Features and Columns · Lists · Movies

The Best Movies We Saw at Sundance 2022

These are our picks for the 15 best movies at Sundance 2022, including Kogonada’s sophomore feature and two films starring Dakota Johnson
Sundance Atmosphere Main Street
Sundance Institute (Photo by Jonathan Hickerson)
By  · Published on February 7th, 2022

Navalny

Navalny Documentary Sundance

In the recurring Sundance trend of “unbelievable characters who are, indeed, to be believed if you don’t want to seem like a fool,” we have the only legitimate threat to Vladimir Putin’s totalitarian regime in Russia since he took office: Alexei Navalny. The lawyer-turned-opposition-leader made his name on an anti-corruption platform that gained enough steam in Russia to warrant his assassination by the Kremlin.

The documentary follows him before, during, and after in (shocking) real-time, as he begins to investigate his own assassination attempt and stumble about some jaw-dropping discoveries. As they repeat a few times in the film (they’re not wrong!), it’s a doc that plays like a thriller, and a terrifically compelling one at that. Like the best docs, it’s proof that real life is always more amusing than fiction. (Luke Hicks)


Resurrection

Rebecca Hall in Resurrection
IFC Films

It’s only January, and Tim Roth already has two great films in the bag: Sundown and Resurrection. The former sees him ghosting his way through a family tragedy as he lounges confoundingly on the beach, while the latter sees him with gangly teeth, a creepy demeanor, and a…child in his stomach? Or at least, that’s what he keeps telling Margaret (a wonderful Rebecca Hall).

It’s not any less bizarre than it sounds on paper. In fact, it’s much wilder than you’re thinking, no matter what you’re thinking. “He’s in here. He’s crying out for you,” he repeats, holding his belly like the disguised sociopath he is. I’ll let you take the ride yourself, but strap in: it’s weird as shit. And I mean that in the most complimentary way possible. With every little development, you’ll furrow your brow a bit more, until your whole face is squished and your heart is strangely delighted. (Luke Hicks)

Check out Rob’s review of Resurrection.


Something in the Dirt

Moorhead and Benson in Something In The Dirt Sundance
XYZ Films

Hunkered at the center of Something in the Dirt is a delicious juxtaposition. The film concludes with a joyful dedication to “making movies with your friends,” but propelling Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson’s creepy, paranoid paranormal investigation are two non-friends who’ve failed the Los Angeles gauntlet. Their Levi and John are two specks already teetering on oblivion’s edge when a supernatural phenomenon suddenly presents infinite possibilities.

Their filmmaking puppetmasters flaunt their success by executing Levi and John’s turmoil, and this unseen reality provides an extra layer of unease to the film’s dreadful confrontation with misinformation and the fragility of perception. Levi and John want what Aaron and Justin have, and they will never achieve it. How will I ever be able to enjoy Moon Knight or any of their other future endeavors after surviving such an alluringly unkind meta-tragedy? (Brad Gullickson)

Check out Rob’s review of Something in the Dirt.


Watcher

Maika Monroe in Watcher
Imagenation Abu Dhabi FZ

Maika Monroe has quietly built a career on playing characters forced to face unexpected dread. Her performances are often lowkey, but there’s no shortage of emotion and intensity sitting just beneath the surface. In Watcher, she plays a young wife in a foreign city who begins to suspect someone is watching and following her, and director Chloe Okuno pairs Hitchcockian elements with a more atmospheric approach resulting in a moody thriller that builds to a violent and pitch-perfect ending. (Rob Hunter)

Check out Rob’s review of Watcher.


We Need to Talk About Cosby

We Need To Talk About Cosby
Showtime

Bill Cosby. WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT COSBY. Photo credit: Mario Casilli/mptvimages/Courtesy of SHOWTIME.

W. Kamau Bell, the self-proclaimed metaphorical child of Bill Cosby, plunges into a conversation he and probably many of those watching have been resisting. His four-part docuseries attempts to reckon with the two Cosbys, the one we grew up loving through our television set and the one accused of drugging and raping dozens of women. Bell shows how Cosby used our adoration against his victims and how cultural narrative can create and protect monsters.

We Need to Talk About Cosby is an uncomfortable watch, but maybe not for the reasons you think it to be so. This is a story about us as much as it is about the accused, and Bell manages to tell it while never dismissing the victims. There are villains found within, but heroes as well. Their fight should propel us into action. (Brad Gullickson)

Check out Brad’s review of We Need to Talk About Cosby.


Read more of our Sundance 2022 coverage here, and check out Nonfics’ list of the best documentaries of Sundance 2022 here.

Pages: 1 2 3

Related Topics:

An author similar to Hydra. Its articles have many authors. It has many heads. Please don’t cut off any of its heads, we’re trying to work here.