Sundance Film Festival 2025

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the final girl on 6th Avenue podcast. My name is Carol Carolyn Smith Hilmer, and I'm 6th Avenue's very own Final Girl. And today I'm really excited because, as some of you may know, I went to Sundance Film Festival again this year. Very exciting time. This was a really strong year and a really competitive year for all of the films that were, you know, submitted. And while I don't see exclusively horror films while I'm there, I do like to try to provide, you know, a little recap for you all that are interested in hearing on what I did see and what I thought of everything that I saw. So I wanted to go ahead and do that again this year. I only actually saw one film out of the Midnight, which is the horror category this year, and it was incredible. Incredible. And the best possible way I saw it the first day of the festival. And wow, once you've seen something like that, you really just. There's. There's really just no way to top it. So, yeah, like I said, this episode is not going to be solely about horror films, but just to give you a recap of what I saw, what I thought, what I think you should try to see for all of you cinephiles out there and, you know, just my overall opinion on things. So let's get into it, and then next time we'll be back to regular, you know, horror programming. So the first day of the festival, I. In my first movie, I saw a 2024 release called April. It was a Georgian film, and it was released in 2024. So this was featured in the spotlight category. So spotlight means that it was. It had already premiered at a different festival and was, you know, shown. It was selected to be shown again at this festival. And so I believe this was at Venice Film Festival, and it made the rounds and. And rightfully so. Like, it was amazing. And it was actually my first time seeing a Georgian film, and so that was really interesting, and I loved it. So April is about an obstetrician named Nina at a maternity hospital in eastern Georgia. After a difficult delivery, an infant dies and the father demands an inquiry into her methods. The scrutiny threatens to expose. Expose Nina's secret side job, which is visiting village homes of pregnant girls and women to provide unsanctioned abortions. All of the descriptions that I'll be reading are not from our bible today. They are actually going to be directly from the Sundance Film Festival website. So I'll link each of them in the show notes so that you all can go check it out. This film was long. It was 2 hours and 14 minutes. And what a roller coaster. What a rollercoaster. So Nina, the film opens with a birth, a vaginal birth. And Nina is the obstetrician who's handling the birth. And the baby dies like within minutes of being born. And so the father of the child demands, you know, to know why this happened and how could this have happened and is basically just upset that the child didn't. Didn't live. And I understand that. Nina makes sure to remind him that there was no record of this woman ever having been pregnant. She had never been to a single appointment of any kind. The pregnancy was essentially unregistered. No one had any clue that this woman was pregnant until she showed up at the hospital to give birth. So kind of can't intervene on something, you know, if you don't know about it. Right. So interesting. So that's kind of like the overarching, you know, thing that's happening in the background. The side job that she has of providing these unsanctioned abortions comes to a head when we see her go to the home of a woman who they seemingly have a long history together. Nina actually was the obgyn that birthed all of this woman's kids. And she has a daughter who is both deaf and mute. And so turns out that she has become pregnant. And the whole time we're not really sure how. Right, because she doesn't. The mother makes it a point to say that she never leaves the house. She doesn't understand how she could have snuck out or where she could have snuck out to. And the whole thing is just confusing. But the moral of the story is she just wants this, this baby gone. So Nina provides this abortion and the end of the film actually brings all of it to a head when we find out that this young woman who had the abortion performed on her, who was both deaf and muted, had been found murdered. And she was a repeat victim of her brother in law having sexually abused her and raped her. But they found out through autopsy means that she had had a recent abortion. And the rumor of Nina having this side job has come up more than once. And so she now has this problem on her hands. But we actually find out that the, the birth at the beginning of the film where the child died, Nina gets, gets off on that. There's no like charges or anything for that. But now she faces this whole other issue where she did what she thought was right and now this girl is dead and was a victim of horrible abuse. The film often, like, I'm gonna go ahead and say, like, this is not for everybody. It's just not. And the reason why it's not for everybody is not because of the subject matter. I think the subject matter is important. And if you are a grown adult man and you cannot watch a live birth, a vaginal birth occur or a C section birth occurring in a movie theater on the very first film of the entire Sundance Film Festival without squirming in your seat and saying, oh, my God, I can't believe they're showing this. You need