Film Feature: Highs and Lows from the 2020 Sundance Film Festival

The 2020 Sundance Film Festival concluded this weekend with Festival jurors bestowing prizes upon 28 of the 128 films shown during the ten-day Fest. All the winners can be found here, but, as I did last year, below I present my own highlights — good and bad — and let you know which films you should SEE or SKIP, should any of these be widely released at some point.

1.) Most Unnecessary Remake of a Much Better Foreign Film: Downhill (Category: Narrative Premieres)

The drama After the Wedding took this honor last year, and while Downhill is a comedy, it also should have been tossed in the bad idea bin. The 2014 Swedish original Force Majeure is infinitely better, and the fact that The Way, Way Back writer/directors Nat Faxon and Jim Rash made almost a shot-by-shot remake only reminds us of that fact. As the married couple who face a relationship crisis while on a ski holiday, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell are nicely paired, and if you hadn’t seen the original, you might actually appreciate their comedic effort. Louis-Drefyus has an especially inspired bit of physical comedy in the ski resort bathroom that is Faxon and Rash’s one very funny moment of originality, but it’s not enough to recommend this otherwise flat American version. — SKIP

2.) The Only Film I Saw That Received a Much-Deserved Standing Ovation: The Glorias (Category: Narrative Premieres)

Award-winning playwright Sarah Ruhl teams with director Julie Taymor to bring feminist icon and Ms. magazine founder Gloria Steinem’s 2015 autobiography My Life on the Road to the big screen. Different actresses are cast as Steinem at different ages, and these titular Glorias often talk to one another, in a dramatic device that takes some getting used to, but ultimately serves the story well. Featuring Alicia Vikander as the 20-something Gloria and Julianne Moore as the oldest version, Taymor’s unusual narrative hits all the touchstones of Steinem’s life, from her start in journalism covering “women’s issues” to her activist work with Dorothy Pitman Hughes (Janelle Monáe), Dolores Huerta (Monica Sanchez), and Bella Abzug (a spirited Bette Midler), among others. Taymor’s film will make you both angry and hopeful, as we see how much misogyny and sexism Steinem endured while fighting for women’s equality. And yet, when the real Steinem appears late in the film to read an essay on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential loss, we feel how far we still have to go. — SEE

3.) Winner of the “Haven’t I Seen This Before?” Award: Four Good Days (Category: Narrative Premieres)

Did you see Beautiful Boy back in 2018 ? Or maybe you saw Ben is Back that same year? Or Diane last year? If you did, then there is no reason to see this film, which is basically the exact same addiction drama as Beautiful Boy, only with a worried mother (Glenn Close) and an addicted daughter (Mila Kunis) instead of a father and son. Do we really need another version of the tough-love/relapse/anger/more-tough-love story? I vote no. Filled with plot holes big enough to swallow a rehab clinic, the film’s sole purpose seems to be to allow Kunis to try gritty on for size. — SKIP

4.) Most Grossly Miscategorized “Documentary”: Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets (Category: U.S. Documentary Competition)

That the Sundance programmers placed this faux documentary in the Documentary Competition shows both a complete lack of judgment and a lack of respect for the Sundance audience, who select films to see based on what they assume are accurate and honest descriptions. Billed as a look at a closing Las Vegas dive bar, the cinema verité style film is actually shot in New Orleans and populated by actors pretending to be the bar denizens. “It’s a construction” used to “convey a truth,” the rather defensive filmmakers told the irritated audience during the post-screening Q&A. That’s fine, but then be honest, and place the film in the Next or Midnight category, and advertise it for what it is – an experimental film that looks at the plight of barflys who are losing a community. Even on that level, though, the film is maudlin and overwrought, and has nothing new to say about alcoholism and addiction. — SKIP

5.) Most Moving Portrayal of Grief and Trauma: Wander Darkly (Category: U.S. Dramatic Competition)

Sienna Miller, fresh off her brilliant turn in last year’s American Woman, gives another award-worthy performance in writer/director Tara Miele’s Grand Jury Prize nominated film about how we cope with trauma and loss. Offering a novel take on the A Ghost Story/Sixth Sense type of psychological thriller, Miele brings to the screen a quietly affecting and startingly authentic look at the way processing grief can consume us. Miller is paired well with Diego Luna here, who gives an equally thoughtful and sensitive performance. — SEE

6.) Worst Use of Modern Elements in a Historical Drama: Tesla (Category: Narrative Premieres)

Much like we don’t need another addiction drama (see #3), we probably don’t need another drama about the competition among Tesla, Edison, and Westinghouse. While writer/director Michael Almereyda focuses his eponymous film more exclusively on inventor Nikola Tesla (Ethan Hawke), The Current War, which came out only four months ago, is a much better conceived and executed take on the subject. Almereyda fills his unconventional biopic with grating and cutesy anachronisms that don’t work nearly as well as he must think they do. From Anne Morgan (Eve Hewson)’s “I can’t help but wonder…” Carrie Bradshaw-esque narration (a nod to co-star Kyle Machlachlan (as Edison), perhaps!?), to historical characters conducting Google searches, to Hawke’s Tesla singing Tears for Fears in a cheesy ‘80s music video riff (don’t ask), Almereyda’s avant garde attempt to showcase Tesla’s modern influence just feels ridiculous. And Hawke can’t seem to master Tesla’s Serbian accent, causing Tesla to come across like an even more robotic Sheldon Cooper much of the time. — SKIP

7.) Documentary Most Likely to Make You Run to Google to Do Your Own Research: Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind (Category: Documentary Premieres)

French filmmaker Laurent Bouzereau collaborates with actress Natalie Wood’s daughter Natasha Gregson Wagner to bring this exploration of Woods’s life and death to the screen. As such, the film has a definite point of view, and those who followed the mystery of Woods’s 1981 drowning may find themselves seeking out other opinions on the case for a more balanced perspective. But Bouzerau and Wagner make a persuasive case here for Woods’s husband (and Natasha’s step-father) Robert Wagner’s innocence, even though he’s long been considered a person of interest in Woods’s death. Featuring archival footage and often wrenching interviews with friends and family, Bouzerau has created an engrossing story of both a vibrant woman and an unsolved mystery that continues to haunt those left behind. — SEE