Sundance Film Festival 2013
Sundance Film Review: Soldate Jeannette
Fanni tries on an expensive dress at an upscale fashion boutique. After much deliberation, she buys the dress. She dumps it into a mailbox just outside the boutique. Fanni’s landlord and his lawyer walk into her posh apartment. She offers them matcha tea, and they tell her she’s being evicted that afternoon because three years’ rent is past due. … read more
Sundance Film Festival: Cutie and the Boxer
Cutie and the Boxer, more than anything, is a beautiful love story. In this fantastic directorial debut, Zachary Heinzerling captures the tumultuous and oftentimes dissatisfying relationship between Japanese artists Ushio and Noriko Shinohara. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Stories We Tell
In this unique and introspective documentary, Canadian actress/director Sarah Polley (Away From Her, Take This Waltz) compiles a narrative around the life of her mother, actress Diane Polley, who died when Sarah was 11 years old, and the mystery surrounding a specific time period, which leads to a surprising discovery. … read more
Sundance Film Review: In a World…
The concept to immerse a film in the competitive world of movie trailer voice-over gigs is certainly an original notion. Lake Bell, who makes her directorial debut, has molded a hilarious well-rounded romantic comedy that is filled with heart, soul and a handful of delightfully awkward moments. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Big Sur
Punching thru death clouds suffocating the New Zion, foot glued to accelerator with guitar chord change feedback shrieks into high-altitude circle jerk of starfuckers and art cannibals and humble unseen angels to stash auto in strip mall, take pre-noon flask pulls in tribute in anticipation of a dead reluctant god’s silver screen flashback, Jean-Marc Barr is Kerouac incarnate and Polish… … read more
Sundance Film Review: Crystal Fairy
Jamie (Michael Cera) an American living in Chile, and his Chilean friend Champa (Juan Andrés Silva) have made plans to go on a road trip into the desert and ingest the psychedelic San Pedro cactus with Champa’s younger brothers (Agustín and José Miguel Silva). While at a house party the night before the trip, Jamie smokes weed, snorts coke and accidentally invites the hippie girl he just met to go on the trip with him. By morning, Jamie has forgotten about the previous night and the boys hit the road. But the girl (Gaby Hoffman), and American who calls herself Crystal Fairy, hasn’t forgotten—she’s on a bus to the desert and calls Jamie, asking to be picked up. … read more
Sundance Channel Series Review: New American Noise
This six-part documentary series produced by Somesuch & Co. and Nokia Music delves into the underground music scenes of six cities across the U.S.—the sticky strip clubs of Atlanta, the twerk battles of New Orleans sissy bounce parties, the guerilla shoegaze concert on some bridge thing in Portland. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer
On February 12, 2012, the punk-informed feminist art collective Pussy Riot stormed the altar at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, clad in colorful dresses and balaclavas, screaming “It’s God’s shit!” in a performance art piece that would be heard of around the world. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Valentine Road
In the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, the issue of firearms and classrooms has sadly become a daily topic of discussion. When you add the element of a hate crime to these unspeakable acts, it only adds fuel to the vicious fire. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Virtually Heroes
In the fashion of Disney’s “Wreck-It-Ralph”, G. J. Echternkamp’s “Virtually Heroes” trails a video game character who begins to question his pre-programmed lifestyle, but, unlike the children’s animated feature, gamers can find vulgar pop culture references embedded throughout this R-rated live-action creation. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Austenland
Directed by BYU grad, SLC local and the co-writer of Napoleon Dynamite, Austenland is big. The jokes are over-the-top, the costumes and set are gaudy, Jennifer Coolidge is practically bursting at the seams in both hilarity and bosom, and the flops, well, they’re pretty big, too. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Halley
Beto (Alberto Trujillo) is a security guard for a gym in Mexico who has an unusual health condition that forces him to resign from his post, even at the discretion of his flirtatious employer (Luly Trueba). Unbeknownst to her, Beto’s illness causes his skin and physical abilities to deteriorate to a gruesome degree unless he injects himself with an embalming fluid concoction. … read more
