I can hardly believe that this is my 21st festival. I volunteered for the first fifteen years and have been on the Sundance staff for the last four. This year I worked about 75 hours a week and managed to see about 17 films. With my new Canon EOS 5D Mark IV camera, I took hundreds of photos. I am sharing several of them here.

For anyone who hasn’t heard of it, or don’t know what it is; the Sundance Film Festival is the United States largest film festival, and the biggest for independent film in the world. It takes place each January in the posh ski resort town of Park City, Utah.

Robert Redford started the Sundance Institute back in 1981 and has been the chairman ever since. Some of the world’s greatest directors have started out here, from Quentin Tarantino to Christopher Nolan to Damien Chezelle. Noteworthy films that have premiered include: Memento, Boyhood, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Whiplash, Call Me By Your Name, Get Out, Hereditary, The Blair Witch Project, Reservoir Dogs, The Usual Suspects, American Psycho, just to name a very few.

The 2019 festival was one of the most successful years to date. I saw some really great films. Hopefully many of these films with make their way to theaters later in the year. Here are some reviews:

The Report

This was probably my favorite film that I saw this year. It stars Adam Driver as Daniel Jones, who lead the investigation into the torture of prisoners following 9/11. Appointed by Diane Feinstein (played by Annette Bening) his investigation takes him to exhausting and disturbing revelations.

At the film’s core is a sense of the way Washington really works. It offers an inside look at negotiations and compromises that fuel the back hallway discussions used by politicians to gain leverage for their own agendas.

The script by writer/director Scott Z. Burns is tight. It is so intricate and detailed. It must have taken a great deal of time and patience to put it together. Adam Driver manages to establishes himself as a first rate leading actor. Following his Oscar nominated performance in BlackKklansman this year, he seems on the verge of becoming one of the important actors of his generation.

The film premiered on January 26, 2019 at the Eccles Theatre. Adam Driver, Jon Hamm, Annette Bening and Jennifer Morrison were in attendance.

Though it had several moments depicting disturbing images of torture, it fell short of reveling in it. The crowd was mostly enthusiastic as it became one of the most talked about pictures. Within a few days it had been purchased by Amazon Studios for a cool 14 million dollars in worldwide rights.

It is scheduled to be released into theaters in late 2019 in order to capitalize on its Oscar potential.

Blinded by the Light

Directed by Gurinder Chadha, “Blinded by the Light” is an exhilarating and contagiously entertaining story based on true events. Javed, played by Viveik Kalra, is a Pakistani teen living in England in 1987. His world is difficult trying to fit in with a world that was very different from where he and his family had migrated. Then a fellow Paki student introduces Javed to the music of Bruce Springsteen. Suddenly, in the strangest ways, the Boss’ music speaks to him. It transforms his life and he learns to take control.

Javed clashes with his headstrong father who believes it is an abandonment of his home country to pursue such materialistic entertainment. Though Springsteen’s music permeates throughout, it is the relationship between Javed and his father that is at the center, and it is here that we get the emotional rewards.

The music from Bruce and the way it is used is heaven sent. The director is able to show the audience just how it is able to affect a young man like Javed in ways that no one could have imagined. It’s not so much the music that transforms Javed, but rather the way he feels empowered by the lyrics themes of struggle and survival in difficult times.

“Blinded by the Light” was purchased by New Line for 15 million dollars, a record amount for a film at the festival. I highly recommend it to audiences who enjoy nostalgic coming-of-age films with a killer soundtrack.

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile

The hardest ticket to get at this year’s festival was the film that divided the audiences. Zac Efron stars as the charming and infamous serial killer, Ted Bundy. There was plenty of controversy surrounding the screening. Mostly because some critics and viewers felt that with Efron’s portrayal, the filmmakers were glamorizing the horrific killer.

Focusing very little on the actual murders, the film concentrates its storyline on the capture and trials of Bundy. It is told from the point of view of the women who chose to stay by his side and protect him from. Lily Collins plays his fiancee who refused to believe he is capable of the horrible accusations being leveled at him from multiple states.

Having watched the film, I still found Ted Bundy to be a manipulative deviant. Zac Efron is a better looking, and a much more sculpturesque person than Bundy. Despite that, he did a surprisingly effective job of showing this monster who is able to hide his wickedness away from the general public. There are some moments when women in the courtroom swoon at his smile. I know this did actually happen, but on screen it does seem a bit over-the-top.

It took a few days, but the movie eventually sold for about 9 million dollars to Netflix. That’s good in that it will find an audience. I personally don’t like it when Netflix picks up films that should be seen in the theaters. Once they get a hold of them they just feel less important. Now the movie will not get an important theatrical run and will never make its way to blu ray or DVD. That’s a shame. Still, the streaming company is a good avenue for independent films to find an audience that might not always be possible.

Clemency

The Grand Jury Prize Winner in the U.S. Dramatic Competition was Clemency , written and directed by Chinonye Chukwu. This solid and thoughtful drama manages to blur the lines between compassion and justice, resulting in a realism that few films are able to achieve.

Alfre Woodard stars as Bernadine Williams a hardened prison warden who struggles to balance her work and her home life. As the years have flown by, it gets tougher to separate the two. Her drinking increases and her emotions unravel when she witnesses a botched execution. Her nervousness increases as a second execution approaches for a man who just might be innocent of the crimes he has been convicted of.

The film is stark and depressing, and all the more effective because of it. Alfre Woodard gives her best performance and is mesmerizing in her intensity. It’s another movie that should be around once the Oscar race heats up at the end of 2019.

