Good morning 🐣

Well would you look at that; we’re somehow already on our second year of covering the Sundance Film Festival. Cue the “time moves so fast nowadays” conversation. And just like last year, I attended the fest virtually, safely ensconced in my bedroom with cat firmly planted on my neck, slowly suffocating me. Surprised I don’t have any bed sores. I’m risking my life for you people!

The only downside to doing the fest virtually is that they don’t make all their films available online, so you won’t be reading about the big ones everyone’s been talking about. The upside is that you won’t be reading about the big ones everyone’s been talking about. I also watched a lot this year, so I’ll be splitting them up by themes over the next few weeks, interspersed between our regular programming.

I’m not sure when these movies will be available for mass consumption, but I’ll be sure to keep you updated.

Let’s rock!!

My general rule of thumb is that every movie can be improved upon with a highly choreographed group dance sequence, which is proven all the more by “The Persian Version,” winner of the U.S. Dramatic Audience Award and a Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. In this case it’s an Iranian family dancing to Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” in their private courtyard, free from the oppressive cultural authorities ruling their country.

This comedy drama follows Leila, a young Iranian American woman in present-day New York, and the growing rift between her and her immigrant mother. Their stories shuffle back and forth throughout the decades as Leila learns the complexity and fullness of her mother’s life. It’s funny, vibrant, and messy.

“Fremont” is another comedy drama, this one much dryer than the last, about Donya, a twenty-something Afghan refugee who had previously translated for U.S. troops. She’s now in Fremont, California, working at a handmade fortune cookie factory and unable to sleep, conflicting emotions haunting her every night. At the factory an old lady is constantly typing out fortunes on an old computer, but one day she suddenly sits there motionless, gazing into the distance, then SMACK and she’s facedown on the keyboard. As the owner opines, “She’s dead. But she was also getting too old to write about the future.” Donya takes on the newly-vacant job as she tries to find her place in the world and visits a psychiatrist who can only seem to relate life to Jack London’s “White Fang.”

“Just because I’m a hypocrite doesn’t mean I’m wrong.”

Adapted by Adrian Tomine from his graphic novel of the same name, “Shortcomings” is the directorial debut of actor Randall Park. It’s a light comedy about Asian American identity, dating, and ego. Ben (Justin H. Min, “After Yang”) is a struggling filmmaker managing an arthouse theater in Berkeley, California. He’s about as full of himself as that sounds. After his girlfriend moves to the other side of the country and decides they need to “take a break,” Ben explores dating white girls, learning too little too late that it’s not them, it’s him.

Sherry Cola (that name!) plays his best friend, Alice, and is the absolute heart and soul of the film. She utters the line I quoted above. Jacob Batalon (the latest “Spider-Man” movies), Timothy Simons (Jonah Ryan on “Veep”), and Debby Ryan (some memes) all have great cameos. It’s a fine, funny movie, but the problem is that all of these characters’ shortcomings (literally every single character is awful in their own way) can ultimately get a bit irritating to watch.

Now this movie was my absolute favorite of the bunch… “The Accidental Getaway Driver,” winner of the U.S. Dramatic Directing Award for Sing J. Lee, takes place in Orange County, California, a place I am all too familiar with. Long, a Vietnamese Uber driver played by 81-year-old actor Hiep Tran Nghia in his first lead role, reluctantly takes a job that inadvertently ends up being — you guessed it — the getaway driver for three escaped convicts. Partly based on a true story, it’s an interesting piece that deals with memory, community, and language barriers. And though the movie itself has some flaws and loses quite a bit of its tension early on, it features some highly charismatic performances (especially from Dustin Nguyen, the original “21 Jump Street” TV show and “3 Ninjas Kick Back”) and stunning neo-noir visuals by cinematographer Michael Cambio Fernandez.

Now watch this 👀

You didn’t think I’d leave you high and dry with nothing to watch this week, did you?

Revisiting last year’s Sundance fest, here’s what I wrote about “Hatching”:

In this Finnish film, the cracks in a seemingly idyllic family begin to show after the mother cruelly kills a bird that’s ruined her latest social media video. Her tween daughter, burdened with heavy expectations in her gymnastics competitions, brings home and nurtures the dead bird’s egg, which quickly balloons to an obscene size. What both literally and metaphorically hatches is tragic and horrifying.

Until next time! 👋