Sundance Notes: Day 2

Another day at virtual Sundance.

Some have finally seen Chloe Okuno‘s “Watcher,” which I raved about a few days ago. It’s a film filled with Polanski-esque atmosphere, as a young American woman (Maika Monroe) wanders around Romania with the feeling that she’s being stalked. It’s my current pick to win the top prize.

The frustrations of online dating are satirically tackled in Mimi Cave’s “Fresh”. This is the kind of film where the less you know, the better. What you should know about the plot is that it concerns a twenty-something millennial named Noa who bounces from one terrible date to another, only to find perfection in Steve (Sebastien Stan) and wonder, what’s the catch? Steve is a little too good to be true — he can cook, has loads of money, and is incredibly handsome. “Is he married”? a friend snidely asks Noa. Of course. To reveal more would do a disservice to the deliciously twisted surprises “Fresh” springs out at its audience. Too bad then that Cave doesn’t push for more risk-taking, instead relying on formula and over-direction to finish her story. This is a genre picture through and through, think a glossier version of Miike’s “Audition,”and despite its lack of subtleties or even the absence of character substance, not to mention a wildly over-the-top climax, it’s a wild ride. Searchlight just bought it for a March streaming date on Hulu. [B]

You would expect nothing more than cringe when it comes to oddball actor Jesse Eisenberg’s directorial debut, and that is exactly what we get in “When You Finish Saving the World,” which plays like an “edgier” version of a Nicole Holofcener movie. ” Eisenberg’s film zeroes in on a dysfunctional suburban family, specifically Evelyn (Julianne Moore) and her son Ziggy (Finn Wolfhard). She runs a shelter for survivors of domestic abuse, while he’s obsessed with trying to impress his politically engaged classmate, Lila — the problem is, he doesn’t know a thing about politics. Ziggy performs pop-oriented original songs with his acoustic guitar for his fans online and he keeps trying to impress Lila by telling her that he has 20,000 followers. She couldn’t care less. Meanwhile, Evelyn has her own person to obsess about. At the shelter she meets Angie and her teenage son, Kyle, who seek refuge from the abusive patriarch they’ve run away from. Evelyn envies their tightly knit bond, something she's missing with her own reclusively hormonal son. Eisenberg is trying to explore the complicated relationship between mother and child. And yet, the narcissism these characters exude always keeps you at a distance. There is no self-awareness to Ziggy and Evelyn’s narcissism; these are such stringently awkward and despicable people, that forming a whole narrative around them is probably the ballsiest thing about Eisenberg’s movie. [C+]