like a movie that was made for me. It plays into the campy sitcom format with laugh tracks and one-liners. Yet, it quickly spirals into a home invasion thriller, that plays out with an unhealthy dose of psychological torment. Nick Frost and Alicia Silverstone head this family that can’t seem to get rid of the Russian invaders. This concept dives deep into the psychotic as every action feels distant and nonsensical. This combo of Too Many Cooks and Mother! is close to being good, but it lacks the tightness that the script needs. Instead, it focuses on the anxiety, bloodshed, and breakdown of Frost’s character and the studio set. There are satisfying moments and plenty of comedy to be found, but I can only recommend this for cult movie fans. C
Thelma
When 93-year-old Thelma Post gets duped by a phone scammer pretending to be her grandson, she sets out on a treacherous quest across the city to reclaim what was taken from her.
There’s a natural likability to Thelma that benefits the movie. June Squibb is so delightful, and plays Thelma as naive, yet stubborn where she needs to be. Early in the movie, Thelma is inspired by Tom Cruise doing his own stunts, and so when she decides to go on her own adventure, she feels compelled to be as risky as possible. The movie quickly loses its focus on her getting revenge on the scammers, and instead meanders on her wild goose chase, while her family attempts to track her down. Normally, I’d fault a movie for meandering so much and forgetting about any sort of pacing, but it feels true to the character and feels that much more immersive to her experience. Also, Richard Roundtree plays her traveling companion and their pairing is just plain charming. B-
Didi
A 13-year-old Taiwanese American boy discovers skating, flirting, and the true essence of maternal love beyond his family’s teachings.
I can’t refuse a good coming-of-age story, but this one feels different. There are the common tropes of trying to get the girl, abandoning friends in order to make “cooler” friends, and sibling rivalry. However, the time frame here tells a specific story. The events take place in 2008, around the birth of social media and content creation on the internet. Chris (Izaac Wang) wants to present an identity to everyone who sees his Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube channel. He also is struggling with his identity with his Taiwanese heritage and how to present that to supposed friends. This movie felt genuine, but is also missing those moments of victory that are typically part of this genre. The sincerity is there, but there’s very little joy or levity. I am excited to see what’s next from writer/director Sean Wang. B-
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