ages is 90 minutes of pretty people having sex and being shitty to each other, which is basically what movies were made for. Horny, playfully humorous, and unflinchingly honest, with a trio of subtly profound performances to tie it all together. A provocative pleasure.
Theater Camp is hilarious and heartfelt in equal measure, perfectly paced, and packed with laugh-a-minute gags and colorful characters (the kids are instant stars). Molly Gordon should run the world, Ayo Edebiri’s reactions are everything, and put Patti Harrison in more movies!!!
Sometimes I Think About Dying occasionally feels like a short film stretched to feature length (it is), but Daisy Ridley turns in a remarkably restrained performance that succeeds on subtleties and has immensely charming chemistry with Dave Merheje (even though Marcia DeBonis might steal the movie with a single scene near the end). Sublime classical score, too.
Fair Play is so slickly made, with one of the smartest and sharpest scripts of Sundance so far, offering a thrilling takedown of the fragility of male egos and career best performances from Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich. You rarely see this level of tonal precision in a debut.
Am I Ok? is a little too low-stakes - and feels longer than it actually is - but despite the familiar formula, it works quite well as a love letter to those who come of age later in life, benefiting from the brilliant chemistry between Sonoya Mizuno and Dakota Johnson (who is quickly becoming the queen of Sundance 2022).
Cat Person is almost unbearably - yet authentically - uncomfortable, cycling through nearly all of the anxieties women have with dating in the digital age by placing us directly in the perspective of Emilia Jones’ Margot so we experience the movie in her mind. A scorcher.
Eileen is a pure pulpy, psychosexual pleasure with a surplus of style - Ari Wegner’s chilly cinematography, Richard Reed Parry’s snazzy score - and a pair of provocative performances from Thomasin McKenzie and camp queen Anne Hathaway. Too twisty for some, not for me.
You Hurt My Feelings is another Nicole Holofcener knockout. A witty look at the “little” white lies we tell those we love, and why. Julia Louis-Dreyfus is at the height of her powers here, landing every line with a biting blow, but the entire ensemble excels (Michaela Watkins is a wonder).
Palm Trees and Power Lines is like watching a car crash in slow motion. We’ve seen stories like this before - a charming yet manipulative older man slyly seducing a younger woman - but rarely with such stark and unsparing direction. Lily McInerny is a revelation. Jonathan Tucker, terrifying.
Fresh has a compelling concept and a daring Daisy Edgar-Jones in the lead role, but it wears out its welcome quickly and stretches its story far too thin, making for a rather toothless thriller in the end. Not sure what Sebastian Stan was doing either but it sure was… something?
A shoddy script, subpar style and characters who are little more than stock stereotypes (we’re still doing this “the only people of color in the movie are the savior sidekicks!” thing?). Total waste of time.