Slamdance Film Review: The Institute

Slamdance Film Review: The Institute
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Following the storyline of a massive reality game created by Jeff Hull, The Institute searches for the boundry that separates what is real and what is fiction.

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Slamdance Film Review: My Name is Faith

Slamdance Film Review: My Name is Faith
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Following a young girl named Faith—who suffers from Reactive Attachment Disorder— and her family, the Junkers, through two camps designed to help families with children who have various attachment disorders, My Name is Faith documents the difficulty of dealing with these very real issues—both as a child and as a family. 
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Sundance Film Review: Upstream Color

Sundance Film Review: Upstream Color
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It’s going to take me a few more viewings of this film to full grasp what the hell is going on and what it all means, but let’s try this: Larvae infect a plant, kids harvest and process the blue dust on the infected plant and they make a drink out of it which gives them mental, physical and spiritual connection. … read more

Sundance Film Review: Toy’s House

Sundance Film Review: Toy’s House
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I knew this movie was going to be painful to watch as soon as the ‘70s or ‘80s power-pop intro song started. It seemed out of place, forced—As did most of the dialogue in the film. A couple of high school friends, Joe Toy (Nick Robinson) and Patrick Keenan (Gabriel Basso) decide that their parents are such a drag that the only option is to build their own house in the forest and live there.  … read more

Sundance Film Review: Wajma (An Afghan Love Story)

Sundance Film Review: Wajma (An Afghan Love Story)
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What begins as a series of secret flirtations in a society that prohibits contact between the sexes before marriage turns into the worst scenario imaginable: Mustafa, professing his love for Wajma (Wajma Bahar), pressures her into a forbidden romance despite her reserved protests. … read more

Slamdance Film Review: What Isn’t There

Slamdance Film Review: What Isn’t There
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At the age of 10, Gibson (Dominic Roco) saw his twin brother die, and he hasn’t spoken since. Now 20, Gibson returns home to Manila for the holidays and finds his family growing slowly more and more distant.  … read more

Slamdance Film Review: The Dirties

Slamdance Film Review: The Dirties
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Constantly being bullied by a group of kids—known as “The Dirties” because it’s the name of the bullies’ band—at their high school, Matt (Matt Johnson) and Owen (Owen Williams) decide to film a movie about getting revenge. But as Matt gets more and more serious about the idea, Owen begins to worry his friend might take things too far. … read more

Slamdance Film Review: Best Friends Forever

Slamdance Film Review: Best Friends Forever
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Harriet (Brea Grant), a young comic book artist living in Los Angeles, has just been accepted to a college in Austin, Texas, and decides to road trip there with her BFF, Reba (Vera Miao). As they make their way across the country—in a ’76 AMC Pacer—the nuclear apocalypse begins with four nuclear explosions happening in major US cities.  … read more

Sundance Film Review: Soldate Jeannette

Sundance Film Review: Soldate Jeannette
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Fanni tries on an expensive dress at an upscale fashion boutique.  After much deliberation, she buys the dress. She dumps it into a mailbox just outside the boutique. Fanni’s landlord and his lawyer walk into her posh apartment. She offers them matcha tea, and they tell her she’s being evicted that afternoon because three years’ rent is past due. … read more

Sundance Film Festival: Cutie and the Boxer

Sundance Film Festival: Cutie and the Boxer
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Cutie and the Boxer, more than anything, is a beautiful love story. In this fantastic directorial debut, Zachary Heinzerling captures the tumultuous and oftentimes dissatisfying relationship between Japanese artists Ushio and Noriko Shinohara.  … read more