#SUNDANCE: “JOHN AND THE HOLE”
Review by Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong
While flying his drone, 13-year-old John (Charlie Shotwell) discovers an unfinished bunker in the woods near his family's isolated home. Without any provocation, he drugs his parents (Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Ehle) and older sister (Taissa Farmiga) and places their unconscious bodies into the bunker. While they are held captive, John heads to their home free to do what he wants.
Screenwriter Nicolás ...
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#SUNDANCE: “HOW IT ENDS”
Review by Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong
On the day an asteroid is set to obliterate the world, Liza (Zoe Lister-Jones) decides to head to a friend’s end of the world party. But before she gets there, she intends to right her regrets. With her metaphysical younger self (Cailee Spaeny) beside her, the two walk around the deserted LA Hills. Along the way, they run into strangers and friends seeing how they’re spending their last living day.
How It Ends has a funny premise ...
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#SUNDANCE: “CRYPTOZOO”
Review by Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong
Military brat turned Veterinarian Lauren (Lake Bell) helps Joan (Grace Zabriskie) take care of hidden mythical creatures called Cryptids at Joan’s Cryptozoo. The two dream of one day opening the zoo to create an understanding of these creatures. Lauren’s made it her mission to search for the Baku, a dream-eating Cryptid, that saved her from her tormented dreams as a child. When they find out the US Government might have captured ...
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#SUNDANCE: “MOTHER SCHMUCKERS”
Review by Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong
During their hunt for food, dimwitted brothers Issachar and Zabulon (Maxi Delmelle and Harpo Guit) lose their mother’s beloved dog, January Jack. To punish her sons, she kicks them out of their family apartment until they bring her dog back. While on the quest to retrieve January Jack, the brothers get into bizarre situations while running around Brussels.
Mother Schmuckers has unique humour, crazy situations, and outlandish characters that ...
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#SUNDANCE: “HOMEROOM”
Review by Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong
Homeroom follows the 2019-2020 graduating class of Oakland High School, as the Student Board Directors fight for change within their school system.
As the school year begins, these students are fighting against budget cuts and pleading to remove the presence of police officers in their schools. This action would save the school budget of $2.5 million. The students because this is money could be allocated into programs to aid in ending the ...
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#SUNDANCE: “FLEE”
Review by Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong
This engrossing Documentary tells the story of an Afghan refugees, known as the pseudonym Amin, journey from Kabul to Copenhagen.
Director Jonas Poher Rasmussen creates filmmaking ingenuity by mixing animation and archive footage. The animation is used, along with pseudonyms, to keep the identity of Amin protected. Additionally, the animation puts audiences into the experience of being an adolescent fleeing multiple countries ...
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#SUNDANCE: “CENSOR”
Review by Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong
One of Variety’s Top Ten Directors to Watch, Prano Bailey-Bond, makes her feature debut with Censor. It takes place in the '80s when the world was in a frenzy over violence in films, particularly Video Nasties. It follows Film Censor Enid (Niamh Algar) who’s assigned to review a disturbing video from the archive that draws parallels to a traumatic event from her childhood.
Bailey-Bond pays homage to the Video Nasty era with mentions to ...
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#SUNDANCE: “SUMMER OF SOUL (…OR, WHEN THE REVOLUTION COULD NOT BE TELEVISED)”
Review by Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong
This Documentary recalls summer concert series, The Harlem Cultural Festival which took place in 1969. The event was one that celebrated Black culture and music; however, many don’t know about it. That’s because reporters decided to cover Woodstock which happened the same year. So the footage of the Harlem Cultural Festival has sat in a basement for 50 years. Until now.
Director Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson brings the Harlem Cultural ...
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#SUNDANCE: “CODA”
Review by Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong
17-year-old Ruby Rossi (Emilia Jones) is a CODA, which stands for Child of Deaf Adults. She has spent her entire life interpreting for her parents (Marlee Matlin and Troy Kotsur) and brother (Daniel Durant). When she joins her high-school choir club, her passion for singing grows deeper. When choirmaster Bernardo (Eugenio Derbez) takes a special interest in her talents, he offers to help get her into the Berkley ...
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#SUNDANCE: 2020 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL PREVIEW
By Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong
Sundance is evolving for the 2021 festival and going predominantly virtual with limited drive-in screenings across the U.S. Although the festival is only running for seven days, its screening 71 Features, 50 Shorts, 4 Indie Series, and 14 New Frontier Projects. The Festival continues to include more diverse filmmaking voices. Of this year’s 139 films: 50% are directed by one or more women; 4% are directed by one or more non-binary individuals; 50% are ...
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