REVIEW: 2023 Sundance shorts are (mostly) engaging
Photo: Rest Stop, written and directed by Crystal Kayiza, follows Meyi on a bus trip from New York to Oklahoma. Photo courtesy of Sundance Film Festival / Provided by IFC Center with permission.
Touring short films packaged as one big release is a continuing trend that should be welcomed by more movie theaters. The Academy Award nominees for short film, both fiction and nonfiction, have been successfully presented year after year, and the Sundance Film Festival, held each winter in Utah, has done the same. They are currently touring a program of their best shorts from the 2023 fest, and audience members can catch the movies at New York City’s IFC Center.
This year’s offerings, totaling 87 minutes, are engaging, although a bit of a mixed bag, with some solid entries that keep one’s interest and ask important questions, while others pass as fleeting, forgettable entertainment. With any curated series, there are going to be short films that resoundingly sparkle, gaining respect from the audience and lodging in one’s memory, while others feel less effective, bordering on filler. That’s perhaps the downside of these touring festivals; perfection is based on perception, and thus elusive.
One of the best in the current Sundance tour is Parker, the only nonfiction film represented. The short follows three generations of a Kansas City family who are going through a monumental change that connects their present life with their personal heritage. In the documentary narrative, a son decides to change his last name. There are scenes and conversations on why this is important for the son and his family, and there are some important historical lessons on surnames and Black Americans. This is a personal, profound film, directed by Catherine Hoffman and Sharon Liese, that tells a story that resonates far beyond its short running time.
Another welcome addition to the short film tour is Rest Stop, written and directed by Crystal Kayiza. This movie, which won the Short Film Jury Award at Sundance, concerns a Ugandan-American family heading across the country on a bus. The action is simple enough, but the effect of this trip and what it means to these family members produces a bevy of emotions. There’s concern, love, uncertainty and innocence, all wrapped together in a narrative that centers on the daughter in the family, Meyi.
Take Me Home, written and directed by Liz Sargent, follows a cognitively disabled woman and how she rebuilds a new relationship with her estranged sister after their mother dies. The film offers a fine focus on how these two sisters learn to live together again and how they respond to the new circumstances of not having their mother in the house any longer. This is a solid film that feels readymade for feature-length treatment.
The 2023 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour is not uniformly perfect. Inglorious Liaisons, an animated feature from France and Belgium, doesn’t have the same emotional weight as the other offerings, although the creativity of building the animated characters with light switches is worthy of admiration. The opening segment, Help Me Understand, follows six women who are part of a focus group, and they’re unable to leave the room without building consensus. It’s a modern retelling of 12 Angry Men, but the comedy and social commentary don’t quite land.
Rounding out the film fest are Pro Pool and When You Left Me on That Boulevard — all in all, not a bad crop of films, with some rising above the rest to firmly leave an imprint in the mind of the audience.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The 2023 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour continues in movie theaters. Running time: 87 minutes. Currently running at New York City’s IFC Center. Click here for more information.
