It’s hard to balance warmth, humor, and a subject most wouldn’t even begin to know how to tackle, but writer-director Nikole Beckwith does so with ease, heart, and authenticity, all while subverting expectations of familiar tropes. Filled with meaningful exchanges…
Sundance 2021: ‘Searchers’ is looking for love in all the online places
In Pacho Velez’s new documentary, Searchers (formally The Browsers), a rotation of about 75 New Yorkers—including the director himself—are interviewed, examined, and observed as they use a swath of online dating apps in real-time. Some are looking for love, others…
Sundance 2021: ‘Eight For Silver’ delights with new werewolf lore
Beware the wolf, but not like before. There aren’t full moons or sexy werewolves this time around. Instead, Eight For Silver delivers a refreshingly horrifying take on werewolf lore and period piece horror. Sean Ellis’ new film is bloody, visceral,…
Sundance 2021: ‘Mass’ addresses healing in the wake of tragedy in an intimate space
Mass, the feature film debut of writer-director Fran Kranz, is a brutally honest exploration of the people who are affected (and often forgotten) in the aftermath of a school shooting. Mass tackles the raw emotions of its characters and works…
Sundance 2021: ‘Superior’ explores the duality and influences behind identity
Back at the Sundance Film Festival with her feature film debut, director and co-writer Erin Vassilopoulos expands upon her 2015 short film of the same name. Superior tantalizes in its study of identity, employing real-life identical twins Alessandra Mesa (who…
Sundance 2021: ‘Passing’ is a complex exploration of racial identity
In her debut as a writer-director, Rebecca Hall chose to adapt Nella Larsen’s celebrated 1929 novel. Passing draws from Larsen’s personal experiences as a biracial woman and Hall (who is also biracial) presents a drama fraught with explorations of identity…
Sundance 2021: ‘How it Ends’ tackles the end of the world with only some success
There is no shortage of films about the end of the world, but Daryl Wein and Zoe Lister-Jones’ How it Ends offers a bright, somewhat optimistic spin on the tired trope. No one is running or panicking about the approach…