to fuck off. There was a man who sat right in front of me with his wife, and the whole time there was something on the screen, like, either birth or anything. He just was like, oh, oh, oh, no, dude, come on. I hope that your wife did not provide you with a single child, because you don't deserve to have one if you think that our anatomy is so disgusting that you can't bear to look at it on a movie screen. Like, I couldn't believe that somebody was acting like this, especially at a film festival. Film festivals are about having an open mind, so shut the fuck up. But the reason why this film is not for everybody is because there are a lot of instances in which the camera is static or slowly panning, and we're just looking at, like, a field of flowers. And that'll go on for, like, a couple minutes. So those are kind of, like, interwoven throughout the film. And so that's why I say it's not for everyone, is because for some people, that will be boring or not make sense. And for me, we see so much, and in this film, and the reason that we do. And I found this out in the Q and A after from the director, Dea Kumblish Gavili. She brought to light to us, our audience, that she. Art, to her is about being uncomfortable and looking at something. Not like a couple seconds, like, really looking at something and being okay with the fact that you are going to be uncomfortable, and that's okay. Learning to be uncomfortable when looking at art is something that everyone should have the ability to do. She also told us that this was shot in the village or. And. Or town that she is from. And so that provided even more, you know, nuance for the audience, but even more meaning for her. She grew up here. Her family, you know, has lived there. And so, yeah, it was incredible. And it was, I would say, a very personal film to her. So that was April in the spotlight category. Everything else that I'm going to tell you about is a world premiere. April is the only one that was not premiered at Sundance. So the second film I saw was called Luz L U Z. Like the Spanish word for light, this was featured in the World Cinema dramatic competition. In the neon lit streets of Chongqing, Wei desperately searches for his estranged daughter fa, while Hong Kong gallerist Ren grapples with her ailing stepmother Sabine in Paris. Their lives collide in a virtual reality world where a mystical deer reveals hidden truths, sparking a journey of discovery and connection through a uniquely structured narrative. The vibrant VR world of Luz plays host to parallel quests to rekindle familial love. Writer director Flora Lau skillfully world builds through dualities, subversive parent child relationships, the blurred line between cyberspace and the physical. The seamless switch between the neon flooded Chongqing and the neutral brushed Paris. Written and directed by Flora Lau Chinese film It's Chinese and French and the run time was one hour and 42 minutes. So not, you know, terribly long. This film is good. I. I'm not going to say that I didn't enjoy my time with it. I think I. I don't want to sound like I didn't like it because I did. I just. I don't think for me it did a lot. I think I had a hard time with the. So there's two storylines, right? There's a man named Wei in China and he's searching for his daughter. And then in Paris, there's a woman named Ren who is taking care of her stepmother Sabine. And Way, I would have liked to have seen more on Way and him searching for his daughter Ren attempting to take care of her stepmother was not like. It didn't like, land for me. I would say that. Well, it was like. It was almost like between the characters, I couldn't tell if they actually, like, really loved one another or had, like, familial love for one another. I don't know. And it could just be mean. It could just be like the. Maybe the mood I was in when I watched it, I still liked it. I still thought it was entertaining. I thought it was beautiful. I think that the VR, like, the usage of the VR worlds in this was like, pretty incredible and, and creative and certainly not something that I probably would have been able to think of or construct a story around. But if, if this is coming, you know, near you and you have an interest in seeing it, I would say do it. I really would. It, it's. It's all about connecting and, you know, trying to find something that you've lost or trying to rekindle something that's been broken. And so I think for a lot of people, this will be a really impactful film. And visually, like, it's stunning. The third film I saw is the Ugly Stepsister. The Ugly Stepsister is in the midnight category. This is the only film I saw from the midnight category. And there is like, there's nothing like the midnight category screenings. They don't actually take place at midnight. It's just called Midnight. And that's like the synonymous with the horror categories. They do take place typically later at night though, like 10, 11. But the crowd that goes to see the midnight films is the best crowd. It is the best theater you'll sit in. It is the most fun, you know, thing you'll be a part of always. For example, like, this film had so many production companies that were involved and each time one flashed up on the screen, of course, you know, we were all cheering for it. And, you know, every time something that looks a little gross is about to happen, we're all audibly, you know, making noise together. And so, I don't know, I think the midnight films are