Flickering Myth

Film & TV News, Reviews and Features

2021 Sundance Film Festival Review – Ailey

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Ailey, 2021.Directed by Jamila Wignot.SYNOPSIS: A feature-length portrait of the life and work of dancer and choreographer Alvin Ailey.“Sometimes your name becomes bigger than yourself.” A single line from Ailey sums up the enigmatic figure at the center of this new documentary. That’s not to say the iconic dancer and choreographer wasn’t essential or bombastic himself, […]

2021 Sundance Film Festival Review – Marvelous and the Black Hole

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Marvelous and the Black Hole, 2020.Written and directed by Kate Tsang. Starring Miya Cech, Rhea Perlman, Leonardo Nam, Kannon Omachi, Paulina Lule, and Keith Powell.SYNOPSIS:A teenage delinquent teams up with a surly children’s party magician to navigate her dysfunctional family and inner demons.As a coming-of-age comedy with a quirky title, Marvelous and the Black Hole […]

2021 Sundance Film Festival Review – Wild Indian

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Wild Indian, 2021.Written and directed by Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr. Starring Michael Greyeyes, Chaske Spencer, Jesse Eisenberg, Kate Bosworth, Phoenix Wilson, and Julian Gopal.SYNOPSIS:Two men learn to confront a traumatic secret they share involving the savage murder of a schoolmate.If the joy of film festivals often lies in witnessing the emergence of little-known filmmakers on a […]

2021 Sundance Film Festival Review – The Cursed

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The Cursed, 2021.Directed by Sean Ellis. Starring Boyd Holbrook, Kelly Reilly, Alistair Petrie, Roxane Duran, and Áine Rose Daly.SYNOPSIS:In the French countryside during the 1800s, John McBride, a pathologist tasked with determining whether the body of a young boy found in the works was the work of man or beast.After the vampire renaissance of the […]

2021 Sundance Film Festival Review – Passing

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Passing, 2021.Written and directed by Rebecca Hall. Starring Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga, André Holland, Alexander Skarsgård, and Bill Camp.SYNOPSIS:Follows the unexpected reunion of two high school friends, whose renewed acquaintance ignites a mutual obsession that threatens both of their carefully constructed realities.Rebecca Hall makes a bold feature debut with this adaptation of Nella Larsen’s 1929 […]

2021 Sundance Film Festival Review – Searchers

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Searchers, 2021.Directed by Pacho Velez.SYNOPSIS:Searchers draws on encounters with a diverse set of New Yorkers as they navigate their preferred dating apps, searching for their special someone.Among the most mentally debilitating casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic is surely the absence of a traditional dating scene in most countries around the world, as elucidated with warmth and […]

In The Earth is Ben Wheatley’s epic return to horror! | Sundance 2021 Video Review

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In The Earth, 2021.Directed by Ben Wheatley. Starring Joel Fry, Ellora Torchia, Hayley Squires, and Reece Shearsmith.Filmmaker Ben Wheatley recently debuted his remake of Rebecca on Netflix and it was met with mixed reactions. Thankfully Wheatley quickly returned to horror as this will surely be one of his most memorable films ever. In The Earth […]

2021 Sundance Film Festival Review – Prime Time

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Prime Time, 2021.Co-written and directed by Jakub Piątek. Starring Bartosz Bielenia, Magdalena Popławska, Andrzej Kłak, Małgorzata Hajewska-Krzysztofik, Dobromir Dymecki, and Monika Frajczyk.SYNOPSIS:In 1999, Sebastian locks himself in a TV studio. He has two hostages, a gun, and an important message for the world.Dog Day Afternoon. Network. The King of Comedy. The touchstones are myriad for Polish […]

2021 Sundance Film Festival Review – Try Harder!

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Try Harder!, 2021.Directed by Debbie Lum.SYNOPSIS:In a universe where cool kids are nerds, the orchestra is world class and being Asian American is the norm, seniors at Lowell High School compete for the top prize: admission to the college of their dreams.Debbie Lum’s fly-on-the-wall documentary Try Harder! offers an intimate window into a subject most viewers […]

2021 Sundance Film Festival Review – Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street

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Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street, 2021.Directed by Marilyn Agrelo.SYNOPSIS:A look at the history of the long-running children’s TV show “Sesame Street.”There will surely never again be a children’s TV phenom on the scale of Sesame Street – and the abundance of choice afforded by modern streaming services can only partially explain that. Orson […]