The time has come – another edition of the Sundance Film Festival is set to begin. We here at JoBlo will be covering the festival, bringing you reviews of all the biggest titles to emerge from the festival. Sadly, due to the ongoing omicron surge, Sundance 2022 is, like last year, a digital-only affair. Already, the festival was set to be a smaller edition than usual. Still, up until a few weeks ago, it looked like an in-person edition of the festival could actually happen. Alas, it was not meant to be, but the resilient fest is chugging along with a virtual edition that should still have lots of great movies to check out.
Here are five we think are notable:
When You Finish Saving the World
Jesse Eisenberg makes his feature directorial debut with this A24 financed adaptation of his audio project, which stars Julianne Moore and Finn Wolfhard in what seems to be a comedy-drama about the generation gap, with things to say about youth activism and internet fame. I’m always rooting for Eisenberg, so this is one I’ll check out.
Dual
Speaking of Jesse Eisenberg, his Art of Self-Defence director Riley Stearns has one of the buzziest films of the fest, Dual. The dark comedy stars Karan Gillan as a terminally ill woman who has a clone made to replace her but must battle it to the death after she unexpectedly recovers. If any movie gets a rich deal from a streamer like Netflix, Dual seems like the one.
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John Boyega stars as a former U.S. Marine whose benefits are cut off. Desperate, he robs a bank with a bomb and winds up in a deadly stand-off with the police while the media goes wild. While I’m intrigued by the premise and that Boyega stars in it, I’m not curious about the fact that it also stars Michael K. Williams in one of his final roles before tragically passing away.
Fresh
Already set for a February debut on Hulu, Sebastian Stan and Normal People‘s Daisy Edgar-Jones star in this horror-comedy, which has something to do with cannibalism based on the Sundance description. It’s one of the few star-driven movies at the fest and likely one of the entries that gain a broad audience because it’s hitting Hulu. It sounds like fun.
After Yang
After his film Columbus, Kogonada has become something of an indie darling, and his follow-up to that film, After Yang, already got raves at Cannes. Colin Farrell stars as a family man who must come to terms with a strange sense of loss after his family’s android stops working. I love me some Colin Farrell, and Kogonada seems like the kind of guy who might explode in the years to come, so this is that that shouldn’t be missed.
Of course, there are loads of other movies playing that I’m sure are worthwhile, including the ever-controversial Lena Dunham’s new film and W. Kamau Bell’s We Need to Talk About Cosby.
What do you think of this Sundance 2022 preview? Stay tuned for all of our reviews over the next week or so.
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