Sundance 2013: Locals Best Bets 1/25 | Buzz Blog
Support the Free Press | Facts matter. Truth matters. Journalism matters
Salt Lake City Weekly has been Utah's source of independent news and in-depth journalism since 1984. Donate today to ensure the legacy continues.

Buzz Blog

Archives | RSS

Friday, January 25, 2013

Movies / Culture

Sundance 2013: Locals Best Bets 1/25

Posted By on January 25, 2013, 10:00 AM

  • Pin It
    Email
    Print
    Favorite
blog8994widea.jpg

Heading into the final festival weekend, Salt Lake City Sundancers have a chance to see a couple of the best films in both the U.S. Dramatic and U.S. Documentary competition. ---

Upstream Color -- writer/director/star Shane Carruth's fascinating follow-up to his 2004 Sundance film Primer -- may be nothing more than its fascinating surface-level story, about a woman whose life is shattered when she's subjected to a strange substance that renders her intensely suggestible. The plot, bizarre though it may be, isn't hard to follow; the only question is whether it adds up to something even more profound than its utterly singular narrative and Carruth's elliptical visual style.

The documentary Life According to Sam may have a somewhat misleading title, in that it's less about Sam Berns -- a 13-year-old boy among the few people living with the rare, rapid-aging disease progeria -- than about his mother and her research project to come up with a treatment. But it's pretty terrific as a profile not just of this particular woman and her determination, but as a case study in what it's like to be a parent told that your child is doomed, and what you do with your life then.

  |  

About The Author

Scott Renshaw

Scott Renshaw
Bio:
 Scott Renshaw has been a City Weekly staff member since 1999, including assuming the role of primary film critic in 2001 and Arts & Entertainment Editor in 2003. Scott has covered the Sundance Film Festival for 25 years, and provided coverage of local arts including theater, pop-culture conventions, comedy, literature,... more

On Topic...

More by Scott Renshaw

Latest in Buzz Blog

Promotions
Movie Times
···

© 2025 Salt Lake City Weekly

Website powered by Foundation