Sundance Film Festival: My Most Anticipated Films

The day has arrived! The first film festival of 2022 is here and it’s one of the best. Sundance has returned, virtually for the second year in a row. Despite the change in scenery, the festival remains one of the essential experiences for any cinephiles. As with every year, the festival is ripe with films that are sure to have many talking and some that may even be in the conversation at the end of 2022 with top 10’s and the Oscar races.

Here are my top 10 most anticipated films of this years Sundance Film Festival:

1. Lucy and Desi: Amy Poehler’s latest directorial effort chronicles the lives of two trailblazers in the industry, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. “Lucy and Desi not only chronicles the pair’s personal and professional lives, it also smartly breaks down concepts like the rehearsed choreography of comedy, their innovations in studio production, the sisterhood of comedy, and much more. It’s a thoughtful telling made for those who loved Lucy (and Desi).”
2. When You Finish Saving The World:  Academy Award nominee Jesse Eisenberg’s directorial debut When You Finish Saving The World will premiere at the festival. “Jesse Eisenberg adapts his audio project of the same name to tell the story of a mother and son who fail to understand each other’s values. With gentle humor and pitch-perfect dialogue, When You Finish Saving the World reflects a moment of internet fame and youth activism, but it also recounts the timeless tale of parents and children struggling to connect across the generational chasm that separates them.”
3.  Emily the Criminal: Starring the great Aubrey Plaza, “Writer-director John Patton Ford’s taut thriller follows Emily from the margins of the corporate gig economy to the borderlands of the Los Angeles underworld. Emily the Criminal keeps sharp focus on its ambitious and increasingly reckless protagonist. Plaza, last seen at the Sundance Film Festival in Black Bear (2020), gives a nervy, committed performance, transforming Emily from an embittered temp worker into a stone-cold thief. Rossi is disarmingly vulnerable as her partner in crime.”
4. Cha Cha Real Smooth: Dakota Johnson stars in “Cooper Raiff follows up his 2020 SXSW Grand Jury Prize–winning debut feature, Shithouse, with a tale of young love that brims with emotional honesty. He writes, directs, produces, and stars in this charmer that respects all its characters’ struggles, even in moments when its protagonist can’t see beyond himself. Featuring a fantastic ensemble cast including Dakota Johnson, Leslie Mann, and newcomers Vanessa Burghardt and Evan Assante, Cha Cha Real Smooth is made for the hopeless romantic living inside us all.”
5. Dual: In the follow-up to The Art of Self Defense, Riley Stearns new film Dual has arrived. The film stars Karen Gillian and “recently diagnosed with a rare and incurable disease, Sarah is unsure how to process the news. To help ease her friends’ and family’s impending loss, she is encouraged to participate in a simple futuristic cloning procedure called “Replacement,” after which Sarah’s last days will be spent teaching the clone how to live on as Sarah once she’s gone. But while it takes only an hour for a clone to be made, things become significantly more challenging when that double is no longer wanted.”
6. Resurrection: After making her directorial debut at last year’s festival, Rebecca Hall steps back in front of the camera in Resurrection. “Margaret (Rebecca Hall) leads a successful and orderly life, perfectly balancing the demands of her busy career and single parenthood to her fiercely independent daughter Abbie. But that careful balance is upended when she glimpses a man she instantly recognizes, an unwelcome shadow from her past. A short time later, she encounters him again. Before long, Margaret starts seeing David (Tim Roth) everywhere — and their meetings appear to be far from an unlucky coincidence. Battling her rising fear, Margaret must confront the monster she’s evaded for two decades who has come to conclude their unfinished business.”
7. Fresh: Making her feature length directorial debut, Mimi Cave’s Fresh looks at someone “Frustrated by scrolling dating apps only to end up on lame, tedious dates, Noa takes a chance by giving her number to the awkwardly charming Steve after a produce-section meet-cute at the grocery store. During a subsequent date at a local bar, sassy banter gives way to a chemistry-laden hookup, and a smitten Noa dares to hope that she might have actually found a real connection with the dashing cosmetic surgeon. She accepts Steve’s invitation to an impromptu weekend getaway, only to find that her new paramour has been hiding some unusual appetites.”
8. After Yang: After making its premiere at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, After Yang arrives at Sundance. The film is Alexander Weinstein short story adapted by Sundance alumnus Kogonada (Columbus). The film follows “Yang — a lifelike, artificially intelligent android that Jake and Kyra buy as a companion for their adopted daughter — abruptly stops functioning, Jake just wants him repaired quickly and cheaply. But having purchased Yang “certified refurbished” from a now-defunct store, he’s led first to a conspiracy theorist technician and then a technology museum curator, who discovers that Yang was actually recording memories. Jake’s quest eventually becomes one of existential introspection and contemplating his own life, as it passes him by.”
   
9. Call Jane: Carol’s screenwriter Phillis Nagy steps behind the camera in Call Jane. A film that takes place in “Chicago, 1968. As a city and the nation are poised on the brink of violent political upheaval, suburban housewife Joy leads an ordinary life with her husband and daughter. When Joy’s pregnancy leads to a life-threatening condition, she must navigate a medical establishment unwilling to help. Her journey to find a solution to an impossible situation leads her to the “Janes,” a clandestine organization of women who provide Joy with a safer alternative — and in the process, change her life.”
10. jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy: Kanye West is one of the most controversial and divisive artist of our generation. Despite the controversy, the artist remains one of the best. With jeen-yuhs, the documentary kicks off on “One fateful night at Jermaine Dupri’s birthday party in 1998, Coodie, a Chicago public access TV host, first interviewed 21-year-old up-and-coming hip-hop producer Kanye West. Inspired by the film Hoop Dreams, Coodie started to document West’s life to see how far his dreams would take him. When West moved to New York City to land a record deal, Coodie followed with camera in hand. He recorded West for years, from the hustle of his budding producer days through his rise to global icon. You think you know Kanye West, but you really don’t.”