Sundance 2021 Film Reviews Portal

ALL OF MY 2021 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL COVERAGE IN ONE PLACE

Welcome to my coverage of 2021’s Sundance Film Festival! Far away from the hustle and bustle of its usual Park City home, this year’s festival - like many before it - has been transformed into a virtual experience due to COVID-19, but that doesn’t diminish the caliber of its offerings. This year’s festival sees a variety of special film events, such as a robust short film program, a wide selection of genre showings, and gala presentations. This year marks my first year as accredited press at Sundance, and I’m so excited to be able to review a selection from the festival. You can find my entire coverage here.

CODA

Siân Heder’s heartfelt curtain-raiser kicks off this year’s program, a radiantly warm tale of a teenage girl navigating the tension-filled territory between individuality and the bonds of family. An American adaptation of the French dramedy La famille Béllier, CODA wears its coming-of-age tropes on its sleeve, but its confident construction and tender performances strike at the heart of what makes convention so effective. Read my full review here.

John and the Hole

Our coverage of Sundance continues with Pascual Sisto’s John and the Hole, an arthouse thriller with a style that heavily outweighs its substance. A selection from the festival’s U.S. Dramatic Competition, the film has a unique premise and a disquieting atmosphere, but they aren’t enough to save the it from its thin main character and plot. Read contributor Carolyn Hinds’ review here.

A Glitch in the Matrix

A film that amplifies all of Ascher’s most grating tendencies as a documentarian, A Glitch in the Matrix takes the tedious navel-gazing of Room 237 - Ascher’s cult account on hidden meanings within Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining - and cranks it up to eleven. Largely ignoring a storied bibliography of research, philosophy, and the logical complexities on the subject of simulation theory, A Glitch in the Matrix instead finds satisfaction in a glib slinging of memes and crackpot theories. Read my full review here.

Prisoners of the Ghostland

A refreshing respite from a festival full of heavier fare, Sion Sono’s Prisoners of the Ghostland forms a marriage of its cult sensibilities with the American master of cult performances: Nicolas Cage. A whirlwind of wild violence, candy-colored dystopia, and a plot light on logic but heavy with style, Prisoners of the Ghostland is a cult classic in the making. Read contributor Valerie Thompson’s review here.

On the Count of Three

With strong performances and impressive construction, On the Count of Three is deft at combining melancholy with levity, but not all of its humor lands. Our contributor DarkSkyLady reviews Jerrod Carmichael’s directorial debut. Trigger warning: discussions of suicide/attempted suicide. Read the full review here.

Sundance 2021 Dispatch

Whether it’s the gala premieres or its NEXT and Midnight titles, there’s plenty of genre fare to go around at Sundance. I watched a ton of films at the festival this year, and even though I would like to, it’s impossible for me to write full-length reviews for everything. So, here’s a special edition of Strange Harbors Capsule Reviews, covering the wide range of this year’s genre films at Sundance. Read the reviews here.

In the Earth

After a much-maligned turn remaking Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca for Netflix, filmmaker Ben Wheatley returns to form with the brutal and psychedelic In the Earth. Lush and violent with tinges of Annihilation and Wicker Man, Wheatley’s latest is a harrowing meditation on man and nature. Contributor Diego Andaluz reviews the latest from Sundance 2021. Read the full review here.