Authors: Alexander Ortega
Sundance Film Review: The Summer of Sangaile
Set in Lithuania and spoken in Lithuanian, Sangailé (Julija Steponaityté) is a timid, adolescent young woman who marvels at such stunt planes, but she fears heights on account of her vertigo. Austé (Aisté Diržiūté) coaxes her to hang out with her and her friends group; eventually, the two girls become lovers as Austé, an aspiring fashion designer/photographer, threads her way into Sangailé’s heart by making clothes for and taking photos of her. … read more
Sundance Film Review: The Amina Profile
The Amina Profile documentary follows Montrealer Sandra Bagaria’s online relationship with Amina Arraf, a lesbian woman from Damascus, Syria, near the onset of the Arab Revolution. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Chorus
Chorus is shot in a dreary black and white that underlines the turmoil with which Irène (Fanny Mallette) and Christophe (Sébastien Ricard) have suffered for 10 years, since the disappearance and presumed death of their son in Quebec. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Things of the Aimless Wanderer
Things of the Aimless Wanderer, a film in the New Frontiers section of Sundance programming, challenges traditional approaches to narrative filmmaking. This drama offers three disjointed accounts of what became of a disappeared black girl in an East/Central African country (likely Rwanda) after she had a fling with a white, American journalist/travel writer—presented as “Working Hypotheses,” each claimed to be based on a “true story.” … read more
Sundance Film Review: Censored Voices
Censored Voices recollects recordings from Israeli soldiers of the Six Days War, originally recorded by Amos Oz. This documentary reveals their true feelings—as opposed to proclamations of national pride—about the pressures of Zionism and the horrors and hypocrisy of war. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Homesick
Homesick is an interesting character study of Charlotte, who must work to forgive her mother and—for lack of better words—grow up by delving into this queerness. It’s an interesting, fun drama that thrives in the discomfort it engenders with Charlotte’s and Henrik’s transgressive love. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Princess
Adar detests going to school amid this flourishing of hormones, but it also becomes increasingly clear that life at home isn’t particularly healthy: Michael plays “games” with Adar that walk the line between fun and, well, downright creepy and molesting. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Station to Station
Station to Station is, essentially, a quilt of footage orchestrated by Director Doug Aitken on a train from the Atlantic to the Pacific over the course of 4,000 miles. Aitken introduced the film before the SLC Library Theatre screening as a synthesis of different artistic mediums that connect in a filmic juncture, which they initially ventured to shape into a traditional documentary but later decided to condense different portions into 61 one-minute segments to convey certain points of the train’s journey. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Wild Tales
Wild Tales comprises short, potentially stand-alone films that explore morbid and/or grave, realistic situational irony and revenge … and it’s fucking hilarious. … read more
Sundance Film Review: The Forbidden Room
Ah, this was the Sundance film I was waiting for! If you’ve seen The Saddest Music in the World, then you know what to expect from inveterate experimental filmmakers Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson. … read more