Brittany Runs a Marathon

Brittany Runs a Marathon was the U.S. Dramatic Audience Award Winner. This film really represents what makes Sundance unique among film festivals. There was very little buzz about the film going in. It features a first time director in Paul Downs Colaizzo, and a cast of actors that aren’t well known. Yet it became one of the most talked about films.

Brittany, played by Jillian Bell, is unhappy with her life. She hates her job and hasn’t been in a relationship for years. To make matters worse all her friends think of her as the fat one. Finally she has had all she can stand. Deciding to lose the weight she sets a goal to not just run in the New York Marathon, but to finish it. She learns that its not as easy as believing you can do it. She can transform her body, but the emotional scars she carries around are harder to heal.

The reason the film works is because everyone feels like a “Brittany” in one way or another. Few people can truly say they are happy with their lives. We all feel like we are inadequate in some way. That makes her all the more relatable. The film asks difficult questions, but is able to present itself as a comedy. It’s rare to find a movie that is funny, but is able to deal with serious issues.

Amazon Studios purchased the film for $14 million.

Late Night

Also selling to Amazon Studios for a reported 13 million was the comedy Late Night, written by and co-starring Mindy Kailing. The film was the opening night premiere and continued to play well throughout the festival.

Katherine, played with gusto by Emma Thompson, is a legend in the television comedy world. She has won several Emmy’s and has been a staple every night with her successful late night talk show. Her ratings, however have begun to decline and her demographics are not competitive. The network decides to replace her with a young, hipper host.

Deciding to not go down without a fight, Katherine decides to hire Molly (Kailing) as a new writer. Molly is the first female writer to ever work on the show, and Katherine hopes it will add a much needed boost and save her show.

The film is a little comic gem. It works so well because of the relationship and banter between Kailing and Thompson. They work so seamlessly together, finding the likeability and the faults in their characters. The combination makes for a winning cinematic gem.

Little Monsters

The Midnight Movie section of Sundance has become one of the most successful sections of the festival. Get Out, Hereditary, and Buried all went on to successful runs.

Little Monsters has potential to become a break out B-Movie hit. It is funny enough to be campy and thrilling enough to be even a little scary. Oscar winning actress Lupita Nyong’o plays a kindergarten teacher who is devoted to her young students. The kids are excited because they have a camping field trip coming up.

That excitement soon turns to horror when a government experiment has gone awry. Within hours the kids are being stalked by flesh eating zombies, and it becomes the teacher’s job to protect them.

Josh Gad, best know as the voice of Olaf in Disney’s Frozen, plays a kid’s show host who turns on the kids in an attempt to save himself. The film also stars Alexander England as the uncle of a kid with severe allergies. He must turn his slacker personality around to help save the children.

The picture manages to effectively tread on the tricky balancing wire of being funny and scary. It even surprised me by how much depth of character it has, and by the strong pull on the heartstrings. It actually earns the emotional satisfaction for which it strives.

Velvet Buzzsaw

In 2014 writer/director Dan Gilroy made the superb thriller Nightcrawler, starring Jake Gyllenhaal. It earned Gilroy an Oscar nomination for best screenplay. With Velvet Buzzsaw he teams up again with Gyllenhaal for another offbeat suspense film that is difficult to categorize.

The Los Angeles art scene is at the center. An unknown artist is found dead. His broken down apartment is full of precious and unique paintings that he had worked a lifetime to create. Art dealers descend on his work, fighting tooth and nail for the opportunity to represent his work.

The greed, however has a price. The art pieces are cursed with the spirit of the dead artist and he seeks revenge upon those who have taken his paintings for their own benefit.

Gyllenhaal, along with Rene Russo, John Malkovich, Toni Collette, Tom Sturidge, and Billy Magnusen play those greedy souls whose lives become in danger the more they try and control the inventory.

Not everything works as well as it did in Nightcrawler, but Gilroy is still able to spin a twisted tale where the vampires all get what they deserve in creative and disturbing ways. Netflix acquired the film prior to the festival. It made it’s debut on the streaming service just days after its world premiere at Sundance.

Apollo 11 and Knock Down the House

Sundance wouldn’t be complete without the mention of its documentaries. Dozens of world class docs screen each year. I was able to watch two fascinating films that show us a reality that many of us might not be aware of.

CNN Films has produced a remarkable doc about the Apollo 11 moon landing. With no narration at all, it has unearthed hours and hours of footage of the lift off and of the first man walking on the moon.

Today we are so used to having our cell phones out, filming everything that comes along. That makes this doc that more stunning. The rare shots are a thrill to see, and gives a new perception of what was going on behind the scenes of this historic event. It is a must see for anyone interested in history or science.

The second documentary of note has a much more timely message. Knock Down the House follows four Progressive Democratic women as they try and break though the incumbent wall during the 2018 primaries. It argues that the people in this country want a change, but wonders if they are willing to take a stand to enact the changes needed to move the country in a different direction.

The interesting about this is that director Rachel Lears didn’t know how the film would end. The results were far from clear when filming began. The problem with filming a doc is that often the success of it depends on what the unforeseen outcome might be. Luckily for the filmmakers one of the women they were following was Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a political star in the making.

Each year there are simply too many films to mention all of them. Overall, this was one of the best years for films at the festival. There were 14,259 submissions this year, the most ever. The quality seemed to improve a bit over last year.

I hope everyone has enjoyed a few of the highlights from Sundance this year. It was a good start to 2019. Here’s hoping the year gives us a bunch of great films to enjoy, bicker over and despise throughout the coming months.

Cheers!