Sundance 2020

[Chris Knipp]

An eye-opening doc about social media and a Mirandy July movie.


STILL FROM THE SOCIAL DILEMMA

THE SOCIAL DILEMMA (Jeff Orlowski) asks about the ethics of social media - and ultimately, as a result, whether we should wind up uninstalling it all. Orlowski is the proven documentarian of CHASING ICE (Filmleaf 2012 and CHASING CORAL. This features former Silicon Valely stars who started social media and then who turned around to question the whole thing and have gotten out of it. The main speaker is an Orlowski colleague at Stanford, Tristan Harris, former design ethicist at Google, now head of the Center for Humane Technology. HOLLYWOOD REPORTER'S Leslie Felperin says this "manages to unpack this perplexing issue with precision" yet avoiding "any moral panic-mongering, condescension or dumbing down the complexity of the science stuff." David Erlich of INDIEWIRE calls this documentary "horrifyingly good." CHASING ICE was horrifyingly good - so I'm ready to believe this new one also goes deep and is essential.

KAJILLIONAIRE (Miranda July). The festival blurb reads: "Low-stakes grifters, Old Dolio and her parents invite a chipper young woman into their insular clan, only to have their entire world turned upside down. Cast: Evan Rachel Wood, Gina Rodriguez, Richard Jenkins, Debra Winger." This has a Metascore and it's 80% based on 11 reviews. Bilge Ebiri, now of THE VERGE, says this may be July's "bet film yet" (his headline). KAJILLIONAIRE is the mistress of the twee's first in nearly a decade, following the 2011 THE FUTURE (Filmleaf SFIFF 2011) about an alike-looking, terminally tentative couple. This one by the maker of the popular debut YOU AND I AND EVERYONE WE KNOW might just be her best yet: so says Bilge Ebiri of VULTURE. The subject is an Los Angeles family of con artists and is well-crafted, patience-testing, and more abstract than previously, highlighting the absurdity of our world that we barely notice, to quote some of the 11 Metacritic reviews that add up to an 80% score. The plot focus is on the long-coming meltdown of the family's overly-isolated home-schooled daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) called Old Dolio. She's bound to break out. But someone the family meets on a plane trip is also important. Peter Debruge of VARIETY says it's all "less about the con than it is the connection." Debruge is a declared Miranda July fan, and admires the "insights" the new film provides "into what it means to be human."