Each and every year, figuring out what to watch at the Sundance International Film Festival is a journey in and of itself. Last year, I saw a good smattering of my favorite films of the year in Park City, including Brandon Cronenberg’s Possessor and others that played the fest, like Dinner in America, later made its way onto that same list. This year, things are different. For the first time in its celebrated history, the entire festival will be conducted online. While this means no late-night parties, no skiing on those powdery Utah slopes, no rubbing elbows with your favorite celebrities, and less standing in blisteringly chilly queues, it also means enjoying Sundance from the comfort of your own couch.

In an effort to try and parse out what stands out most, we looked through this year’s program and tried to pick out the films that pose the most potential, particularly with our particular set of interests. One thing that having the festival online rather than in person cannot change though is the surprises that are in store with these movies. I expect full well that some of these films that I’ve selected will end up stinking while others that I’ve overlooked will be my absolute favorite of the fest. So act like a sore throat, and take this all with a healthy grain of salt.

In the Earth

Written and directed by Ben Wheatley in near-total secrecy during the COVID-19 pandemic, In the Earth is the British auteur’s long-awaited return to horror. The Kill List filmmaker looks at the human effects of a deadly virus (relevant much?) with all the sinister, handsomely-mounted trippiness that the name Ben Wheatley conjures. That NEON has already picked it up for distribution is all the reassurance we need. 

On the Count of Three

Funnyman Jerrod Carmichael enlists Christopher Abbott, Henry Winkler and Tiffany Haddish to tell a dark comedy about two buddies with a suicide pact. That it’s competing in the US Dramatic Competition says that the comedy should have some teeth. 

John and the Hole

13-year old John finds a bunker in the ground and decides to drug his family and bury them inside. Featuring a solid cast that includes Michael C. Hall and Taissa Farmiga, Pascual Sisto’s directorial debut reads like a most sinister psychological thriller. 

CODA

CODA enlists the deaf community in a way few films have to tell the story of Ruby, the hearing daughter of an otherwise deaf family. As Ruby considers a life beyond what she has known, Siân Heder explores what it means to truly communicate. 

Passing

Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga play two black women in the 1920s in actress Rebecca Hall’s debut feature, which contends with the ideas of how lighter skin affects black people’s experience. A potential knockout that is said to break boundaries by being an “elegant psychological thriller” rather than a straight drama. 

Censor

A film censor who specializes in horror movies begins to unravel as memories of her deceased sister are brought to the surface by a particularly gory film she’s assigned. Expect extremity. 

Prisoners of the Ghostland

Two words: Nicholas. Cage. The gonzo actor stars in this Western, samurai, post-apocalyptic mashup about a bank robber and a warlord chasing a missing girl. There’s a warning that it contains “extreme violence and gore”. It’ll probably be awful. I’m still intrigued. 

In The Same Breath

Nanfu Wang (One Child Nation) breaks down how the American and Chinese response to COVID-19 that’s said to build to a searing indictment of Xi Jinping’s and Donald Trump. I’m not entirely sure I can stomach a whole documentary about COVID again but in Wang I trust. 

How it Ends

An asteroid is on a collision course with earth but Liza (Zoe Lister-Jones) wants to rage one last time. A road trip movie about getting to the party of a lifetime before life on earth ends, How it Ends seems like a darkly-tinged good time that boasts a killer cast of Helen Hunt, Olivia Wilde, Fred Armisen, and Nick Kroll.

Coming Home in the Dark

A New Zealand crime thriller about drifters imposing on a family, Coming Home in the Dark seems like a scummy, bleak, violent midnight movie that’s sure to provoke and frighten. Watch this one with the lights off. 

Land

Robin Wright directs and stars in her feature debut Land, a thought provoking drama that seems like a natural companion piece to Nomadland that speaks to grief and finding yourself in a world that’s moving along without you. 

A Glitch in the Matrix

From acclaimed horror documentarian Rodney Ascher (Room 237, The Nightmare), A Glitch in the Matrix examines the science and speculation behind the notion that we live in a simulation. After all, how else can you explain all the madness of last year? 

Mass

Buckle up for some trauma with Fran Kranz’s debut Mass about two sets of parents – one of who’s children killed the other in a car accident – come head-to-head. Expected a remarkably-performed (Ann Dowd and Jason Issacs star) and hard-hitting drama that could go on for some serious awards considerations.

Wild Indian

Makwa has done terrible things. Unspeakable things. Years later, he and a friend must contend with what they have done and who it has made them into. An Indigenous tale of unbridled violence and broken friendship, Wild Indian could just be an unlikely breakthrough. 

The Pink Cloud

Another movie that evokes those not-so-sweet lockdown feels is Iuli Gerbase’s The Pink Cloud about a malevolent pink cloud that comes to fruition, forcing the planet inside for an indefinite quarantine. Sound familiar? 

Violation

Two couples go to a cabin in the woods for some R&R that turns nasty. Themes of sexual violence, assault, and vengeance are said to crop up so viewers should expect to be in store for a rather challenging (and hopefully cathartic) watch. 

Pleasure

A Swedish immigrant discovers there’s less pleasure than business in the porn industry in this feature film that expands on writer-director Ninja Thyberg’s short of the same name. Featuring a cast culled right from the world of adult entertainment, Pleasure seeks to find the people beneath the porn and exploits the systems which exploit them.

For other reviews, interviews, and featured articles, be sure to:

Follow Silver Screen Riot on Facebook 
Follow Silver Screen Riot on Twitter
Follow Silver Screen Riot on Instagram