U.S. Dramatic Competition | 2021 Sundance Film Festival Recap
/U.S. Dramatic Competition highlights the exciting work of upcoming American filmmakers. It's the section of Sundance that produces most of the movies that end up with record-breaking purchases, and it's the section that can turn an unknown into a new star. It's also maybe the strongest program of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival!
Coda
As a CODA – Child of Deaf Adults – Ruby is the only hearing person in her deaf family. When the family’s fishing business is threatened, Ruby finds herself torn between pursuing her love of music and her fear of abandoning her parents.
Director: Siân Heder
Writers: Siân Heder
Stars: Emilia Jones, Eugenio Derbez, Troy Kotsur, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Daniel Durant, Marlee Matlin
OUR RATINGS
Check out our discussion on CODA on the Intercut Podcast!
I Was A Simple Man
As a family in Hawai’i faces the imminent death of their eldest, the ghosts of the past haunt the countryside.
Director: Christopher Makoto Yogi
Writer: Christopher Makoto Yogi
Stars: Steve Iwamoto, Constance Wu, Kanoa Goo, Chanel Akiko Hirai, Tim Chiou, Boonyanudh Jiyarom
OUR RATINGS
Check out our discussion on I WAS A SIMPLE MAN on the Intercut Podcast!
Jockey
An aging jockey is determined to win one last championship, but his dream is complicated when a young rookie shows up claiming to be his son.
Directors: Clint Bentley
Writers: Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar
Stars: Clifton Collins Jr., Molly Parker, Moises Arias
OUR RATINGS
Check out our discussion on JOCKEY on the Intercut Podcast!
John and the Hole
A nontraditional coming-of-age story, set in the unsettling reality of John, a kid who holds his family captive in a hole in the ground.
Director: Pascual Sisto
Writer: Nicolás Giacobone
Stars: Charlie Shotwell, Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Ehle, Taissa Farmiga
OUR RATINGS
Check out our discussion on JOHN AND THE HOLE on the Intercut Podcast!
Mayday
Synopsis: Ana is transported to a dreamlike and dangerous land where she joins a team of female soldiers engaged in a never-ending war along a rugged coast. Though she finds strength in this exhilarating world, she comes to realize that she’s not the killer they want her to be.
Director: Karen Cinorre
Writer: Karen Cinorre
Stars: Grace Van Patten, Mia Goth, Havana Rose Liu, Soko, Théodore Pellerin, Juliette Lewis
OUR RATINGS
Check out our discussion on MAYDAY on the Intercut Podcast!
On the Count of Three
Synopsis: Two guns. Two best friends. And a pact to end their lives when the day is done.
Director: Jerrod Carmichael
Writers: Ari Katcher, Ryan Welch
Stars: Jerrod Carmichael, Christopher Abbott, Tiffany Haddish, J.B. Smoove, Lavell Crawford, Henry Winkler
OUR RATINGS
Check out our discussion on ON THE COUNT OF THREE on the Intercut Podcast!
Passing
Synopsis: Two African American women who can “pass” as white choose to live on opposite sides of the color line in 1929 New York in an exploration of racial and gender identity, performance, obsession and repression.
Director: Rebecca Hall
Writer: Rebecca Hall (screenplay), Nella Larson (novel)
Stars: Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga, André Holland, Alexander Skarsgård, Bill Camp
OUR RATINGS
Check out our discussion on PASSING on the Intercut Podcast!
Superior
Synopsis: On the run, Marian returns to her hometown in upstate New York to hide out with her estranged identical twin sister, Vivian. Struggling to put the past behind her, Marian lies about the reason for her return, leaving her sister in the dark until their two worlds begin to collide.
Director: Erin Vassilopoulos
Writers: Erin Vassilopoulos, Alessandra Mesa
Stars: Alessandra Mesa, Ani Mesa, Pico Alexander, Jake Hoffman, Stanley Simons
OUR RATINGS
Check out our discussion on SUPERIOR on the Intercut Podcast!
Together Together
Synopsis: When young loner Anna is hired as the surrogate for Matt, a single man in his 40s, the two strangers come to realize this unexpected relationship will quickly challenge their perceptions of connection, boundaries and the particulars of love.
Director: Nikole Beckwith
Writer: Nikole Beckwith
Stars: Ed Helms, Patti Harrison, Tig Notaro, Julio Torres, Anna Konkle
OUR RATINGS
Check out our discussion on TOGETHER TOGETHER on the Intercut Podcast!
Wild Indian
Synopsis: Two men are inextricably bound together after covering up the savage murder of a schoolmate. After years of separation following wildly divergent paths, they must finally confront how their traumatic secret has irrevocably shaped their lives.
Director: Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr.
Writers: Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr.
Stars: Michael Greyeyes, Chaske Spencer, Jesse Eisenberg, Kate Bosworth, Phoenix Wilson, Julian Gopal
OUR RATINGS
Check out our discussion on WILD INDIAN on the Intercut Podcast!
Pictures and images above are Courtesy of the Sundance Institute and the films’ respective Studios.
