Park City’s iconic Egyptian Theater, home of the iconic Sundance Film Festival. Credit: Sebastian Petrou Griffith
Many great movies premiere at Sundance, but not all get their time in the spotlight.
The Sundance Film Festival is considered the largest and most influential film festival in the United States, serving as a place for indie movies to debut and pick up distributors. Previous iterations of the festival have featured premieres of acclaimed hits such as “Whiplash” (2014) and “A Real Pain” (2024).
Over the past few years, Sundance has evolved to become a place where studios present films already under distribution contracts to generate buzz and positive press. For instance, this year’s festival saw the premieres of “Opus” and “The Legend of Ochi,” two films that have already been acquired by the massively popular studio A24 and have domestic release dates.
However, Sundance still acts as the place for distributors and financiers to find hidden gems, albeit to a lesser extent than in years past. This article highlights four movies that might not have received the attention they deserved without their admission into Sundance.
“André is an Idiot”
Documentaries tend to have a negative connotation among general audiences, conjuring up boring and lifeless images of British narrators droning on about factoids, all while B-roll of a subject plays out on the screen.
A documentary about colon cancer, therefore, wasn’t likely to generate much enthusiasm prior to being picked up by Sundance.
Fortunately, “André is an Idiot” is one of the most exciting, gripping movies of the entire festival. The documentary follows the eccentric André Ricciardi — a San Francisco man reminiscent of Michael Scott from “The Office” on psychedelics — who is diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer after waiting too long to get a colonoscopy.
“André is an Idiot” beautifully balances the absurd tragedy of Ricciardi’s situation and the ticking clock of his life with his own exuberance. The documentary highlights Ricciardi’s charisma and passion for making the most out of his life, also acting as a poignant memorial to a real-life man who left behind a wife and two daughters.
Though most of the movie follows Ricciardi in the real world, director Tony Benna made the brilliant choice to supplement the protagonist’s narration with skillfully produced stop-motion animation, giving the documentary an outlandish layer that matches Ricciardi’s own idiosyncrasies.
It’s hard to assign a star rating to a film that so rawly portrays a real man’s life. Nevertheless, Sundance audiences certainly enjoyed the film, as proved by its Audience Award win.
Regardless of what rating is given to the movie itself, one fact is indisputable: Andre lived a five-star life.
“Andre is an Idiot” will be distributed by A24 but has no broad release date at the time of publication.
Rating: N/A
“Sunfish (& Other Stories on Green Lake)”
Lakes aren’t associated with the Midwest as often as corn fields and football, but they still remain a massive part of Midwestern culture.
The Great Lakes and many smaller lakes scattered throughout the Midwest are to Midwesterners what the oceans are to those on the coast — communal gathering spots and an escape from the mundane.
“Sunfish (& Other Stories on Green Lake)” — despite its scattered structure as an anthology film consisting of four separate stories — manages to capture this sentiment of Midwestern love and appreciation for lakes.
Its stories are varied in nature and conflict. The first follows a girl as she learns to sail; the second, a young classical musician dealing with the pressure of getting first chair at a music camp; the third, two strangers joining forces to catch a rare fish; and the final, exploring the relationship between two sisters as one prepares to leave for college.
All four stories share a common melancholy, centered around the same lake and basked in golden sunshine that feels inherently nostalgic for vacations of years past.
When one watches “Sunfish (& Other Stories on Green Lake)” it’s hard for them not to feel a breath of fresh air, fully immersed in shimmering water and the squawking of ducks.
“Sunfish (& Other Stories on Green Lake)” has no distributor at the time of publication.
Rating: 4/5
“Sorry, Baby”
In some ways, “Sorry, Baby” was the standout film of Sundance.
After the festival, A24 announced it had acquired the film’s distribution rights. Director, writer and actress Eva Victor also received Sundance’s coveted Waldo Salt Award for Screenwriting.
“Sorry, Baby” is carried by a powerhouse triple-threat performance from Victor. She’s charismatic as the star, a grad student named Agnes on the verge of finishing her dissertation and becoming a professor who’s forced to deal with a traumatic incident involving one of her professors.
Agnes’ morbid, ironic humor acts as a coping mechanism for the film’s events, as well as a cornerstone of her personality and an intrinsic part of her perspective on life. She pushes the story forward as a painfully relatable person who audiences just want to see succeed.
Victor’s performance as Agnes would’ve been impressive enough on its own, but when it’s taken into account that she also wrote and directed “Sorry, Baby,” it’s a one-woman show, and nothing short of spectacular.
Victor, previously known as a comedian, has now established herself as one of the brightest new stars in Hollywood. For all the deserved fanfare about the sheer talent and effort she put into the film, “Sorry, Baby” succeeds simply because it is, at its core, an effective story. It’s full of painful truths about life, and watching it feels like a hug after a long cry.
“Sorry, Baby” was purchased by A24 but has no broad release date at the time of publication.
Rating: 4/5
“Omaha”
“Omaha” is a tricky film to evaluate at every level. The story about a single, impoverished father urgently driving his 9-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son cross-country for reasons unknown to both the children and viewers does not pull any punches when it comes to misery.
The movie offers a brutal narrative about poverty in America and how it rips families apart. Though it has some touching moments between family members and instances of humor sprinkled throughout, ultimately, all this does is make the gut punches hit a little harder.
In a lot of ways, “Omaha” feels like the American response to “Aftersun” (2022), another Sundance-sponsored project that deals with similar themes of fatherhood and poverty.
However, “Aftersun” manages to feel bittersweet, whereas “Omaha” ends up feeling mostly bitter by the time the credits roll. Despite being only 84 minutes, “Omaha” is a brutal watch and ends up feeling much longer than that.
Though the main real-world message of “Omaha ” — which isn’t revealed until the end credits roll — is admirable, the film does feel like poverty torture porn at times. It’s also ironic that a movie like this premiered at Sundance, an event known for attracting some of the wealthiest and most privileged people in American society.
With “Omaha,” it’s important not to be a voyeur. One must not revel in its misery like a horror movie fan might, relying on plot twists to get the heart pumping without really digesting what’s going on in the narrative.
It’s crucial when watching a movie like “Omaha” to always be aware of the real-life situations the film is based on — ones that take place throughout America more often than viewers might be comfortable thinking about.
“Omaha” features a breakout performance from John Magaro as The Dad, as well as the young actress behind his daughter, Molly Belle Wright. It’s an excellent example of minimalist, tension-filled cinematography and is an emotional interpretation of the Americana genre.
“Omaha” does not have a distributor at the time of publication.
Rating: 3/5
