So far at Sundance, the US drama competition’s schedule has been vast and unpredictable, varied in subject matter and flamboyance. Each of these directors strikes their own stride with deeply personal material that doesn’t fit into any single box, bringing a downtrodden romance, a lively dance film, and a heartbreaking coming-of-age film into one competition. In these three selections, you will see how varied this section is this year.
A jewel designed with confidence, “Bedford Park” is an increasingly rare type of film. It’s a delicate picture of middle- and working-class people, grounded in life, talking about relevant issues and finding realistic romance. Unhurried but forward-thinking, Ahn’s confident script introduces Audrey (Moon Choi), a Korean-American physical therapist who regularly searches an app in search of rough sex. She pauses her pursuit when she receives a call from her mother (Won Mi Kyung), who says that she was in a car accident and needs his care While Audrey’s mother hopes to convince the man in the accident, Eli (Son Sukku), to pay for the damages, Eli, hardened and rude, refuses.
Boldly, Eli and Audrey’s tough encounter occurs when Audrey miscarries outside of Eli’s New Jersey apartment (although Audrey can get pregnant, she has less than a 5% chance of carrying a baby to term). So Eli softens against Audrey, and Audrey offers to drive Eli to his mall security job and to his community college while his car is in the store. As they spend time together, they begin to fall for each other.
In addition to this love story, Ahn adds heavy subplots, including Audrey’s alcoholic father, his mother’s desire to save the family honor by marrying Audrey off, the weight of assimilation, Eli’s foster environment, his estrangement from his young daughter, and a conflict with a half-brother who increasingly wants him to come to Miami for a nefarious job. Although “Bedford Park” is intrigued by these themes, it’s not about them. It is not a vehicle solely designed to pursue socially conscious dialogue. These themes are simply the realities of Audrey and Eli’s lives. Just like the settings they inhabit, into which Ahn immerses us with a depth of field that takes into account the different economic statuses of their divergent neighborhoods.
It is imperative that Ahn never loses sight of their romance. She even makes explicit references to “Rocky”, which are reinforced by Sukku’s muscular postures (he stands in the doorway in the same way as Stallone). The director guides Sukku and Choi to incredible and emotionally specific performances. When the laconic Eli reveals his emotions, he uses his large frame to hide his grief. Conversely, Audrey becomes physically vulnerable, letting go of her guarded exterior. Alongside the lead performances are several single-stage appearances, such as Cindy Hogan as Eli’s mother, that show how well-acted this film is.
And although the ending gives way to a few clichés, like an overly neat past connection that Audrey and Eli share, they’re moving choices that fit the film’s enjoyable tenor, making “Bedford Park” an uncompromising coup.
Considering Josef Kubota’s previous film Wladyka, “Just catch him“, was a realistic indigenous thriller that launched Kali Reis’ now-flourishing acting career, her decision to direct a dance film is a curious choice.”Ha-Chan, shake your booty!,” dedicated to the director’s mother, who was also a dancer, is a conscious passion project whose quirkiness and tenacity allow it to rise above her many bizarre creative choices.
As announced, the film’s protagonist, Haru (Rinko Kikuchi), is a dancer who teams up with her husband, Luis (Alejandro Edda), in ballroom competitions. Their carefully calibrated life – he cooks and dotes on her while she selects records from their vast vinyl collection – is disrupted when Luis dies suddenly of a heart attack. Although Haru wants him to be cremated, Luis’s father chooses to take his body back to Mexico, causing Haru to fear that Luis will have difficulty passing into the afterlife. When Haru returns to dancing nine months after Luis’s death, she learns of the arrival of hot new dance teacher Fedir (Alberto Guerra), who happens to be in an open marriage.
Divided into six chapters, whose eccentric and colorful titles are read in English with a deep, serious voice and in Japanese with a high, cartoonish tenor, we watch Haru attempt to get into a sexual groove with Fedir. Similar to her relationship with Luis, Haru uses dance as a love language with Fedir. Haru and Fedir’s seething desires inspire fantastical set pieces, such as a street fight between Fedir and crude men that turns into an elaborate dance that expresses Fedir’s muscular aura. In these extravagant sequences, Wladyka attempts to balance the attack of the dance with its ballet quality, and, in relying on the latter, he often loses the former, causing some of the choreography to lack punch. Likewise, the insistence on using chapter titles causes a film to stop in motion unnecessarily, losing its emotional momentum.
Yet “Shake Your Booty” remains as funny as its title suggests. A re-enactment of “Dirty Dancing” and the appearance of a ghost in a giant crow costume serve as inventive visual gags. Meanwhile, YOU, as Haru’s cousin, and Yoh Yoshida, as his sister, imbue the film with a comforting sentimentality amid its many manic situations. Most importantly, Kikuchi is phenomenal here as a dancer and actress. Even as the film goes off the rails, thanks to its charged intensity and winking humor, it keeps us invested in a damaged character who is often difficult to root for. So while “Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty” is certainly flawed, with its swirling palette, costumes and unflinching performances, it’s also undeniably memorable.
For a large part of theTake me home”, a modest and immersive story about marginalization and loss, we are captivated by its quiet approach.
At first, for example, when Anna, a 38-year-old Korean adoptee with cognitive disabilities, takes a shower with her mother, it’s not clear who is looking after whom. Both of Anna’s parents are elderly and exhibit signs of limited mobility and memory. Between the trio is a cycle of codependency that is eloquently depicted by Sargent through sunny walks through the Orlando, Florida, area and tumultuous outbursts whenever Anna can’t locate her water bottle. Their unassuming life is interrupted, however, by a brutal heatwave, causing tragedy to befall the family and prompting Anna’s Brooklyn-based sister Emily (Ali Ahn) to return home.
A deeply personal story for Sargent – Anna is played by the director’s sister, Anna Sargent – this film is an expansion of his 2023 Sundance short film of the same name. This briefer iteration was about the relationship between Anna and Emily (played by Jeena Yi), an origin you can feel here. The strongest part of “Take Me Home” involves Anna and Emily’s loving but tenuous relationship, which reveals the pressures faced by both the recipient and the caregiver. Emily and her father Bob (a quietly affecting Victor Slezak) struggle to navigate an underfunded healthcare system, further revealing how systematic inequalities for people with cognitive disabilities can quickly drive a seemingly middle-class family to the margins. Sargent and Ahn share a touching relationship as sisters, highlighting the cracks, flaws, and bonds that ultimately bind them together.
Sargent and his cinematographer Farhad Ahmed Dehlvi have an unhurried, unadorned approach, capturing these obstacles and wounds without pretension or melodrama. This approach, unfortunately, breaks down in a final dreamlike twist reminiscent of the end of “The Florida Project.” For some reason, the pair abandon their lived-in social realist tone for a maudlin aesthetic that becomes saccharine and out of place, even introducing characters for emotional effect that feels rushed and somewhat unearned. While one can understand Sargent’s impulse, to imagine an ideal world where people with disabilities are humanized and supported, this is too radical a change in style. This questionable edit makes you wish “Take Me Home” never left the tender ambiance, lucid perspective and distinct methodology that could have made it special.
