Sundance Film Review: Toy’s House

Sundance Film Review: Toy’s House
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I knew this movie was going to be painful to watch as soon as the ‘70s or ‘80s power-pop intro song started. It seemed out of place, forced—As did most of the dialogue in the film. A couple of high school friends, Joe Toy (Nick Robinson) and Patrick Keenan (Gabriel Basso) decide that their parents are such a drag that the only option is to build their own house in the forest and live there.  … read more

Sundance Film Review: Wajma (An Afghan Love Story)

Sundance Film Review: Wajma (An Afghan Love Story)
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What begins as a series of secret flirtations in a society that prohibits contact between the sexes before marriage turns into the worst scenario imaginable: Mustafa, professing his love for Wajma (Wajma Bahar), pressures her into a forbidden romance despite her reserved protests. … read more

Sundance Film Review: Soldate Jeannette

Sundance Film Review: Soldate Jeannette
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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

Sundance Film Festival: Cutie and the Boxer
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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

Sundance Film Review: Stories We Tell
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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…

Sundance Film Review: In a World…
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 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

Sundance Film Review: Big Sur
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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

Sundance Film Review: Crystal Fairy
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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

Sundance Channel Series Review: New American Noise
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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

Sundance Film Review: Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer
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 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