The 10 Biggest Movies From the 2024 Sundance Film Festival

The Sundance Film Festival can admittedly be distilled to some fleeting photos. Like, say, Elizabeth Olsen being photographed on the bustling, wintry Main Street in a form-fitting parka and snow boots.

Organizers most likely know this. That’s why, in honor of the fortieth anniversary of the premiere impartial movie competition based by Robert Redford, they put collectively a slideshow earlier than each single screening that featured candid pictures of a few of the brightest stars and filmmakers who premiered their initiatives in Park City, Utah.

In a captivating montage that dated again to the Nineteen Eighties, audiences caught photos of a fresh-faced Kevin Bacon (The Big Picture), Quentin Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs), Jake Gyllenhaal (The Good Girl), America Ferrera (Real Women Have Curves), Zach Braff (Garden State), Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) and Timothée Chalamet (Call Me by Your Name).

And only for good measure, there was even a shot of Taylor Swift at the premiere of her Miss Americana documentary on opening night time in 2020. You know, again when she was merely an A-list music star.

All of which is to say that in spite of everything these years, the Sundance expertise serves as an necessary stepping stone en path to greatness. For the 2024 version, held from January 18 to twenty-eight, stalwarts corresponding to Kristen Stewart and Aubrey Plaza promoted their work alongside up-and-comers like Maisy Stella and Jay Will. Meanwhile, a few of the most iconic celebrities of all time popped up in unforgettable documentaries, and Robert Downey Jr. confirmed up on opening night time to salute his Oppenheimer director (and Sundance alum), Christopher Nolan. And sure, everyone nonetheless partied on Main Street prefer it was 1999. (That was the 12 months of The Blair Witch Project, btw.)

Scroll down for more information on the 10 buzziest movies from the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Read about them now, then catch them in a theater — or, more likely, on a streaming service — later and discuss them in perpetuity.

‘A Real Pain’

This deeply affecting tragicomedy earned a well-deserved extended standing ovation on a snowy Saturday afternoon. A stellar Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin play close-knit cousins touring to Poland to honor the homeland of their lately deceased Holocaust survivor grandmother. One is a high-strung neurotic taking a tablet for his OCD; the different is a captivating screwup who cuts straight to the core together with his sharp observations. (Guess who performs who.) During their journey — during which they go to a focus camp — they meditate on whether or not connecting with the ache of the previous can alleviate the ache of the current. Eisenberg wrote and directed this top-tier work, drawing on his personal familial roots. Sold to Searchlight for $10 million!

The 10 Biggest Movies From the 2024 Sundance Film Festival — ‘A Real Pain’ Premiere Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

‘A Different Man’

Here’s Sebastian Stan as you’ve by no means seen him earlier than. That is not any oversell contemplating he distorts his face to render himself unrecognizable in a unusual (even by Sundance requirements) thriller. His character, Edward, is an insecure, struggling actor coping with neurofibromatosis who undergoes radical reconstruction surgical procedure so he can look, effectively, like Sebastian Stan. That’s when his issues actually start. For starters, his former next-door neighbor (Renate Reinsve) writes a play primarily based upon their earlier platonic Beauty and the Beast–esque relationship, however Edward can’t disappear into the function due to his good-looking new options. Confused but? Welcome! And but the message about inside magnificence haunts.

‘The Greatest Night in Pop’

For anybody acutely aware in the Nineteen Eighties, this wildly entertaining documentary — which charts the making of the charity pop single “We Are the World” — is nostalgia for the soul. For anybody else? Here’s proof that on a January night in 1985, dozens of music icons checked their egos at the door and pulled an all-nighter in a shabby music studio in Los Angeles for the actually worthwhile reason behind African famine aid. We’re speaking Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Cyndi Lauper, Tina Turner and too many extra to listing right here. “We Are the World” cowriter (and present American Idol decide) Lionel Richie serves as the de facto narrator, and wow, this man has tales. Streaming on Netflix beginning January 29.

‘Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story’

Before Henry Cavill or Tom Welling or Brandon Routh or Dean Cain, there was Christopher Reeve. In some ways, the actor will at all times be the definitive Superman. (Just neglect about that bizarro A.I. cameo in final 12 months’s The Flash.) This documentary chronicles his exceptional life — beginning together with his rise to stardom portraying the strapping comic-book superhero after which, following a tragic equestrian accident in 1995, turning into a real-life superhero as he makes use of his paralysis to lift cash and assist others. His pretty blended household and associates weave collectively anecdotes and let the viewers rejoice a person who was a lot greater than his iconic character. Bring Kleenex.