the most fun. In a fairy tale kingdom where beauty is brutal business, Elvira battles to compete with her incredibly beautiful stepsister. And she will go to any length to catch the prince's eye. A twisted retelling of Cinderella with gruesome fidelity to the grimmest rendition. The Ugly Stepsister shifts the focus to stepsister Elvira's pursuit of beauty at all cost. But where fairy tale Cinderellas have silkworms, this one has tapeworms for good measure. Norwegian filmmaker Emily Blickfelt throws in decomposing corpses, tongue in cheek body horror and a 19th century surgical makeover, creating a darkly funny, grotesque debut feature. It shrewdly satirizes manufactured beauty and its industries, selling body image as the means to attain desirability, success and social status. We can't help but empathize with Elvira, who is insecure and drawn into her mother's barbaric beautification scheme, largely as a means to an end, acceptance and happiness ever after. From nose to toe, the vessel of Elvira's disturbing transition is breakout talent Leah Mirren, who gives a heroically committed performance. Okay, this is also my first Norwegian film. One hour, 45 minute runtime. Wow. Just wow. It was everything you could ever want and nothing that you don't. It's like seeing the story, first of all, as someone who likes, actually likes Disney and, and who likes Cinderella from the stepsister's perspective is pretty incredible. So the film starts with, like, Elvira and her sister and her mom. And they go to this, you know, beautiful castle where they're going to marry off one of the sisters, you know, to. To this man. And he's old and, like, they are basically getting married because Elvira's mom has a lot of money and this man doesn't. And he has a beautiful daughter, gorgeous, long blonde hair. She's, you know, seemingly perfect in every way. And of course, that night at dinner, the. The newly married husband dies. And so they get word that there's the princess having a ball to find his. His wife to find a princess. And because of, you know, all of the issues that are surrounding the fact that they now live in this castle where this man died. And it was, you know, this beautiful girl's dad. And like, it's like a whole, you know, it's very emotional, but Elvira's mom basically is like, you're ugly. Like, don't get it twisted. But we're gonna make you pretty and we're gonna make it to where the prince basically has no choice but to marry you because you'll be so perfect. In the Brothers Grimm version of this story, if, you know, you may remember that she actually, the stepsister, cuts off her toes and like, part of her feet to fit into the glass slipper or the shoe. And that happens here, too. That totally happens here too. It is not the only thing that is gross, and I would say that's probably the least gross thing that happens. There is a tapeworm. I have a rather maybe irrational fear of tapeworms. I'm terrified of them. And there is a particular scene with the tape. I really don't want to spoil it because, like, you should watch this. There's a particular scene with the tapeworm that's like, I don't know, like five minutes towards the end of the movie. And in our theater, a girl actually threw up during it because it was so gross. And I gagged because, like, you know, worms. But I didn't throw up. This girl full blown threw up. Thank God it was towards the end of the film. But the, the hype is real around this film. The director, Emily, who, you know, is responsible for this absolutely incredible feat of directing, she, you know, we touched on in the Q and A how this is not necessarily a body horror film, but I would say that a lot of it is revolving around the concept and how important it is for to see women directing body horror and making body horror films. Because it really does provide a unique perspective. You can see the substance. For further information, obviously also directed by a woman, also nominated for best picture. Also nominated for best picture. So seeing a woman direct the horror of another woman is really emotional and actually provides a lot of. For me anyway, I'm able to, you know, I have a lot more empathy, I think, just with the way that women, you know, write characters of other women. So I say, check it out. You will not be disappointed, I swear. And it's above everything else, it's actually, it's a beautiful film. The. Whoever the cinematographer was, I forget you are incredible. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise. The lighting in this, in this movie is crazy. It's so good. So day two I saw Andre is an Idiot, part of the US Documentary competition. Andre is a brilliant idiot and is dying because he didn't get a colonoscopy. His sobering diagnosis, complete irreverence and insatiable curiosity send him on an unexpected journey, learning how to die happily and ridiculously without losing his sense of humor. When Andre receives dreadful news that a disease is destroying his body and his days on earth can be counted in weeks and months, he decides to make a move about it. An admittedly strange choice for the average person. But Andre is no average person. Creative, funny and inappropriate, he approaches the story of what it feels like to know that he will die with the same passion and excitement his loved ones know him for and expect. Andre is an Idiot is a hilarious portrait of a unique human being who goes on the journey we all must go on and learn that endings, while heart