We’ll come right out and say it: 2023 is going to be a banner year for the movies. Maybe it’s the psychedelic new Ari Aster trailer in the air, the reported chaos of Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis churning away in Atlanta, or the prospect of Greta Gerwig’s much-mythologised Barbie finally materialising this summer, but we’ve kind of just got a good feeling about this one. I mean, a second M3GAN movie is already in development and we’re getting an unrated version of the first – there’s no way 2023 won’t be an all-timer.
Utah’s Sundance Film Festival has long been a hotbed for fresh talent and off-beat cult classics and, judging by its line-up for this year, the Park City juggernaut has done it again, rounding up another killer selection of indie dramas, horror flicks and documentaries for a bold and intriguing 2023 programme. Lost for what to watch or where to start? Here are ten unmissable movies coming to the festival this month, running from 19-29 January.
1. Cat Person (Susanna Fogel)
Based on the infamous 2017 short story – apparently the most-read piece of fiction to ever be published in The New Yorker – the film adaptation of Cat Person is finally here. Directed by Booksmart co-writer Susanna Fogel, Emilia Jones (CODA) and Succession MVP Nicholas Braun play the lead roles of Margot and Robert opposite each other: she’s a college student working at an arthouse movie theatre, he’s an older local man going to the movies. There are red flags and odd moments between them, but a romance blooms nonetheless, and the grey areas form. Billed as “a provocative portrait of modern dating”, it’s sure to be an interesting watch.
2. Infinity Pool (Brandon Cronenberg)
Son of David, Brandon Cronenberg is out to make his own name in the film industry, and what better way to do it than by putting Alexander Skarsgård in a BDSM collar? Credit where credit is due. The Canadian director made waves at Sundance’s 2020 edition with the “cerebral techno-horror” Possessor, but Infinity Pool seems to be a more twisted breed of thriller. Also starring Cleopatra Coleman and Mia Goth, the story follows a wealthy couple who travel to the fictional state of Li Tolqa for an all-inclusive beach getaway. Unluckily for them, all manner of horrors lurk beneath the idyll surface of the resort, and our protagonists soon come up against surreal, horrific violence – not to mention Mia Goth with a gun. If one thing’s for sure, it can’t end well for the rich people.
3. Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV (Amanda Kim)
Got an appetite for a good documentary? Well, there’s no better time to learn about Nam June Paik, the father of video art and one of the most influential creatives of the 20th century: “While you’d be wrong to say that Nam June Paik invented the Instagram filter,” writes i-D fashion features editor Mahoro Seward, “it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that he inadvertently prefigured it.” This debut feature from director Amanda Kim follows the artist from his childhood in Japan-occupied Korea (where he studied as a classical musician) to his pioneering of Fluxus, an experimental art movement, and the trailblazing work he produced after moving to the USA.
4. My Animal (Jacqueline Castel)
At once a “harrowing family drama, a steamy teen romance” and “a classic monster tale,” it seems there’s something for everyone in Jacqueline Castel’s My Animal. Bobbi Salvör Menuez stars as Heather, an outcast hockey goalie living in a too-small town and getting imprisoned inside her home every full moon. High school is the worst, right? When Jonny (Amandla Stenberg), an “alluring but tormented” figure skater, comes along, the pair have a fierce sexual chemistry that changes everything. Who says werewolves can’t have girlfriends?
5. The Stroll (Kristen Lovell and Zackary Drucker)
Brought together by directors Kristen Lovell and Zackary Drucker, The Stroll is described as a definitive account of NYC’s now-gentrified Meatpacking District, as told by the transgender sex workers who made the neighbourhood what it was at its most vibrant. The film is said to address and archive the ways in which “heavy policing, violence both threatened and realised, and mass gentrification” mutated the area that many trans women of colour, unable to participate in the traditional workforce, “turned to as a means of survival.”
6. Scrapper (Charlotte Regan)
When 12-year-old Georgie (Lola Campbell) loses her mother, she is unfazed: the tween continues to live in their flat on the outskirts of London alone, making money by robbing bikes, and ducking social workers by lying about staying with an uncle. Then her estranged father Jason (Triangle of Sadness’ Harris Dickinson) appears – but he isn’t always around, or a very good cook. From British director Charlotte Regan, Scrapper is described as a “father-daughter story of two emotionally tangled people” with a joyful, imaginative edge: “full of flourish, aesthetic energy, and even talking spiders.” We’re sold!
7. Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (Anna Hints)
Deep inside a southern Estonian forest, a group of women gather to wash their troubles away – or at least sweat them out. One of the most popular rituals in northern Europe, the smoke sauna is a hallowed place – somewhere to “bathe bodies and cleanse spirits” – where family and community can gather to share secrets and intimate thoughts. “It’s a beautiful privilege to be allowed into this healing space,” reads the synopsis. “Hints honours the tradition and the empowered vulnerability of women with her striking and engrossing portrait.”
8. Eileen (William Oldroyd)
Ottessa Moshfegh-enjoyers rejoice! The provocative American author is a screenwriter and producer on this movie adaptation of her debut novel, Eileen. The film – about an unhappy young woman who works at a Boston prison – is directed by Lady Macbeth helmer William Oldroyd, and stars Old’s Thomasin McKenzie in the titular role. When “an intoxicating woman” played by Anne Hathaway joins the staff, Eileen finds salvation in the new friendship, but a shocking crime changes everything between them.
9. Fairyland (Andrew Durham)
Based on the acclaimed 2013 memoir by Alysia Abbott, Fairyland tells the 1970s-set story of a young girl growing up in San Francisco with her widowed father. Steve Abbott came out as gay to his daughter when she was two years old. Upon their move to San Francisco, Steve embraces a queer, bohemian lifestyle that doesn’t always suit Alysia, who in turn feels she could do with a slightly less independent existence. A coming-of-age tale that intersects with the AIDS crisis, the film is directed by Andrew Durham, with cult filmmaker Sofia Coppola producing.
10. Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields (Lana Wilson)
Through archival footage and media appearances, Lana Wilson – director of 2020 Taylor Swift documentary Miss Americana – creates a timeline for the illustrious (though at times perilous) career of yet another American sweetheart. Brooke Shields was a 1980s icon, booking her first modelling gig as an infant, breaking into the film industry with a controversial role aged 12, and at one point being the youngest person to ever appear on the cover of Vogue. But it’s not all glitz and glamour: the two-part documentary is said to create space for the actor to reflect on her past exploitation, critiquing a “toxic culture and power structure that perpetuates misogyny and is complicit in the sexualization and objectification of young girls.”