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Following a successful year for Sundance, with highly praised films like Past Lives, Passages, Fair Play, and 20 Days in Mariupol premiering, all attention is now on the upcoming edition, starting this week in Utah.
As the festival moves away from its digital component due to Covid and a new leader aims to revive its independent roots, the 2024 lineup presents intriguing uncertainties with fewer familiar titles and more possibilities. It’s an exciting and unpredictable collection of films to kick off the new year.
These are a few of the largest possibilities:
The Outrun
Saoirse Ronan, a four-time Academy Award nominee, may have experienced setbacks with two recent projects, See How They Run and Foe. However, she is starting 2024 with two more promising ventures. The first is a film that will be featured in the premieres section of a competition. Later in the year, we will also see her in Steve McQueen’s wartime drama Blitz. In addition, Ronan will star in The Outrun, which is based on journalist-turned-author Amy Liptrot’s memoir. The story follows Liptrot’s return to her hometown of Orkney Islands after struggling with alcoholism in London. This film will showcase Ronan’s talent in an intimate setting and explore the harsh realities of addiction through a non-linear narrative similar to Jean-Marc Vallée’s Wild, which earned Reese Witherspoon an Oscar nomination in 2015.
Union
Amazon’s continuous expansion has resulted in unprecedented growth, but also unsurprisingly, issues that are becoming increasingly difficult to manage. Workers are now pushing back against the numerous unfair practices within the company. The documentary “Union” highlights the experiences and efforts of those fighting against Amazon, with a focus on Chris Smalls, the organizer of the company’s first union. Directors Brett Story and Stephen Maing have been granted close access to this modern-day battle, which has been further complicated by the effects of Covid. In response to the misinformation being spread about Amazon, the company has launched a charm offensive. This film is expected to be one of the most inspiring at the festival.
Love Me
Although Kristen Stewart has been a frequent attendee of the Sundance Film Festival, her past experiences there – from The Runaways to Welcome to the Rileys to Camp X-Ray to Lizzie – have not always matched her talent. However, this year she has two highly anticipated projects at the festival, both with unique and intriguing premises. The first features her opposite Steven Yeun, who has had more success at Sundance, as shown by his first Oscar nomination for Minari’s 2020 premiere. Together, they star in Love Me, a post-apocalyptic love story between a “smart buoy” and an orbiting satellite that spans over a billion years. This perplexing concept will have to be seen to be fully comprehended.
Love Lies Bleeding
Stewart’s next major film may be easier to understand on paper, but that doesn’t mean it’s a conventional story. The film, directed by the same person behind “Saint Maud,” is a violent crime thriller with a lesbian twist. Stewart plays a gym manager who falls in love with a determined bodybuilder, portrayed by “The Mandalorian’s” Katy O’Brian. Together, they become entangled in a tragic plot. With director Rose Glass known for pushing boundaries in her previous horror film, and with test screenings reportedly eliciting strong reactions, this movie is sure to generate a lot of buzz when it premieres this weekend.
Presence
During the pandemic, Steven Soderbergh created a truly essential film called Kimi, a clever tech-thriller. However, his follow-up film, Magic Mike’s Last Dance, was strange and unnecessary. But his new film seems to be an exciting companion to Kimi. He is working with screenwriter David Koepp, who also wrote Kimi, on a new genre experiment set in one location called Presence. The film will be a unique haunted house story told from the perspective of the ghost. According to Soderbergh, the ghost element serves as a way to show a family in danger of falling apart. The movie will reveal the family through the eyes of the ghost.
Girls State
The most significant documentary of this year’s Sundance serves as a continuation of last year’s biggest documentary at the festival, Boys State, which sparked important discussions and was awarded a large sum of $12 million by Apple and A24. The sequel, Girls State, addresses one of the crucial questions raised by the previous film – what about the girls? It provides another important glimpse into the lives of American youth in the 21st century as high school students participate in Missouri’s annual representative government program, giving them the chance to pursue their political aspirations. With its timing coinciding with the US’s decision to limit access to abortion, it is sure to be a relevant and potentially somber viewing experience.
I observed the illuminated screen of the television.
In 2021’s virtual Sundance event, first-time director Jane Schoenbrun gained attention with their unsettling horror film, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, which explores the dark side of the internet. This film was well-suited for an online premiere, unlike many others in the festival lineup. Their next project, I Saw the TV Glow, also delves into our relationship with media, this time following two friends who become fixated on a mysterious late-night TV show that blurs the line between reality and fantasy. Starring Justice Smith (who is also featured in the highly-anticipated satire The American Society of Magical Negroes), this film promises to be a standout in the genre category this year.
Power
Filmmaker Yance Ford is making a comeback to the Sundance Film Festival, following the success of his previous film Strong Island in 2017. It received critical acclaim and even earned an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary. Strong Island was a personal and emotionally-charged project that delved into the murder of Ford’s brother, a young Black man, at the hands of a white mechanic who faced no consequences. Ford’s next film, Power, will tackle similar themes but on a larger scale. It is described as a sweeping account of policing in the US and how factors such as race and class have impacted the lives of Americans both in the past and present.
Freaky Tales
Making one of the more impressive Sundance debuts of the 2000s with the powerful Ryan Gosling-led teacher-student drama Half Nelson, the directing duo of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck have had a patchy career ever since, never quite scaling those heights, most recently stumbling with the baffling and thankless decision to direct Captain Marvel back in 2019. But their latest at least offers signs of life, freed from franchise shackles, the curiously titled Freaky Tales, an anthology film set in 80s California. There will be four interconnected stories, bringing in supernatural elements, hip-hop, horror, kung fu and a climax that apparently “leaves no appendage unsevered”. Expect the unexpected with a cast including Pedro Pascal, Ben Mendelsohn, the late Angus Cloud and, making her acting debut, Normani.
My Old Ass
Prior to her breakout role in the second season of The White Lotus on HBO, Aubrey Plaza impressed a limited audience at Sundance with her ability to handle both comedic and dramatic roles in films such as Ingrid Goes West, Black Bear, and Emily the Criminal. Her latest project, the high-concept comedy My Old Ass, features Plaza as an older version of a teenager who meets her younger self due to a mushroom-induced trip. Produced by Margot Robbie, who previously brought Promising Young Woman to Sundance in 2020, this film is sure to be highly sought-after at the festival.
Source: theguardian.com
