Here’s what’s going on in Park City, Utah, this year, as 2020’s kickoff film festival brings together virtual reality experiments, independent cinema from around the world, and first-look sneak peeks from Netflix, Amazon Studios, HBO, and other distribution services.
Feb 7, 2020
Sundance VR and AR got extremely weird in 2020
Scarecrow Sundance InstituteThe Sundance Film Festival’s experimental New Frontier show has gotten so big and elaborate that it’s becoming its own miniature festival — which means making hard trade-offs about what to see. So I missed some exciting-sounding projects in 2020. Sorry, Chomsky vs. Chomsky: First Encounter, the Noam Chomsky-powered AI. It’s not you, it’s me, sci-fi mushroom simulator Hypha. And the timing just didn’t work out, anti-capitalist live-streamed virtual reality theater Anti-Gone.
Read Article >Sundance and other virtual or augmented reality-heavy art events might eventually have to grapple with this issue. Projects are getting longer (10 to 30 minutes, versus five to 10 minutes a few years ago), and many can only handle one or two people at a time. For context, the film festival had over 120,000 attendees. Even if only a fraction visit New Frontier, that means a lot of planning or long waits. It’s part of a bigger VR and AR scaling problem — headsets are niche, relatively rare devices that enthusiasts are still figuring out how to build a medium around.
Feb 6, 2020
La Llorona review: not the ghost story you’re expecting
Sundance InstituteWelcome to Cheat Sheet, our breakdown-style reviews of festival films, VR previews, and other special event releases. This review comes from the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.
Read Article >In 2019, the blockbuster Conjuring franchise produced a film called The Curse of La Llorona, which is generally considered pretty bad. This is unfortunate, because it’s going to confuse a lot of people who hear about the contemporaneous La Llorona — an excellent indie movie that puts a supernatural twist on a story of very human horror.
Feb 5, 2020
Shirley is a gothic drama about Shirley Jackson’s haunted life
Thatcher Keats / Sundance InstituteWelcome to Cheat Sheet, our breakdown-style reviews of festival films, VR previews, and other special event releases. This review comes from the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.
Read Article >Shirley Jackson is best known for her creepiest and most misanthropic work, like her novel The Haunting of Hill House and the vicious short story “The Lottery.” But she was also a prolific chronicler of domestic life, publishing two books of lighthearted stories about raising her children. It’s a complexity that was frequently pointed out a few years ago, after the release of a Jackson biography in 2016.
Feb 5, 2020
Pepe the Frog died, and part of the internet died with him
Kurt Keppeler and Christian Bruno / Sundance InstituteWelcome to Cheat Sheet, our breakdown-style reviews of festival films, VR previews, and other special event releases. This review comes from the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.
Read Article >Years ago, the birth of a meme was cause for celebration. So when Matt Furie’s character Pepe first became famous online, it seemed like a good thing. The easygoing cartoon frog was a shorthand for relatable satisfaction or sadness, particularly on the chaotic message board 4chan. And when a friend urged Furie to crack down on copycat Pepes, he didn’t see the need. This was, after all, the age where everything was a remix.
Jan 29, 2020
Tesla review: a weird, fourth-wall-breaking take on the internet’s favorite inventor
Sundance InstituteWelcome to Cheat Sheet, our breakdown-style reviews of festival films, VR previews, and other special event releases. This review comes from the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.
Read Article >Thomas Edison is the inventor you learn about in school. Nikola Tesla is the inventor you learn about on the internet — whether that’s The Oatmeal’s massive 2012 paean to “the greatest geek who ever lived;” Kate Beaton’s sexy Tesla comic; or the Drunk History episode where he’s played by John C. Reilly. (That’s not even counting the memes about Elon Musk’s car company and David Bowie in The Prestige.)
Jan 28, 2020
Zola review: proof that a viral Twitter thread can make a great movie
Anna Kooris / Sundance InstituteWelcome to Cheat Sheet, our breakdown-style reviews of festival films, VR previews, and other special event releases. This review comes from the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.
Read Article >In 2015, a little-known Twitter user named Aziah King posted the first words of a 148-tweet saga: “Y’all wanna hear a story about why me & this here bitch fell out???????? It’s kind of long but full of suspense.”
Jan 26, 2020
Spree review: in search of an audience
Sundance Film FestivalWelcome to Cheat Sheet, our breakdown-style reviews of festival films, VR previews, and other special event releases. This review comes from the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.
Read Article >When a real-life killer finds fame on a forum or a social network — a trend that’s become depressingly frequent in recent years — there are two common conclusions. The first is that social media is some kind of new, unprecedented evil, as if the Zodiac killer never crafted an elaborate brand strategy through local newspapers, or TV news never helped turn mass shooters into celebrities. The second is that modern web platforms simply produce their own distinct kinds of nightmares, ones that twist their wholesome promises of openness and trust.