The first major film festival of the year is going to be presented a bit differently this year, and Sonic Cinema will be bringing it to you from Georgia. This is my first Sundance Film Festival, and it seems like it’s going to be a great, week-long program of films from around the world, covering a wide variety of subjects. I’m going to do my best to hit all of the most intriguing choices, although if you are familiar with the types of films I get most excited about, you can imagine some of the specific quirks I am going to lean into.
The festival will largely be online this year, but to try and allow for in-person screenings, Sundance is reaching out to independent theatres across the country to indoors and drive-in screenings and “satellite theatres.” One such location is Atlanta’s own The Plaza Theatre, and as I go through the schedule, I will make particular note of those screenings, which you can also check out here.
*All times are EST
Thursday, January 28
=“CODA”– The opening movie of the festival this year is a drama about a young woman, Ruby, who must choose between her passion and her family when their fishing business is threatened. The title stands for “Child of Deaf Adults,” which Ruby is, as the only hearing person in her family. The film has Plaza screenings at 7:15pm (Indoors) and 7:45pm (Drive-In), with its virtual performance at 8pm.
=“Summer of Soul (Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)”– This documentary from musician Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson looks back at the Harlem Cultural Festival, a summer concert from the same year as Woodstock, 100 miles away, but the footage of which has not been seen until now. It’s virtual premiere will take place at 10pm, and it’s one of the films I cannot wait to watch.
Friday, January 29
=“Homeroom”– This documentary looks at the lives of people going to Oakland High School during their senior year, in the middle of the COVID pandemic, and how they manage with the anxiety of what that looked like. Probably will not be the last such documentary we’ll get on the year of COVID, but I do want to see what it explores during its virtual premiere at 12pm.
=“Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It”– A documentary look at one of the most influential, and greatest, performing artists of the 20th Century (one of the select few EGOT winners), and the discrimination and racism she faced in her career. The Plaza has screenings at 7pm (Indoors) and 7:30pm (Drive-In), with its virtual premiere at 3pm.
=“John and the Hole”– This is the film I’m probably the most intrigued by on Friday. It’s a psychological thriller about a 13-year-old boy who finds an unfinished bunker, and drugs and puts his whole family down in it. This could be riveting, could be silly, but I’m really curious which one it will be. It’s virtual premiere will be at 6pm.
=“In the Earth”– A virus ravages the world, and a doctor tries to reach a test site, in this drama from Ben Wheatley (“Free Fire,” “Rebecca”). It has its virtual premiere at 9pm.
=“Cryptozoo”– This odd film follows cryptozookeepers as they struggle to capture a particular creature, and wonder whether what they are doing is right. Lake Bell and Michael Cera are two of the stars of this film. The Plaza has screenings at 9:30pm (Indoors) and 9:45pm (Drive-In), as well as its virtual premiere at 3pm.
Saturday, January 30
=“Sabaya”– A group of Syrians, armed with just a gun and a phone, risk the consequences to save Yazidi women and girls from being sex slaves for ISIS. This documentary has its virtual premiere at 12pm.
=“Mass”– Character actor Fran Kranz (“The Cabin in the Woods”) directs this drama about two sets of parents who meet after a mass shooting- one set for a victim, one for the perpetrator. This film has its virtual premiere at 3pm.
=“The Sparks Brothers”– Edgar Wright comes to Sundance with this documentary about the strange journey to notoriety, and cult status, for the band, Sparks. The film’s virtual premiere is at 6pm.
=“Passing”– Rebecca Hall writes and directs this drama about two African-American women (Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga) who can “pass” as white, and whom live on opposite sides of the color line in 1929 New York. The Plaza has screenings at 6:30pm (Indoors) and 7pm (Drive-In), with its virtual premiere at 6pm.
=“Eight for Silver”– A period thriller, set in the 1800s, about a man investigating wild animal attacks, only to find something more sinister afoot. This film has its virtual premiere at 9pm.
=“Superior”– The past is put front-and-center for two identical twin sisters in upstate New York when they are reunited. The Plaza has screenings at 9:15pm (Indoors) and 9:45pm (Drive-In), in addition to its virtual premiere at 9pm.
=“A Glitch in the Matrix”– I’ll admit that I think Rodney Ascher’s “Room 237” is basically a glorified YouTube video, but I am curious to see what he’s cooked up with this look at simulation theory at a time where it feels like multiple senses of reality, probably best exemplified by conspiracy theories like QAnon, are legitimized. The film is a midnight movie, debuting virtually at 12am.
Sunday, January 31
=“Marvelous and the Black Hole”– This comedy about the unlikely friendship between a magician and a teenage delinquent sounds like an interesting genre film, and it virtually debuts at 12pm.