wrenching and final, can be an opportunity for gratitude and joy for the path taken. This was directed by Tony benna with a 1 hour and 28 minute runtime. This is actually a great. This is a great documentary. You're probably thinking, oh, like this is gonna be like the saddest, you know, journey ever of watching somebody die from cancer. And I have to tell you, it's not. It's actually not. It's. It is absolutely hilarious. Every step of the way is funny. He finds the humor in every possible way that he can. And you know, his. He's one of those people. Was. Excuse me, Was. Rest in peace. He's gone. He's not with us anymore. But he was one of those people that just like only really felt like he mattered if he was making people laugh. And he even has a call with his therapist during the film where he says, if I can't make Tallulah, my daughter, laugh anymore, then I Feel like I'm dead already. So, you know, it. I get, I kind of get what he's, where he's coming from. I mean, we all have characteristics of ourselves that like, if we couldn't express any more than like, we might as well just be dead anyway. [00:25:24] Speaker B: And for him, making people laugh brought. [00:25:29] Speaker A: Him so much joy and all the way until the end. And instead of being sad about dying, he goes on to, you know, show you that dying doesn't have to be. It doesn't have to be sad. It doesn't have to just be you and your family every day for weeks or months or years on end staring at you while you lay in your room and cry over, over it. Right? Like, it doesn't have to be that way. It was eye opening and I think maybe change my perspective a little bit on how life is still something to be celebrated even if you know that your time is finite and you have a, like a date pretty much on when that is going to end. So I don't really want to give too much away about this because my favorite part of this documentary was learning about Andre, who he is, who he was as a person and like what his life story was. So I would encourage you to find, you know, if this, if and when this gets picked up, please take the time to see it. It. You will laugh a lot and you will cry a little, but you can also rest easy knowing that Andre was a force of life. And also he wanted this, like he wanted to make a movie about this. And so he made it with his best friends and his family. And his, his, his wife and two daughters were at the festival. I did not get a chance to meet them, but I wanted to thank them for sharing the end of his life with us. So if for whatever reason one of the three of you hear this, thank you very much. The next film I saw on the second day, I only saw two films that day, which, you know, was not a bad thing because I needed. Sometimes we need a break. The things you kill was entered into the world cinema dramatic competition. You will come to find that I saw a lot of movies in this category. Haunted by the suspicious death of his ailing mother, a university professor coerces his enigmatic gardener to execute a cold blooded act of vengeance. Celebrated Iranian American director Alireza Katami makes his Sundance competition debut with his striking third feature, a quietly insidious psychological thriller that hits close to home. With ingenuity and bold self awareness, Katami orchestrates a gradual descent into the oppressive depths of generational Patriarchy peeling back long held secrets and collectively condoned behavior to confront the decaying, internalized ugliness underneath. Set against sweeping landscapes, the film boasts a renowned Turkish cast who nuanced performances punctuate the searing examination of cycles of violence, ensuring that voice is given to a generation desperately seeking to renounce the dark legacy they have inherited. I think this is the best film of the. Of the festival for me. Again, written and directed by alireza katami. Runtime 1 hour, 53 minutes. I think this was my first exposure to Turkish cinema, so I can't thank him enough for that. It is visually stunning. I mean, wow. I have to give it up to Alireza, the director for a few reasons. The first is that he, you know, introduced. If you've not been to Sundance, typically the director will say a few words before the film and then they'll stay and continue to talk and do a Q and A after the film. So when he came to, you know, introduce the film to us as an audience, he said that this film is deeply, deeply personal to him and that he is sad that he was not the one that ultimately murdered his father or took his father's life. So you can kind of, you know, you can kind of make out what he's trying to say, the main character in this film. Oh, and he also dedicated this film to David lynch, who he, you know, puts on this pedestal that, you know, a lot of us do, that David lynch opened our eyes to so many things that we didn't know that we could actually do in cinema. And he said that Lost highway opened his mind up for, you know, a lot of the inspiration for this film. So rest in peace, David Lynch. I won't cry again. But, yeah, you can see the David lynch aspects of this film. And so essentially, the main character is, you know, a married man and he is a university professor. And he. There's, like, you know, in the background this story of how him and his wife, like, can't get pregnant even though they really want a child. And we find out that he's been going to the doctor on his own and the reason they can't get pregnant is actually not her, it's. It's him. And