I had an awesome last day in Sundance, watching three award winning films back to back.

Tarik Saleh's The Nile Hilton Incident is an Egyptian film noir. Cop Noredin was investigating a murdered in an hotel. It quickly became complicated when it implicated an important businessman and politician in the country. The corrupted police office made sure it was a no go. All people involved, from a pimp to innocent witness found their life in danger. This tense thriller happened in the backdrop of turmoil of Arab spring in Cairo.

I probably wouldn't have picked up Dan Sickles's Dina by myself. But it turned out to be a sweet documentary about two a middle aged couple. Both of them are poor and have some degree of developmental disability. The crew followed them when the decided to get engaged and later married. Two unsexy middle aged people is not going to be very photogenic on screen. Still it is inspiring to see how they deal with life and their marital issues.

The Grand Jury Prize went to Macon Blair's I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore. It is an absolutely brilliant film. Nurse Ruth already had a bad day. Then she came home and found it burglarized. When police did not act on the information she found, she went with her quirky neighbor to retrieve the stolen objects on their own. The result is an unpredictable adventure that is at the same time hilarious and brutal. Macon is a genius in the style of Quentin Tarantino. This is my top film from the festival.

2017.01.29 comments