Sundance Film Festival 2015
Sundance Film Review: Don Verdean
Don Verdean is a biblical scholar and archaeologist who has built his career on excavating and preserving artifacts from the good book—the film’s opening scene features an antiquated documentary in which Verdean tracks down the shears that Delilah used to cut Samson’s hair. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Hot Girls Wanted
Hot Girls Wanted principally examines Tressa’s (aka Stella May) foray into amateur porn. She is a case study for this documentary that reveals the competitive reality of the amateur-porn machine that renders 18- and 19-year-old girls starry-eyed once they learn—often via Craigslist—of how much money they can make per scene. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Cloro
Jenny practiced competitive synchronized swimming—her passion—but this dream becomes deferred as she is mired in her erstwhile home once her father falls to extreme depression under the weight of guilt for his wife’s previous death. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Chuck Norris vs. Communism
While the Romanian people struggled under their political restraints, a few upstarts started passing around dubbed VHS copies of Western films. Through this, the Romanian people learned about the world outside of their country’s oppressive borders. Chuck Norris vs. Communism is a charming little doc for those of us who believe that movies can be a sanctuary in our darkest moments.
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Sundance Film Review: Glassland
Glassland is both a love story without sex, and a crime story without violence—a decided anomaly among just about every other film about life in an Irish slum. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Ivy
It draws forth anxiety from the characters and the audience alike to create a tense ambience, which is effective for a drama whose sole setting is a ship (besides a brief montage at the very beginning to contextualize the main characters). Ivy works—it’s an artful film that makes the most of its conceit. It’s stressful to watch, though. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Me & Earl & The Dying Girl
Upon seeing Me & Earl & the Dying Girl, I was reminded that movies can be commercially successful and good at the same time—and that’s okay. The film chronicles the senior year of Greg, his friend Earl, and Rachel, who has been diagnosed with leukemia. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Slow West
In what may be one of the most aptly-named films at this year’s festival, Slow West is in no hurry to tell the story of Scotsman Jay Cavendish and his continent-spanning quest to find Rose, the long-lost love from his hometown. … read more
Sundance Film Review: Sam Klemke’s Time Machine
Sam Klemke’s Time Machine is an autobiography with guided narration from Director Matthew Bate. It follows Coloradan Sam Klemke from 1977 to 2014 (from about age 20 to 57) as he documents updates on his life on film, which is a middle-class rollercoaster—Klemke deals with existential crises regarding employment, financial security, relationships and weight gain. … read more
Sundance Film Review: The Chinese Mayor
There’s no need to travel more than 6,000 miles to Datong, Shanxi to know that the life of a politician is mostly filled with accusations, confrontations, and pure misery. However, the life of Mayor Geng Yanbo is much more stressful than your average American politician. … read more