so he's dealing with that. And he's also dealing with taking care of his mom a lot of the time. And she is, you know, can barely walk. She's very ill. He, you know, makes sure to bathe her and clean up the house and feed her and do all the things that he can for her, and he Ultimately will basically leave the home whenever his father returns in the, you know, early evening and afternoon. Him and his father do not have a good relationship and so he, you know, doesn't want to be around. Well, one day they get a phone call that his mom is dead. And the circumstances around her death are interesting because they, you know, the dad was the only one that was home when it happened. And he claims that she just fell and she just died. Like she fell and she died and like we don't know what happened. Like, this is crazy and like the way that she was found kind of paints a different picture that maybe she was pushed. And it's uncovered throughout the film by the main character sisters that like, you know, this is not the first time that. And this would not be the first time that their dad had physically abused their mom. And so this sets the main character into rage and he has hired a gardener. They have a farm. He's hired a gardener to help tend to the farm. And him and the gardener go and they kidnap dad and they, they murder him. And so the rest of the film is, you know, examining what that looks like in practicality and what that kind of means for the rest of the, you know, the family and the life and, and how, you know, how by wanting to defeat one darkness, he essentially uncovered another. And it's brilliant. It's absolutely brilliant. Please see it. I can't say enough good things about it. I got to, you know, share a smile with the director at the end and a thank you for the film. And so it really is powerful, I think. Oh, and also I will say this on a first watch, I think you'll definitely say to yourself, wow, what the fuck happened? I'm so confused. Good, you should be, because every single scene in this film has meaning, every single one. So be prepared to be on your A game to watch this and I promise you will enjoy it. Okay, so day three, which was my final day, I started off with another world cinema dramatic competition. Wow. I guess I just couldn't stay away. And I hope I'm saying this correctly. The film is called Sukwon Island. On the remote island, 13 year old Roy agrees to spend a formative year of adventure with his father deep in the Norwegian fjords. What starts as a chance to reconnect descends into a test of survival as they face the harsh realities of their environment and confront their unresolved turmoil. Based on the story from David Vann's book Legend of a Suicide, the second feature from Vladimir de Fontenay is a taught psychological Thriller that blends elements of a survival film and father son drama before reaching a surprising poignant conclusion that artfully reorients the story. Although his striking photography captures a foreboding, desolate beauty of the wilderness, the film is propelled by phenomenal performance by 3 times Caesar Award winner, Swan Arlo. He was also in Anatomy of a Fall, and a brilliant newcomer, Woody Norman. Together they create a spellbinding depth and complexity to the gradually unfolding relationship. It's tentative rapprochement, vulnerability, and the exchange that occurs as Tom tries to usher Roy into manhood. But as the situation intensifies, so too do Tom's tangled emotions around the painfully unresolved breakup of his family. This film is in English. A lot of it is also in French. And this is. This is powerful. This is powerful. What's interesting here is that they. Well, they had to go through some pretty, you know, they had to really work to film this one. They were, you know, in. In Norway and you know, minus 25 degrees, minus 30 degrees, they were having the, you know, the actors swimming in the water. Oh my fuck. That's probably. I can't even imagine. It was so cold actually, and that they had, you know, anytime they had to film scenes where they would swim or be in the water, that they actually had a portable sauna so that they could heat themselves up again afterwards. And the entire film is revolved around this father son relationship, right? And you. They have an estranged relationship, there's no denying that. But what makes it more interesting is the fact that you get this underlying feeling throughout the whole thing that Roy is being used by Tom, his dad, to kind of get back at Roy's mother because she doesn't want to get back together with Tom. And they make a comment later in the film that the night that Tom left the house, you know, was kicked out and they decided to separate. He came into Roy's bedroom to say goodbye and Roy looked at him like he was being held hostage. And so you kind of get that sense that that's also happening here in a way, in a less like, explicit way because they can't, like, they can't leave the island. The only way to get off of the island that they're on is via seaplane. And they're. They don't have one. They. They have a, you know, a friend who has one. And so she will periodically come and like, check in on them, but it doesn't happen very often. So, like there'll be like six months, you know, or something crazy like that where, like they don't have a radio to talk to anybody. And it's, it's more to me looking through Roy's eyes at the behavior of his father. And I don't want to give it away, but what I do want