25 Most Anticipated Films At the 2020 Sundance Film Festival

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“Possessor”
Director: Brandon Cronenberg
Cast: Andrea Riseborough, Christopher Abbott, Rossif Sutherland, Tuppence Middleton, Sean Bean, Jennifer Jason Leigh
Lowdown: The latest creation from Cronenberg (yes, the son of David Cronenberg) features an eye-popping cast and a unique premise. An assassin uses new technology to inhabit the brains of unsuspecting victims who are then forced to conduct missions for her company.  When something goes wrong she’s stuck in a mind that threatens to destroy her own.  The fact the film has already been acquired by small indie distributor Well Go Entertainment is a bit of a red flag, but maybe it’s a good red flag? And film stills rarely reflect a movie accuratetly at a festival like this, but the ones released so far are pretty hard to ignore. 
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“I Carry You With Me”
Director: Heidi Ewing
Cast: Armando Espitia, Christian Vázquez, Michelle Rodríguez, Ángeles Cruz, Arcelia Ramírez, Michelle González
Lowdown: Set over a number of decades this “epic” gay love story centers on an aspiring chef who leaves his soulmate for potential fame and fortune in New York City.  One of the few obvious gay titles at the festival and a rare love story featuring Latinx characters at Sundance. Ewing is an Oscar nominated documentary filmmaker making her narrative feature directing debut.
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“Omniboat: A Fast Boat Fantasia”
Director and Screenwriters: The Daniels, Hannah Fidell, Alexa Lim Haas, Lucas Leyva, Olivia Lloyd, Jillian Mayer, The Meza Brothers, Terence Nance, Brett Potter, Dylan Redford, Xander Robin, Julian Yuri Rodriguez, Celia Rowlson-Hall
Cast: Mel Rodriguez, Finn Wolfhard, Casey Wilson, Adam Devine, Jessica Williams, Robert Redford
Lowdown: 15 filmmakers were recruited to create a love letter to Miami. According to the festival the result features talking dolphins and “unconventional love.” What ties it together? “A crazy boat ride.” Honestly, they had us at The Daniels and the fact this is the sort of project you may never see on screen again.
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“The Father”
Director: Florian Zeller
Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Colman, Mark Gatiss, Imogen Poots, Rufus Sewell, Olivia Williams
Lowdown: The directorial debut of the noted French author and playwright, “The Father” finds Hopkins as an 80-year-old man in London who has no interest in the services of home nurses suggested by his daughter, played by Colman.  She’s moving to Paris, however, and the result is a film described by the festival as a “moving story of the human condition.”  That phrase is sort of the bland description you don’t want to hear for a Sundance premiere, but we’re betting Hopkins and Colman’s performances more than make up for it.  Sony Pictures Classics acquired the drama just last week.
[Premieres]

“The Glorias”
Director: Julie Taymor
Cast: Julianne Moore, Alicia Vikander, Bette Midler, Janelle Monae, Timothy Hutton, Lorraine Toussaint
Lowdown: Stars, stars, so many stars. Julie Taymor’s latest creation finds a number of different actresses playing feminist trailblazer Gloria Steinhem in what the festival describes as a “non-traditional” biopic. This is Taymor’s first narrative feature in a decade (a theme at this festival) and, potentially, a hot acquisition title.
[Premieres]

“Ironbark”
Director: Dominic Cooke
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Merab Ninidze, Rachel Brosnahan, Jessie Buckley
Lowdown: Based on a true story, Benedict Cumberbatch plays Greville Wynne, a British businessman who was recruited to work for MI6 during the height of the Cold War and the Cuban Missle Crisis. This acquisition title is Rachel Brosnahan’s first real feature project since breaking out in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”
[Premieres]

“Kajillionaire”
Director: Miranda July
Cast: Evan Rachel Wood, Gina Rodriguez, Richard Jenkins, Debra Winger
Lowdown: A stellar cast stars in this highly anticipated return from Miranda July, whose “You and Me and Everyone We Know” set the festival on fire in 2005 and whose follow up six years later, “The Future,” was less appreciated. This is an acquisition title.
[Premieres]

“The Last Thing He Wanted”
Director: Dee Rees
Cast: Anne Hathaway, Ben Affleck, Willem Dafoe, Rosie Perez
Lowdown: Dee Rees follows up 2017’s “Mudbound” with an adaptation of Joan Didion’s 1996 novel that centers on a reporter (Hathaway) who gets caught up in her father’s arms dealing venture. This is just one of a number of Netflix films at the festival this year.
[Premieres]