Jordan Peele had trudged through waist-deep snow to the Park City library for a “secret” midnight screening of his directorial debut, “Get Out,” a secret in name only, since everyone Those sitting in the theater — including Malia Obama, then an intern at the Weinstein Co. — knew what they were about to see.
Although, of course, when the lights dimmed, no one had any idea how sharp and powerful Peele's 2017 horror satire on American racism was or that it would become a cultural phenomenon.
“This was my first movie and I just wanted it to reach the public,” Peele told me. “So I was thinking about the people in the theater, how they would react (and if) to what they were seeing on the screen.”
One thing Peele wasn't thinking about: the Oscars. Such thoughts wouldn't cross his mind until five months later, when Universal Pictures hosted a huge party on the studio backlot, ostensibly for the film's home video release, though in reality, its goal was to start leaking rumors about the film. the awards. And even then, Peele tried to put those conversations aside.
“I'm not there yet,” Peele said, expressing gratitude for the Oscar consideration. “I am a big fan of cinema. “When I think about my favorite movies that have achieved that kind of prestige, I think about the best movies of all time.”
“Get Out” has now taken its place among them, establishing itself as one of the iconic debuts of the Sundance Film Festival.
With Cannes, Telluride, Toronto and New York, you have an idea of what to expect when you look at the festival lineups, particularly when it comes to focusing on films that could appear at the Oscars. You've got your big-name authors, your big-budget historical epics, and maybe a biopic or three. Add a musical, as long as it's not “Dear Evan Hansen,” and you have your roadmap.
The documentary “Will & Harper” finds Will Ferrell on a road trip with his old friend Harper Steele, who recently came out as a trans woman.
(Courtesy of the Sundance Institute)
At Sundance, however, you really have no idea. None. Three years ago, at the virtual Sundance, an English-language remake of a 2014 French coming-of-age drama about the teenage daughter of deaf adults premiered without a distributor. It was titled “CODA.” Two days after its inaugural screening, Apple bought it for a record $25 million. Nearly 14 months later, it took home the Oscar for best picture, one of the most unlikely winners in Academy Awards history.
“I was just hoping the film would find a buyer,” Siân Heder, the film's director, told me months after Sundance. Then I hoped it would find an audience when it hit theaters and Apple TV+. By the time it won the Oscar – and Heder had collected the trophy for adapted screenplay – “CODA” had gone from what its star, Marlee Matlin, called a “wave of awareness” for the deaf community to a “tsunami” in almost every country. fronts.
Sebastian Stan stars in the Sundance presentation of “A Different Man.”
(A24)
“CODA” is the only Sundance film to win the Oscar for best picture, an achievement so brazen that it was perhaps inevitable that last year's Oscars were quite thin on films from the 2022 festival. But, as has happened so many times to Over the years, Sundance featured one brilliant performance: Bill Nighy's moving turn in “Living” as a dying man who embarks on a journey to leave behind a lasting impact, which earned him an Oscar nomination.
Celine Song’s bittersweet romance “Past Lives” destroyed audiences at Sundance 2023, an example of a film that was actually highly anticipated, thanks to its release under the banner of the famous A24, a studio with a large following. and a store that sells for $400. “Priscilla” tied designer silver heart locket. A year later, “Past Lives” is in the Oscar conversation for best film, director, screenplay and lead actress, Greta Lee. It would be shocking if it didn't land in at least one of those categories.
Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine star in the Sundance presentation “I Saw the TV Glow,” in which a mysterious late-night TV show, a vision of a supernatural world beneath our own, takes hold of teenagers.
(Sundance Institute)
A24 has another movie that should get people talking this year: “A Different Man,” starring Sebastian Stan as an actor with neurofibromatosis who undergoes surgery to radically transform his features. When he wakes up, he looks like…Sebastian Stan. This improves his love life, but he can't get any jobs because his appearance is now too generic. Meanwhile, the woman who loved him before the surgery (played by Norwegian actress Renate Reinsve, so great in “The Worst Person in the World”) leaves him and writes a play based on their relationship. Think “Being John Malkovich,” starring the guy known for playing Bucky Barnes, and you'll understand why this will take social media platforms by storm when it releases.
What other thing? Again, this is Sundance, so movies that sound promising can fall apart in a second. But '90s nostalgists will have deep feelings about Jane Schoenbrun's “I Saw the TV Glow,” which centers on a fictional “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”-type TV show (“The Pink Opaque”) that becomes an obsession. of cult. People in their 30s and 40s, those who grow careless remembering their childhood watching Brendan Fraser in “George of the Jungle,” will love it.
Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun star in “Love Me”
(Justine Yeung/courtesy of Sundance Institute)
There's also “Freaky Tales,” a multi-part drama from Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, the filmmaking duo behind “Sugar,” “Half Nelson” and, of course, “Captain Marvel.” Set in Oakland in 1987, it spans four interconnected stories featuring skinheads and punks, rappers and an NBA star. It features a cast that includes Pedro Pascal, Ben Mendelsohn and the late, great Angus Cloud.
And it wouldn't (or shouldn't) be Sundance without Kristen Stewart, who stars in a pair of titles this year and will receive the festival's Visionary Award at the opening gala. Stewart co-stars with Steven Yeun in “Love Me,” billed as a sci-fi love story between a satellite and a buoy. (“It's hard to explain,” Stewart told Entertainment Weekly. I'm not going to argue.) And she'll be in A24's romantic thriller “Love Lies Bleeding,” playing a gym manager who falls in love with a bodybuilder.
Finally, how about “Will & Harper,” a documentary about Will Ferrell learning that a 30-year-old close friend comes out as a trans woman? How do you process this and move on to the next stage of your friendship? Journey! It sounds like it might be the perfect movie to show your transphobic family members — you know, the ones who watched “Elf” 83 times and forced you to watch it again this Christmas.