to say is obviously you can read the book. What I want to say is that you find out at the end that they never went on this trip at all. This is a story of what could have happened had they, you know, had Roy agreed to go on this trip. And David Van actually has said that this particular story in Legend of a Suicide is based on his life and is what he imagined, imagines what could have happened had he agreed to go on this trip with his father. The second film I watched was also in the US documentary competition and is called Predators. To Catch a Predator was a popular television show designed to hunt down child predators and lure them to a film set where they would be interviewed and eventually arrested. An exploration of the scintillating rise and staggering fall of the show and the world it helped create. Create. Posing provocative, uncomfortable and perhaps unanswerable questions about society's conception of crime and punishment, Predators focuses its lens on the phenomenon of To Catch a Predator. Director David Ossett conducts a thoughtful, layered analysis of the show, its meaning and its larger legacy from the original series to both its sanctioned and copyright. He surfaces legally and ethically questionable tactics employed to turn vigilante justice into media spectacle with little thought to the life changing consequences for the perpetrators and others impacted by the program. In the process, Ossett subverts expectations about To Catch a Predator and its ilk as well as self reflexively about the morality and purpose of his own film. How are we complicit by consuming true crime programs or documentaries about them which trade in public humiliation and schadenfreude as part popular entertainment. This is a 96 minute film, so relatively, you know, short. And it's brilliant. It's obviously brilliant. I myself have, obviously I hate pedophiles. Like, I like that shouldn't even be something that I have to say. So, like, I don't want anybody to think I'm defending them in any way. But even when I watched To Catch a Predator when I was younger, I always thought to myself, without this show and without these decoys that, you know, they use, the decoys would be like the. They were adults, but they looked and pretended to act as children on the show for the predators. In the absence of these particular decoys, would the perpetrator ever have offended? Like, would they have Otherwise offended, we have no idea. The second thing that I always thought was interesting is that they have police officers outside of all of the homes always, whenever they, you know, lure the predator inside. And, you know, Chris Hansen comes out and he starts questioning the predator. And then the predator, you know, he's like, you're free to leave. Well, but the issue with that is that they're actually not free to leave because there are police officers waiting outside to, you know, arrest this. This predator. So at what point then do you draw the line in terms of when your Miranda rights are read to you? I mean, if. If I don't tell you that there are police outside the front door and I start asking you to talk, I mean, where do we draw the line with that in terms of. In terms of due process? Right. So these are all things that I've questioned for a long time, and they are actually addressed in this. And from David's. The director's perspective, this show was important to him because he was a victim of childhood sexual abuse. And the lifelong question that David always had is why. Why is it that, you know, that children are the targets of these people? And what is it that makes these people want to target children? It's not a one size fits all answer, right? So. But the show he watched, To Catch a Predator, it came out when he was in college, and he watched the show with the hopes of finding an exploration into why these perpetrators set out to do something like this. And he never got an answer to that question. So for me, I thought this was profoundly impactful. And I hope that in David's journey of, you know, trying to reconcile what happened to him as a child, he finds some form of, I don't know, comfort, or he's able to get some answers to maybe some questions that he's always had that have never been attempted to be answered. And really, what I think on To Catch a Predator, where the issue was, is that they couldn't show you the. The. They couldn't show you the parts where after the perpetrator was arrested and they were, you know, in jail, what the. Those conversations looked like, because that would humanize the perpetrator in such a way that wouldn't be entertaining anymore to, you know, the audience and doesn't make us complicit in these acts by seeking it out to either listen to it or watch it. So it's very interesting. I would say this is a largely philosophical, you know, film, and I think really will make you think and maybe even possibly reconsider your viewership of a lot of these, these types of entertainment. So if and when this gets picked up, which I think it will, because fuck, it was so good, please watch it and please watch it with an open mind. [00:46:44] Speaker B: Last but certainly not least, I had the pleasure of seeing the premiere of the Thing With Feathers. Struggling to process the sudden and unexpected death of his wife, a young father loses his hold on reality as a seemingly malign presence begins to stalk him from the shadowy recesses of the apartment he shares with his two young sons. Two time Sundance