I hate to admit it—especially after defending the Sundance Film Festival for decades—but this year’s edition simply didn’t resonate with me. Sure, I wasn’t in attendance, instead opting for the virtual press option and screener links from publicists, and even then I still missed two key titles (“The Invite” and “Leviticus”), but I saw many of the buzzy films that made this year‘s IndieWire critics poll, and I’d honestly only recommend two of them.
No surprise, Beth de Araújo’s “Josephine” topped the annual IndieWire critics poll, and it was a strong yet flawed film, bookended by a stunning opening and closing—but it still has no distribution, and for good reason. The film isn’t much of a commercial play: the audience for a story about a child who witnesses a rape and the psychological toll she endures is not an easy sell.
The other noteworthy film I saw at Sundance was “Once Upon a Time in Harlem”, a remarkable documentary that brings the Harlem Renaissance to life through candid interviews, rare archival footage, and the voices of the artists, musicians, and writers who lived it.
Shot in 1972 by William Greaves at Duke Ellington’s Harlem townhouse, the doc captures a gathering of Harlem Renaissance figures—musicians, writers, artists, and actors—as they reminisce, debate, and reflect on the movement they helped shape. Forgotten for decades, over four hours of footage were later curated by Greaves’ son into this 100-minute documentary. But this film is more than just a history lesson; it offers intimate, salon-like conversations from the most notable figures of the movement—it’s a hangout movie.
I should add that sitting at #5 on the poll is “If I Go Will They Miss Me”, a lyrical drama by Walter Thompson‑Hernández about a twelve-year-old boy in Watts, Los Angeles, who, as he tries to reconnect with his father, begins seeing surreal, almost spectral visions. Although slight in nature, the film blends grounded social realism with moments of magical realism, and it mostly works wonderfully—I just wished there was more meat to its bones.
A nice surprise has Padraic McKinley‘s “The Weight,” which didn’t necessarily earn raves — 69 on Metacritic — finishing third in the poll. This one stars Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe, tackling a widower (Hawke), in 1930s Oregon, who is taken from his daughter to serve a prison sentence. Prison Warden Clancy (Crowe) offers Samuel and several other prisoners the opportunity to earn their freedom in exchange for partaking in a dangerous gold smuggling operation for him.
Otherwise, the rest of the poll’s top 10 is filled with films I wasn’t that impressed by: “The Friend’s House is Here”, “Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty”, “Nuisance Bear.” I watched around 25 titles. It wasn’t much of a Sundance to remember, but hopefully the move to Boulder next year will reinvigorate the fest.
Film
1. Josephine
2. The Weight
3. Once Upon a Time in Harlem
4. The Invite
5. If I Go Will They Miss Me
6. The Friend’s House Is Here
7. Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass
8. Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!
9. Leviticus
10. Nuisance Bear
Best Performance
1. Mason Reeves, Josephine
2. Channing Tatum, Josephine
3. Ethan Hawke, The Weight
4. Will Poulter, Union Country
5. Son Suk-ku, Bedford Park
6. Chris Pine, Carousel
7. Astrit Kabashi, Shame and Money
8. Rinko Kinkuchi, Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!
9. Olivia Wilde, I Want Your Sex
10. Maria Petrova, Hold Onto Me
Best Documentary
1. Once Upon a Time in Harlem
2. Give Me the Ball!
3. Nuisance Bear
4. Closure
5. The History of Concrete
6. When a Witness Recants
7. Public Access
8. Everybody to Kenmore Street
9. Joybubbles
10. The AI Doc
Best Directing
1. Beth de Araújo, Josephine
2. William and David Greaves, Once Upon a Time in Harlem
3. Padraic McKinley, The Weight
4. Olivia Wilde, The Invite
5. Makoto Nagahisa, Burn
6. Louis Paxton, The Incomer
7. Walter Thompson-Hernández, If I Go Will They Miss Me
8. Josef Kubota Wladyka, Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!
9. Kogonada, zi
10. Adam Meeks, Union CountyBest Screenwriting
1. Beth de Araújo, Josephine
2. Rashida Jones and Will McCormack, The Invite
3. Padraic McKinley, The Weight
4. Louis Paxton, The Incomer
5. Hossein Keshavarz and Maryam Ataei, The Friend’s House Is Here
Best International Feature
1. Leviticus
2. The Incomer
3. How to Divorce During the War
4. Burn
5. Shame and Money
Best International Documentary
1. Closure
2. Everybody to Kenmure Street
3. To Hold a Mountain
4. Birds of War
5. Jaripeo