=“Misha and the Wolves”– This documentary about a Holocaust survivor’s memoir, and the deception contained within, immediately caught my attention in Sunday’s 3pm time slot.
=“The Blazing World”– A young woman finds herself pulled into an alternate world where her twin sister, who drown accidentally decades before, might still be alive in this fascinating horror thriller, which occupies my 6pm virtual slot. It also plays at The Plaza at 9pm (indoors) and 9:45pm (Drive-In).
=“My Name is Pauli Murray”– Following up her documentary, “RBG,” Julie Cohen and co-director Betsy West look at a trailblazer whose ideas influenced RBG’s later fights, and Thurgood Marshall’s civil rights arguments. This plays at The Plaza Indoors and Dad’s Garage’s Drive-In at 6:30pm in addition to its 6pm virtual premiere.
=“All Light, Everywhere”– This documentary explores the sharesd histories of cameras, weapons, policing and justice. I’ll admit this film intrigues me, and it plays at The Plaza Drive-In at 7pm as well as its 3pm virtual premiere.
=“Prisoners of the Ghostland”– Look, Nicolas Cage at Sundance in a genre film is all you have to tell me. I will be there at 9pm for the virtual premiere.
Monday, February 1
=“Ailey”– The virtual premiere of this documentary on the visionary artist Alvin Ailey is on Saturday afternoon at noon, but if you cannot make that, The Plaza has screenings at 7pm (indoors) and 7:30pm (Drive-In).
=“Judas and The Black Messiah”– You know how I said in my 2020 retrospective we might see a movie or two have their Oscar launches for 2020 at Sundance this year? Warner Bros. is beginning their push of this drama about Fred Hampton, chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, exactly that way with a virtual premiere at 9pm, and including screenings at Dad’s Garage Drive-in and The Plaza Indoors at 9:30pm.
=“Coming Home in the Dark”– The final film on Monday’s satellite screening docket, which starts at The Plaza Drive-In at 10:15pm, is one of the festival’s Midnight offerings, when a teacher and his family come across a pair of drifters while exploring the coastline. The film virtually premieres at 12am on the evening of 1/30.
Tuesday, February 2
=“The World to Come”– In the mid-19th Century, somewhere on the East Atlantic coastline (upstate New York, to be exact), two neighboring couples battle hardship and isolation. Casey Affleck, Vanessa Kirby, Christopher Abbott and Katherine Waterston star in the drama, which premieres virtually at 3pm.
=“Try Harder!”– The final Plaza offering of the festival is this documentary about orchestra students, in their senior year of high school, have to face off in a competition to land the school of their dreams. This film’s virtual premiere is on 1/30 at 3pm, with Plaza screenings at 7pm (indoors) and 7:30pm (Drive-In).
Wednesday, February 3
Wednesday will be a day for several of the award winners to screen again, and I’m sure there will be one or two I catch up with.
There are plenty more I haven’t even discussed that I’m sure I will watch. But in highlighting not just the ones I plan on watching virtually, but the offerings we are getting at The Plaza over the week, I think you’ll see that, while this year’s Sundance Film Festival is going to be very different, it will not be lacking in compelling cinema to start 2021 off with.
2021 Sundance Film Festival: The Reviews
“The Rifleman”
“Raspberry”
“Night of the Kings”
“Doublespeak”
“Try Harder!”
“Eight for Silver”
“Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)”
“At the Ready”
“CODA” (Quick Take on YouTube)
“Homeroom”
“Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It”
“John and the Hole”
“Strawberry Mansion”
“The Pink Cloud” (Quick Take on YouTube)
“Flee” (Quick Take on YouTube)
“Sabaya”
“Mass”
“The Sparks Brothers”
“A Glitch in the Matrix”
“Street Gang: How to Get to Sesame Street” (Quick Take on YouTube)
“In the Earth” (Quick Take on YouTube)
“Marvelous and the Black Hole”
“Misha and the Wolves”
“The Blazing World”
“Prisoners of the Ghostland”
“The Most Beautiful Boy in the World” (Quick Take on YouTube)
“Passing” (Quick Take on YouTube)
“Superior” (Quick Take on YouTube)
“Judas and the Black Messiah”
“Users” (Quick Take on YouTube)
“Captains of Zaatari” (Quick Take on YouTube)
“The World to Come”
“The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be Quiet” (Quick Take on YouTube)
“Land” (Quick Take on YouTube)
“On the Count of Three” (Quick Take on YouTube)
“Jockey” (Quick Take on YouTube)
“The Touch of the Master’s Hand”
2021 Sundance Film Festival
Announcement
What to See, How to See It
Viva La Resistance!
Brian Skutle
www.sonic-cinema.com