‘Presence’

Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh has been delivering the items at Sundance since Sex, Lies & Videotape in 1989. His newest is a low-fi supernatural delight. It’s informed from the perspective of the titular presence by having the digicam observe and observe a household of 4 (led by Lucy Liu and This Is Us’ Chris Sullivan) as they transfer into a brand new home and settle in. There goes the spirit because it strikes round just a few books and shakes garments free from a closet and customarily fills the home with a way of impending doom. But what is admittedly happening? The reply proves stunning, which isn’t actually stunning in any respect contemplating Soderbergh is a grasp at his craft.

‘Rob Peace’

Robert Peace was a math and science prodigy who grew up in New Jersey, the son of a hard-working mother and a father (maybe wrongly) convicted of homicide. His mind took him all the solution to Yale University on scholarship, however he then began spiraling and dealing medication and ended up shot to demise at age 30. The tragic story was beforehand informed by Peace’s former roommate in the guide The Short Life and Tragic Death of Robert Peace; now Chiwetel Ejiofor, in his second directorial effort, brings it to the display with a delicate and honest contact. Jay Will (Tulsa King) excels in the title function, whereas Camila Cabello, Mary J. Blige and Ejiofor are sturdy in supporting components. Only these with no coronary heart gained’t be moved — to not point out indignant about what may have been.

‘Winner’

Here’s the fascinating true story behind Reality Winner. As in, the vegetarian CrossFit-teaching, gun-toting Texan Air Force veteran whistleblower named Reality Winner. While working as a translator at the NSA in 2017, Reality (a spitfire Emilia Jones) comes throughout jaw-dropping intel that Russia interfered with the 2016 presidential election. She leaks essential paperwork to the media, resulting in an arrest and main jail time. Though Reality’s distinctive drama has been informed earlier than (lately in an HBO undertaking with Sydney Sweeney), this jaunty entry is super-solid and helped by Jones’ relatable efficiency. Nice supporting turns from Connie Britton and Zach Galifianakis too.

‘My Old Ass’

Do not, I repeat, don’t decide a film by its admittedly terrible title. Otherwise, you’re liable to overlook a traditional Sundance coming-of-age gem. On the cusp of leaving for faculty, self-involved Elliott (Maisy Stella) goes on a mushroom journey and comes face-to-face with the 39-year-old model of herself (Aubrey Plaza). The extra lived-in model of Elliott provides some recommendation — as a result of older equals wiser, proper? Right?! — and in some way, someway stays in contact. The encounter adjustments the teen from deep inside, as she in the end learns a timeless lesson: Life can beat you down, however having fun with the second is the finest feeling in the world. Totally real and transferring.

‘Love Me’

No large deal, just a bit sci-fi odyssey that spans 5 million years and makes an attempt to embody the complete voyeuristic social media expertise. And it sort of succeeds! Maybe? Deep into the future, a solar-powered buoy (voiced by Kristen Stewart) bobbing in the ocean “meets” an orbiting satellite tv for pc (voiced by Steven Yeun). Desperate for a reprieve from solitude, the buoy begins absorbing the Insta feed of married influencers Deja and Liam (Stewart and Yeun in flesh-and-blood type). She turns into her avatar; he reciprocates — and the two be taught that even an A.I. relationship has its points. (Less revelatory: Don’t purchase into the private spotlight reels posted on-line.) Both actors command the display even when the tedious screenplay falters.

‘Freaky Tales’

Set in Oakland in 1987, this electrifying affair weaves collectively 4 out-there interconnected revenge tales. In the best chapter — it’s truly not even a contest — an underworld mobster (Pedro Pascal) embarks on one final shakedown whereas his pregnant spouse patiently waits in the automotive. (He additionally interacts with an A-list star in a video retailer; the cameo introduced down the home throughout the opening-night premiere.) With its excessive blood-soaked rampages, overlapping characters, pop-culture references, subversive humor and offbeat needle drops, the anthology comes off as each a knockoff of the Tarantino oeuvre in addition to an homage. Is that fallacious? Judging by the wild applause at the finish, the reply is not any.

Source link