The Sundance Film Festival kicks off tonight with the screenings of “Fire With Love” and “Lovesong.” There are over 82 films in this year’s lineup, up a few from last year’s 74 titles. I have seen around twenty Sundance 2022 titles thus far via press viewing links.
The highlights have been two competition titles:
Chloe Okuno‘s “Watcher,” a film filled with Polanski-esque atmosphere as a young American woman wanders around Romania with the feeling that she’s being stalked.
Jamie Dack’s “Palm Trees and Power Lines” will be the most controversial movie of the festival. An unflinching look at a 17-year-old girl’s relationship with a sketchy man more than twice her age. It’s one of the hardest watches I’ve had to endure these last few years.
Meanwhile, in the premieres section there’s Julian Higgins’ “God’s Country,” which has Thandie Newton’s grieving woke college professor embarking in a psychological game of cat-and-mouse with two toxic hunters she catches trespassing on her property. It’s a simmering slowburn and a career-peak for Newton.
Although curiously inserted in the midnight section, Dylan Southern’s “Meet Me in the Bathroom” is a vibrantly original music doc about the springing New York City indie rock scene of the early Aughts. Bands such as The Strokes, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, LCD Soundsystem, TV on the Radio and Ryan Adams are shown in full-blossom mode.
However, there might be no better movie screened at Sundance 2022 than “Happening,” Audrey Diwan’s Venice-winning abortion drama. I saw it again this week and it’s tensions haven’t subsided, its artful resonance unfettered. Kudos to the Sundance programmers for managing to get this indisputably great film into its digital world.
I’m now predicting a $50M domestic opening weekend for this movie, which will only further cement Cregger’s drawing power after “Barbarian” and “Weapons.”