Sundance 2024, Ranked

The best and the rest from out west

Writing this week about the utility of film festival coverage to those who cannot attend,

Keith Phipps

of

The Reveal

described these dispatches as akin to “mental Post-it notes saying, ‘Don’t forget this one. It’s good!’ (or the opposite).”

I’ve struggled a bit with how to make festival coverage relevant for this newsletter, which so often thrives on the immediacy of streaming schedules and theatrical releases as its core hook. In 2022, I did a more detailed dive through the festival’s offerings that I screened, while last year’s piece broke down a smaller “winners” package I purchased.

This year, I like the idea of giving you Post-it notes that might be useful for mapping out the rest of the year. Overall, like any festival, Sundance 2024 was as good as I was willing to make it by digging deep into the festival programming. A mostly lackluster U.S. Dramatic Competition section set the tone, but the Premieres section (most of which I had to go to Park City to see) elevated the overall vibe.

For ease of reference:

• I reviewed…

  • Girls State

  • Presence

  • In a Violent Nature

  • The American Society of Magical Negroes

  • Sasquatch Sunset

  • Love Lies Bleeding

  • Kneecap

  • Rob Peace

  • Winner

  • Freaky Tales

  • Krazy House

• For other great dispatches, I would read…

  • Alissa Wilkinson in The New York Times (gift article)

  • Richard Brody in The New Yorker

  • Paste Magazine

• For more audio coverage, I would listen to…

  • IndieWire’s Screen Talk

  • This Had Oscar Buzz

  • The Town (featuring an interview with festival head Joana Vicente)

  • The Film Comment podcast (featuring a guest appearance by my festival roommate Monica Castillo).

Paid subscribers will now receive:

• Logline: a brief breakdown of what each film is about (thanks Letterboxd)

• Reaction: a one-sentence summary of how I felt about the film

• Urgency: how much I think you should prioritize seeing the film

• Availability: when you might be able to see it

This newsletter is going behind the paywall because this newsletter was costly to produce, both in terms of investment and time.

If you want to know these early thoughts on 2024’s exciting crop of movies, I ask that you consider investing in the curatorial and critical process. Free trials are also available if you want to get a taste; I hope you’ll consider sticking around and exploring the archives.