Slamdance 2023: Cinematic Cerebrations

By Dan Skip Allen and Sean Boelman

The Slamdance Film Festival is known as the indie cousin of Sundance, taking place in Park City, UT at the same time and featuring a lineup composed of exciting independent features and short films. Offering an in-person event for the first time since the pandemic, Slamdance also continues to offer virtual access to the entire program through their streaming service, the Slamdance Channel.

We at disappointment media are again covering Slamdance remotely, and will continue to share our thoughts on films as we screen them.

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Where the Road Leads

Review by Sean Boelman

Where the Road Leads won the Audience Award and came in runner-up for the Grand Jury Award for Narrative Feature at this year's festival, and it's understandable why. It's a sleek, beautifully-shot feature that has stronger production values than the average narrative film at Slamdance, but it's more effective as an exercise in aestheticism than anything else. The film's narrative is needlessly convoluted, and it takes until the last five minutes for it to make its point. Still, it's gorgeous enough to be mostly transfixing despite the flaws.

With Peter Bradley

Review by Dan Skip Allen

With Peter Bradley tells the story of the 80-year-old Black abstract painter from Connersville, PA. He was adopted by his mother, who wanted him to be an artist, at an early age. He now lives a secluded life with his wife in upstate New York. Forty-five years ago, he did two art shows but hasn't done any since. Bradley loves listening to jazz music while he's painting. Bradley has a lot to say about the art and jazz music world. He was a part of it for most of his life before being relegated to the sidelines. The film deals with his bitter side to some extent but also shows why he was such a revered painter by many in the art community in New York in the '60s and '70s. It's mostly talking heads answering questions from the director off-screen, but there is a lot of archival footage of him from the past and famous jazz musicians he knew or came in contact with. This is a good documentary about a fascinating man and world. He just wants people to sit and have a beer with him and get to know who he is as a man and as an artist.

Silent Love

Review by Dan Skip Allen

Silent Love follows Agnieszka, a woman who tries to get custody of her younger brother, Milosz, after their mother suddenly passes away. She also has a secret lover, Majka, in Germany and struggles to balance these relationships. She wants her lover to move in with them in Poland so that they can be one big happy family. In Poland, though, it is forbidden to have a lesbian relationship. She lies to the lady asking about caring for her brother because she can't live without her lover. "Weird Love Is Better Than No Love At All," a quote from The Green Mile, hangs around Majka's neck, encapsulating this documentary film's true story. It is a tale of silent love that I can get behind because I have a gay brother, and love of some kind is better than none at all.

Love Dump

Review by Dan Skip Allen

Set to some cool synth music, Love Dump follows an awkward, odd guy named Todd who meets a girl, Jessica, after he trips over her chasing his dog. He's a dog lawyer. She fixes his cut and his pants for him. Cut to 15 years later, his girlfriend, Leana, leaves him to go to LA. She leaves a bunch of stuff in his apartment, and he brings it to Jessica's shop, the Love Dump. Todd sees her again after fifteen years. She opened the shop with her dad when she was three years old. "One person's trash is another person's treasure" is a popular saying people use that makes sense in the context of the movie. Her dad passed away, and she's been lonely, looking for a man that can speak to her weird side. A contrived event where Todd loses Jessica's number causes some dramatic scenes, but this film is essentially a funny take on life and relationships. I enjoyed the absurdist comedy in the movie, and it didn't take itself too seriously, which was a breath of fresh air for me.

Mascot

Review by Dan Skip Allen

In Mascot, a mother, Abbey (Maartje Remmers), works at a home for disabled people with her son but also sells her body for money. The son, Jeremy (Liam Jeans), has bad teeth and is a member of a fight club/league. He has a bad temper and takes his anger out on everybody, including his mother. She also has a daughter Emine (Drederike van Oordt), who dresses up in mascot costumes and goes to parties and dances. The kids are both estranged from their father. This film shows the difficulties of being in a one-parent household and how hard it is to raise kids no matter what country you are in. Mascot comes from Dutch filmmaker Remy van Heugten. He deals with a very serious subject matter in this film, and it's not for the faint of heart. As a young boy, my brother had anger issues, and as a younger man, so did I. Life is not easy for people, no matter their age. Anger and lashing out are sometimes the only way to express yourself, whether it's the right decision or wrong. I felt for this teen who thought he was on the outside looking in on his own life and his family.

Waiting for the Light to Change

Review by Dan Skip Allen

Waiting for the Light to Change follows Amy, Kim, Alex, Jay, and Lin as they take a break from college to stay at a lake house during winter break. These college-age teens and early twenty-somethings are a bit promiscuous, but this film is an emotional journey of discovery. They drink and smoke weed, take walks on the beach and sit around talking to each other at various times in the movie. They contemplate their existence in the world with each other and without. It's a typical coming-of-age type of story. Amy has the most emotional baggage and is by far the most interesting character of the bunch. The filmmaker Linh Tran tries to make her relationship with her best friend Kim an important aspect of the movie, but I wasn't emotionally involved with her as a character as I was with Amy. This is a good film about what goes through young people's minds at this age. I can see this becoming an indie hit this year.

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The 2023 Slamdance Film Festival runs in-person in Park City, UT from January 20-26 and online from January 23-29.