Top Sundance 2022 Films

The 2022 Sundance Film Festival wrapped up just a few days ago. After gearing up to have both in-person and virtual components, the omicron surge forced it to go completely virtual just like last year, but there was no shortage of worthy films to see from the comfort of your home. Here’s a list of the Sundance films I saw, ranked.

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8. Am I OK?

Directed by Tig Notaro and Stephanie Allynne; starring Dakota Johnson and Sonoya Mizuno

Notaro and Allynne’s semi auto-biographical comedy drama follows Johnson and Mizuno as two best friends who are in different phases of their lives, which they must reckon with after one of them accepts a job offer to move abroad. The themes it tries to tackle are promising: friendships, coming out in your 30s, and dealing with change in your life, whether you are the one initiating it or someone else. Johnson is excellent and the movie is sweet but it never really gets going and is curiously low energy, while the jokes feel half-hearted. The answer to the titular question is “yes, you are just OK.”

7. Alice

Directed by Krystin Ver Linden; starring Keke Palmer and Common

Alice, a film about slavery and time travel, came into Sundance with a fair amount of hype and was acquired even before the festival started, but it was a bit of a letdown.  Palmer’s performance is solid but can’t quite make up for the film’s lethargy and heavy handedness. The third act does pick up, and the cathartic ending is a barnburner, but this feels like a movie to skip at the theatres and just wait until it hits streamers.

6. Good Luck to You, Leo Grande

Directed by Sophie Hyde; starring Emma Thompson and Daryl McCormack

Hyde’s two-hander feels like a less successful version of The Sessions, which played at Sundance 10 years ago to rapturous reviews. Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, which was picked up by Hulu, stars Thompson as a lonely widow who hires a male sex worker (McCormack) as a sort of wish-fulfillment sexual experiment. The film was slightly misdescribed as a sex comedy – it’s much more intimate and reflective than it is funny, as Nancy works through her repressed issues of self-esteem, body image, sexual fulfillment, and growing older while wanting to stay young and feel desirable. It also has some interesting things to say about sharing and opening up to strangers as well as personal boundaries, but it sometimes feels a little too talky and overdrawn.

5. The Exiles

Directed by Violet Columbus and Ben Klein

Winner of this year’s U.S. Grand Jury Prize, this is a documentary that is about a documentarian (Christine Choy) as much as it is about the events and aftermath of Tiananmen Square. Choy is a colorful character, the type of subject a documentary camera loves (when asked to describe herself, she replies “fuck you, you describe me”) and she alone is worth the price of admission. But the film itself is a bit uneven and can’t quite make up its mind on what it wants to be. Ultimately, the result is that The Exiles is a worthy watch, but more entertaining than informative.

4. Girl Picture

Directed by Alli Haapasalo; starring Linnea Leino, Aamu Milonoff, and Eleonoora Kauhanen

Girl Picture (or in Finnish, Tytöt Tytöt Tytöt – Girls Girls Girls) is a Finnish coming of age film that radiates an electrifying youthful and romantic energy. The story follows three teenage girls, Mimmi, Rönkkö, and Emma, and takes place over three consecutive Fridays. In that timespan, they fall in love, they fight, and they bond. It’s much less about the plot than about these girls being forced to be honest – to themselves and to each other – about their feelings, their traumas, their histories, and examining how that complicates their budding relationships. Haapasalo captures how exciting it can feel to be driving in a car with your friends listening to music, or the heart-pounding anticipation of a big social moment, or how shitty it feels to be disappointed by someone important, and the film isn’t afraid to dwell in those moments. A true vibe.

3. The Worst Person in the World

Directed by Joachim Trier; starring Renate Reinsve and Anders Danielsen Lie

Trier’s film, the last of his so-called Oslo Trilogy, is vibrant, dashing, and unafraid to plumb the scope of emotions and range of ups and downs that life offers, of the feeling of restlessness and second guessing yourself as you navigate life in your 20s and 30s. Norweigian Dakota Johnson-doppleganger Reinsve does a tremendous job with the lead role, winning the Best Actress award at Cannes. Perhaps the most important thing with this film is managing expectations – I’ve seen this described as a “rom-com” which is incredibly misleading, and the title can be misunderstood as well. The movie is quite literary, structured in 12 “chapters”, each a little segment of Julie’s life. The filmmaking is always creative, with some fun needle drops and some truly breathtaking scenes that you won’t forget. The Worst Person in the World has deservedly garnered plenty of awards attention (it was recently shortlisted by the Oscars for best international feature film) is cerebral but relatable, artistic yet accessible.

2. Cha Cha Real Smooth

Directed by Cooper Raiff; starring Raiff, Dakota Johnson, Evan Assante, and Vanessa Burghardt

Raiff is like the wunderkind cousin your mom always talks about – he made his first film, Shithouse, as a college student for $15,000 and won the SXSW Grand Jury prize for best narrative film. His second film, Cha Cha Real Smooth, was a big hit at this year’s Sundance film festival, winning the Audience Award and getting picked up by Apple TV+. With big names like Johnson, Leslie Mann, and Brad Garrett in the cast and produced by Paul Feig and Johnson, this sophomore effort feels more mainstream than Shithouse but no less authentic. Raiff is still the main act here – he wrote, directed and starred – and he imbues an insane amount of charm into the lead role as a recent college grad who returns to his hometown to look for work and picks up a gig as a “party-starter” at local bar- and bat-mitzvahs. Extraordinarily well-written, Raiff’s script delves into the messiness and quirks of real families and real relationships. Cha Cha Real Smooth overflows with humor, warmth, and a big-heartedness that will remind you to appreciate the relationships in your life.

1. After Yang

Directed by Kogonada; starring Colin Farrell, Jodie Turner-Smith, Haley Lu Richardson, and Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaj

“What the caterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly.” Mesmerizing from its opening title sequence, Kogonada’s sci-fi family drama is, as expected, beautifully composed, with such visually alluring and lingering shots that you can almost press pause at almost any given moment and get a gorgeous still image. It’s also unlike any sci-fi film you’ve ever seen – it is hauntingly beautiful and meditative, with clear Malick and Ozu influences, about a family dealing with loss, what it means to be human, and what it means to be alive. Most children first learn about death through pets or grandparents. In unfortunate circumstances, it might be a friend, a sibling, or even a parent. In After Yang it is almost a combination of all these things when a young girl’s android companion breaks down. But the plot itself quickly gives way to philosophical montages and fleeting memories. There is a certain emotional resonance that Kogonada is able to tap into – he makes films that he and only he can make. As Farrell himself describes it: “Some films are electric guitars, some are drumkits. This film is all strings.”