“The Farewell”
Director: Lulu Wang
What You Need to Know: “The Farewell” follows a Chinese-American woman, Billi (Awkwafina), as she struggles with her family’s collective decision not to tell her grandmother that she’s dying of cancer. Instead, the family stages an impromptu wedding as an excuse for everyone to say their final goodbyes to the beloved matriarch, and Billi must decide whether or not to go. “This American Life” devotees will be psyched about this film based on premise alone, since it comes from writer-director Lulu Wang’s own family story that she recounted for the famed podcast. Between that and Awkwafina’s starring role, it’s hard not to get psyched about “The Farewell” — and luckily we don’t have to wait very long to see if this good feeling will pay off. The film premieres in Sundance’s U.S. Dramatic Competition in just a few weeks, so keep an eye out for our upcoming coverage of the festival.
Release: January 25
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/1086307398015422464
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/1067940726078550016
“First Cow”
Director: Kelly Reichardt
What You Need to Know: I know what you’re thinking, and no, this not a cruder spin-off from Damien Chazelle’s “First Man.” Instead, “First Cow” is the next feature from acclaimed indie director Kelly Reichardt, whose ensemble film “Certain Women” rocked festival and small-time awards circuits in 2016. We don’t know much about “First Cow” yet — filming just got underway at the end of 2018 — but we do know it involves a cook and a refugee in 1820s Oregon, which reminds us of Reichardt’s 2010 feature “Meek’s Cutoff,” and that’s plenty for us to get psyched about. We might not have much more of a synopsis or even a cast list for you, so just trust us — if you’re a fan of lyrical, character-driven filmmaking, look no further than Reichardt. Even if it’s not as much of a critical knockout as “Certain Women,” “First Cow” is sure to be unlike anything else hitting screens this year.
Release: TBA — late 2019
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/786999670425870336
“The Glorias: A Life on the Road”
Director: Julie Taymor
What You Need to Know: Theatrical legend Julie Taymor directs two kinds of films: stage play adaptations and feminist icon biopics (and then there’s “Across the Universe,” which falls somewhere in between for those of us who count Evan Rachel Wood and Jim Sturgess as feminist icons). Taymor’s upcoming feature, “The Glorias: A Life on the Road” resides in the latter camp, as it chronicles the life of Gloria Steinem. The film is a bildungsroman, with Julianne Moore, Alicia Vikander, and Lulu Wilson (“The Haunting of Hill House”) portraying Steinem at different points in her life. A Gloria Steinem biopic is exciting enough, much less add that cast and the fact that this will be the “Frida” director’s first feature in nearly a decade. This one isn’t wrapped yet, either, but cross your fingers for a debut later this year. Guaranteed to be epic and dramatic, “The Glorias” seems like it’ll be worth the anticipation, even if it’s hard to pin down right now.
Release: TBA — maybe TIFF or Venice 2019
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/1062420357074669569
“Greener Grass”
Directors: Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe
What You Need to Know: Creative partners Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe made “Greener Grass” based on their 2016 SXSW short of the same name. The film follows perfectionist suburbanites Jill (DeBoer) and Lisa (Luebbe) as their lives become progressively stranger following Jill’s decision to gift Lisa her newborn baby. Already embroiled in a competitive friendship overrun by performed normalcy, the women are determined to pretend that nothing is wrong — even when things get very, very weird. With a supporting cast of comedy geniuses like D’arcy Carden (“The Good Place”) and Beck Bennett (“Saturday Night Live”), “Greener Grass” earns a spot on this list mostly because we’re eager to see what the hell it looks like when that short film gets stretched out to 99 minutes. Will everyone still be wearing weird braces? Will a housewife give birth to a soccer ball? Soon, Sundance will reveal all.
Release: January 26
Congrats to the GREENER GRASS crew! So excited for @Jocelyn_DeBoer and @dawnluebbe and everyone who worked so hard! I had a blast making this film.
SUNDANCE here we come. #sundance2019 #congratulations #indie #indiefilm #greenergrassfilm pic.twitter.com/uysbPLYXF4— Julian Hilliard (@_JulianHilliard) November 28, 2018
“Hala”
Director: Minhal Baig
What You Need to Know: Minhal Baig’s second feature, “Hala,” follows a Muslim teenage girl (Geraldine Viswanathan) as she struggles to reconcile her parents’ troubled marriage and the strictures of her faith and culture with her burgeoning sexual desire. Facing down an arranged marriage when all she wants to do is date her skateboarding buddy (Jack Kilmer), Hala must figure out who she is and who she wants to be. Though it seems like every other Sundance entry is a coming-of-age flick nowadays, “Hala” seeks to provide a twist on the genre — and it helps that it’s based on a rather excellent short film. “Hala” first debuted as a short in 2016, the same year that a feature-length script based on the concept made The Black List. Now, the film is finally coming to full-length fruition, and we can’t wait to see how it does in Park City.
Release: January 26
HALA
(Dir. Minhal Baig)
"Muslim teenager Hala copes with the unraveling of her family as she comes into her own." Based on Baig's short film.
Premiering in competition at Sundance. pic.twitter.com/35esC9EIzh— Kayleigh Donaldson (@Ceilidhann) January 1, 2019
