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Sundance ‘26: ‘FRANK & LOUIS’ Is a Somber Reflection on Finding Compassion in a Cage

Frank (Kingsley Ben-Adir) is up for parole soon, serving a long sentence in a maximum security prison. Years ago, he killed a man, but now considers himself changed. We’re not so convinced. Yes, Frank can be patient and carries himself with a calm stillness, but there’s a rage inside him that boils over when no one’s looking. To improve his chances with the parole board, Frank takes an assignment caring for fellow inmates suffering from degenerative mental conditions like dementia or Alzheimer’s. His charge is Louis Nelson (Rob Morgan), a once-notorious thug with a formidable reputation and more than a few enemies. Throughout writer-director Petra Volpe’s Frank & Louis, we watch their paths converge: one man aims for self-discovery, while the other forgets who he is entirely. Read More

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Preposterous Doomsday Satire ‘DON’T LOOK UP’ Explodes With Snickers, Star Power 

“Don’t look up,” becomes the political mantra of President Janine Orlean (Meryl Streep) as a comet nine kilometers wide barrels towards Earth. Without immediate intervention, there is a one-hundred percent chance of an extinction level event. But midterms are fast approaching and an opportunity to save the world and existence as we know it gets fed through the political machine, to the chagrin of actual scientists the world over. Taking aim at the Trump-era invention of “alternative facts”, Orlean encourages her followers to not believe their own eyes, spinning an impending apocalypse into a culture war in ways that are both all too far-fetched and tragically feasible.  Read More