Five days and two extremely tired eyes later, I’ve watched as many Sundance movies as I can, and I’m ready to talk faves.
Ahead of Sundance, I knew I wasn’t going to get to see some of the heavy hitters, like Olivia Wilde’s “The Invite,” or Aidan Zamiri’s pop star mockumentary “The Moment.” But, in being excluded from some of those larger films, I got the chance to really hone in on some smaller films I may never have watched otherwise. Without further ado, here are my five favorite films out of Sundance.
5. The Best Summer
If last week you told me the director of “Billy Madison” was at one point married to one of the guys from Beastie Boys, I would have never believed you – how could those two pieces of culture have any overlap? But, Tamra Davis was, in fact, married to Mike D from 1993 to 2016, and at one point went with him to Australia for the Summersault Tour in 1995 and 1996, filming all the while. “The Best Summer” is the aggregation of all of that footage, including behind the scenes moments with Dave Grohl, Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, the guys from Pavement, and more.
Davis, along with the help of Bikini Kill’s Kathleen Hanna, conducts laid-back, honest interviews with a number of different people (It seems as though there wasn’t much thought of making this a documentary at the time. Davis rediscovered the videotapes a few years ago). It might be a little bit of the nostalgia factor, but there’s just something fun about hanging out with this particular group of people at this particular time. Whether it’s watching Grohl express anxiety about being a frontman, or watching Beck prove he’s secretly a comedian (his New Year’s resolution is to “wear more shorts.”), or watching the grainy, VHS-quality of 1990s punk performances – it all serves to make you feel completely in the moment.
4. Run Amok
NB Mager’s “Run Amok” is one of the films I was most anxious about coming into Sundance, and one of the films I walked away feeling the most conflicted about. It follows freshman Meg (an exceptional Alyssa Marvin) as she embarks on a journey to write an original musical about a high school shooting that took place at her school 10 years earlier – a shooting that, in addition to being a schoolwide tragedy, represents something very personal for Meg. If you, like me, remember that terrible episode on “Glee” that centered around a school shooter, you probably also feel a spark of anxiety reading that synopsis.
I don’t think “Run Amok” completely nails the tonal tightrope necessary to make a film like “Run Amok” (to the film’s credit, that tight rope is razor thin). But, thinking about the film after the fact, I don’t know that tonal clarity is something a movie like this should be going for. There is nothing clear about gun violence in this country, and “Run Amok” sensitively captures one young woman’s attempt to make sense of it all. I found this film endlessly funny, even when I thought it went a little too broad, and startlingly poignant in its portrayal of how adults – even adults with the best of intentions – continuously fail children in the throes of grief and trauma.
3. The Musical
Moving on to a very different, but equally upsetting type of musical! I wouldn’t blame anyone for not enjoying Giselle Bonilla’s “The Musical,” a story about one middle school drama teacher’s personal vendetta against the school principal. When Doug (Will Brill) finds out that his ex-girlfriend, art teacher Abigail (Gillian Jacobs), is dating Principal Brady (Rob Lowe), he decides to sabotage the school musical, changing it from “West Side Story” (a middle school doing “West Side Story?” Seriously?) to an original work. I don’t want to spoil what that original work is, so let’s just say it involves a 12-year-old dressed up as Rudy Giuliani and leave it at that.
“The Musical” is kind of like a cross between “Election” and “School of Rock,” but where the male teacher in question is written and shot like a serial killer (he’s not as subtly insidiousness as Matthew Broderick’s Jim McAllister in “Election,” but Brill certainly gives him a run for his money). Watching “The Musical” is really about watching one man’s toxicity take him to the breaking point, the film uninterested in Doug learning any lessons by its end. That tone and idea might not work for you, but I found the mean-spirited humor of it all to be quite the respite from far too many Sundance weepies.
2. Nuisance Bear
In “Nuisance Bear,” we find ourselves in Churchill, Manitoba, better known as the polar bear capital of the world, where humans regularly come into contact with the little-seen creatures. Polar bears are a vulnerable species, but to the residents of Churchill – and later, Arviat – it doesn’t seem that way. As it takes longer for water to freeze, polar bears stick around these towns far longer than they used to. And as they become more and more accustomed to humans, they don’t hide as much.
We mainly follow one polar bear on his journey as he finds himself trapped within the Polar Bear Alert Program, but the amazing wildlife photography in “Nuisance Bear” isn’t its only calling card. The film features an Inuit narrator, and through his words, and the inherent conflict that exists between bear and human, we come to understand that the bear is not the only creature who has been affected by – and continues to live in defiance of – a system that seeks to trap it.
1. Extra Geography
As I get older, I find myself more and more affected by films about female friendship. Molly Manners’ “Extra Geography” affected me more than most, as it’s not just about friendship, but about the very worst thing that can happen to one – its end. Set against the backdrop of an all-girls boarding school in England, Minna (Galaxie Clear) and Flic (Marni Duggan) couldn’t be more attached at the hip. They do everything together, and in everything they do, they make sure they’re the best and that they improve at the same rate. They take this last bit very seriously: when Flic asks Minna what they’ll do if she gets better at something quicker than Flic does, Minna rolls her eyes and says, “Then I’d wait for you – obviously!”
But neither Minna or Flic can wait around forever. “Extra Geography” captures not just the strength of friendship at that age, or the excitement of discovering something new with your best friend at your side, but also the heartbreak that comes when you find that you’ve started drifting apart before you’re ready. Manners handles these intense teenage feelings with care, giving Clear and Duggan the space to bring Minna and Flic to live with nuance, cleverness, and vulnerability.