Film Festival alum Dylan Southern adaptation of the acclaimed Max Porter novella Grief Is the Thing with Feathers artfully emphasizes the transformative and terrible momentousness of one's family bereavement. [00:47:24] Speaker A: The film's inspired execution of the physical. [00:47:27] Speaker B: Manifestation of their grief on screen creates. [00:47:29] Speaker A: An exquisite visual rendering of the sinister. [00:47:32] Speaker B: Reality dominating the family's unkept home and shattered lives. Benedict Cumberbatch submerges himself in his performance. [00:47:39] Speaker A: Of a shell shocked father, while the. [00:47:45] Speaker B: Film juxtaposes his character's altered reality with that of his two vivacious sons. The sons, played with sensitivity by Richard and Henry Boxhall, grapple with both the enormity of their loss as well as their unmoored father's attempts to carry on parenting them alone again. Written and directed by Dylan Southern Based on the novella titled Grief Is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter Runtime 1:04 and 44 this film is like, I don't even know how to tell you what exactly I feel about. [00:48:27] Speaker A: Starts. [00:48:28] Speaker B: Out with, you know, the death of, of the familial matriarch and. [00:48:35] Speaker A: Just, it. [00:48:35] Speaker B: Really illustrates like the day to day, you know, what it would mean or feel like to have to continue to parent your children with the loss of your spouse and their loss of their mother and trying to continue to live like, I guess, a normal life. [00:48:57] Speaker A: It's like. [00:49:01] Speaker B: It'S devastating. The Thing with Feathers that they're talking. [00:49:07] Speaker A: About is a rather large crow and. [00:49:14] Speaker B: Crows have often been used, you know, in representation of grief. But the crow is the, you know. [00:49:25] Speaker A: The representation of grief that is not, you know, malign. He's actually there to help in a. [00:49:36] Speaker B: Weird way and assist and aid this grieving family through their path of, of grief and like not allowing them to be stuck in the grief so that they can continue to live. Right, live life. [00:49:54] Speaker A: So I, I think like this is. [00:49:56] Speaker B: A deeply emotional film and I really liked the exploration of the family dynamics that I saw, you know, this year with all of the films that I saw that involved A familial, you know, nature. Right. But this one, this one was. Was moving. And I don't mean that to say that the other ones were not, but it was moving in the way that. [00:50:26] Speaker A: It was palpable while you were watching. [00:50:32] Speaker B: The feelings that they all had, they're scared, they don't know what to do. They're confused. They're trying to, you know, distract themselves. They're trying to do all the things that, you know, during the grieving process are not helpful. And so for that reason, I think that I've seen films that use, like a horror element to represent grief before. And so I don't know that for me, this was like my favorite of the film or of the. Of the films that I saw. It was still good. Like, it was very good. It was like, to me, everything that Babadook thought it could be, but obviously isn't because I don't particularly love that movie. And. [00:51:31] Speaker A: I would say that this one felt more realistic. [00:51:35] Speaker B: And it helps, of course, that Benedict. [00:51:36] Speaker A: Cumberbatch was in it because he's incredible. So I would like to read this. [00:51:44] Speaker B: Novella, actually, to get a better understanding of the story. [00:51:48] Speaker A: And I really do think, because, you know, sometimes, like when it's on a screen, coming from a. Like a book, you don't really know. [00:51:58] Speaker B: It'S harder to visually depict what's being described. So I think that that's something that I would like to do. But there are horror elements in this film, even though I would not classify it as a horror film, although the concept of grief is frightening, obviously. So those are the films that I saw this year at Sundance Film Festival. I thoroughly enjoyed my time. I can't wait to come back again. I hope you all enjoyed listening to this recap. And I will be back with our regular content, regular horror content very soon. And of course, before we part ways, I have to let you know that the final girl on 6th Avenue is part of the Morbidly Beautiful Network. And Morbidly Beautiful is your home for horror. Please go to morbidlybeautiful.com to check it out. [00:52:57] Speaker A: Show us some love. [00:52:58] Speaker B: There's many podcasts, many film reviews, there's so much, everything you can think of, we have it and we appreciate all of your support. You can find this podcast on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Amazon Music, and Pocket Cast. If you enjoyed the show, it would mean the world to me if you. [00:53:16] Speaker A: Left me a five star review and. [00:53:17] Speaker B: Subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts for any questions comments, concerns, suggestions or requests. You can always email [email protected] or send me a message on Instagram finalgirlon6. [00:53:32] Speaker A: Thank you so much for listening. [00:53:33] Speaker B: I hope you enjoyed spending time with me as much as I enjoyed spending time with you. And yeah, I'll be back very soon. Never forget that I am 6th Avenue's very own final Girl. [00:53:52] Speaker A: It.