The usual prep for Sundance involves a good deal of packing (warm coats, snow-ready boots, a dozen thermals and a lot of Theraflu) and several weeks of intense physical training (wind sprints to better catch fast-moving shuttles, long stairmaster sessions for those screenings at the fourth floor Library theater, extreme-cold endurance tests for long waits to enter the Eccles). This year, the suitcases sat gathering dust in the corner and the regimen was simpler: Practice opening your laptop. Now, close it. Repeat several times a day. Press remote button on,...
- 1/28/2022
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
A scrapbook collection of serene, observational moments in search of a story, “Blood” runs deep, but only with obscure meaning, so opaque at times that its essence feels unreachable. Writer-director Bradley Rust Gray’s first feature in a decade offers some modest rewards to patient viewers up for a challenge, but this good-natured study of a young widow’s new chapter in life is finally too understated to leave a memorable trace.
Premiering in this year’s U.S. Dramatic Competition at Sundance, “Blood” is exactly the type of unstructured, casually paced indie that requires the immersive experience of the movie theater: dark, big and distraction-free. The irony, of course, is that’s a hard sell these days to spectacle-seeking ticket buyers. Beyond the festival circuit, the film could find a small, committed audience on streaming platforms. Those captivated by the filmmaker’s previous, similarly dispositioned films like “The Exploding Girl” ought to turn up,...
Premiering in this year’s U.S. Dramatic Competition at Sundance, “Blood” is exactly the type of unstructured, casually paced indie that requires the immersive experience of the movie theater: dark, big and distraction-free. The irony, of course, is that’s a hard sell these days to spectacle-seeking ticket buyers. Beyond the festival circuit, the film could find a small, committed audience on streaming platforms. Those captivated by the filmmaker’s previous, similarly dispositioned films like “The Exploding Girl” ought to turn up,...
- 1/25/2022
- by Tomris Laffly
- Variety Film + TV
Albeit beautifully shot and made tolerable by the warm presence of Carla Juri in the leading role, blood is a frustratingly indulgent study of emotional recovery after the loss of a loved one. This fourth feature by Bradley Rust Gray is splendidly appointed with locations in Japan and Iceland and an appreciation of emotional openness expressed by all the characters. All the same, the mostly short scenes of recent widow Chloe handling her grief day by day possess little compelling drama and are handicapped by a scruffy Japanese male lead who just doesn’t match up with his appealing female counterpart in any credible way. As with the director’s previous work, you come out of it wondering who this film was made for.
Gray, whose little-seen films over the past two decades are Salt, The Exploding Boy and Jack and Diane, has developed a style that as much as...
Gray, whose little-seen films over the past two decades are Salt, The Exploding Boy and Jack and Diane, has developed a style that as much as...
- 1/25/2022
- by Todd McCarthy
- Deadline Film + TV
When You Finish Saving the World The Sundance Institute has announced the films selected for their hybrid 2022 Festival, which will take place in-person in Park City, online, and in arthouse theaters across the United States.U.S. Dramatic COMPETITION892 (Abi Damaris Corbin): When Brian Brown-Easley’s disability check fails to materialize from Veterans Affairs, he finds himself on the brink of homelessness and breaking his daughter’s heart. No other options, he walks into a Wells Fargo Bank and says “I’ve got a bomb.“ Cast: John Boyega, Michael Kenneth Williams, Nicole Beharie, Connie Britton, Olivia Washington, Selenis Leyva. World Premiere.Alice (Krystin Ver Linden): When a woman in servitude in 1800s Georgia escapes the 55-acre confines of her captor, she discovers the shocking reality that exists beyond the treeline…it’s 1973. Inspired by true events. Cast: Keke Palmer, Common, Jonny Lee Miller, Gaius Charles. World Premiere.blood...
- 12/15/2021
- MUBI
Taking place online and in person, the Sundance Film Festival will return for its 2022 edition January 20th through 30th and now the main lineup has been unveiled. With 82 feature-length films representing 28 countries, these films were selected from 14,849 submissions, including 3,762 feature-length films.
Notable titles include Ramin Bahrani’s 2nd Chance, Lena Dunham’s Sharp Stick, Riley Stearns’ Dual, Ricky D’Ambrose’s The Cathedral, two Dakota Johnson-led films, Cha Cha Real Smooth and Am I Ok?, the Bill Nighy-led Ikiru remake Living, Sierra Pettengill’s Riotsville, USA, Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead’s Something in the Dirt, Phyllis Nagy’s Call Jane, W. Kamau Bell’s We Need to Talk About Cosby, Jesse Eisenberg’s When You Finish Saving the World, Kogonada’s After Yang, James Ponsoldt’s Summering, and more.
“The online dimension of the festival was something that after, having done it last year, we valued greatly,” says Tabitha Jackson,...
Notable titles include Ramin Bahrani’s 2nd Chance, Lena Dunham’s Sharp Stick, Riley Stearns’ Dual, Ricky D’Ambrose’s The Cathedral, two Dakota Johnson-led films, Cha Cha Real Smooth and Am I Ok?, the Bill Nighy-led Ikiru remake Living, Sierra Pettengill’s Riotsville, USA, Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead’s Something in the Dirt, Phyllis Nagy’s Call Jane, W. Kamau Bell’s We Need to Talk About Cosby, Jesse Eisenberg’s When You Finish Saving the World, Kogonada’s After Yang, James Ponsoldt’s Summering, and more.
“The online dimension of the festival was something that after, having done it last year, we valued greatly,” says Tabitha Jackson,...
- 12/9/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
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