From 'Fair play' to 'Eileen', 10 Sundance films that will mark the year

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• Documentary Brooke Shields, an actress raped, attacked by Tom Cruise, harassed by Zeffirelli and turned into girl sex merchandise

• History Shere Hite, the erased memory of the woman who 'discovered' the clitoris and was harassed by the media

The unavoidable commitment to a hybrid edition,

has turned the recently concluded Sundance Festival of this year into a global event.

The '

', which began as a temporary solution due to the pandemic and its demands, has been imposed as a stable solution that

We review some of the films that will become must-see events of the year (some of them, such as

by Celine Song, did not have an 'online' screening because I will be at the Berlinale).

A lot of sex, a lot of cinema directed by women and a transversal look at the usual issues (life, death,

1. 'Fair play', by Chloe Domont

The first scene of hurried sex in the bathroom of a bar and flooded with menstrual blood sets the tone.

Let's say that in this strident, wild, pleasant A (for the musical note), even much higher than the standardized 440 Hertz, a '

' is refined, enclosed within the glass walls of a financial company that updates and invents new edges. to classics of the capitalist rampage like

or

Newcomer Chloe Domont places her partner in the lead

in a new space that talks about toxic relationships, toxic masculinities, toxic money, toxic sex, toxic life.

The Netflix platform has picked it up with the stated intention of making it the next big toxic talking point.

2. 'Rotting in the Sun', by Sebastián Silva

The Chilean Sebastián Silva has spent years discussing the limits and opportunity of each of the more or less common, more or less well-intentioned conversations.

If racism, '

');

if surrogacy,

.

And so.

Let's say that each of his films wants to be a comedy, but reality prevents it.

He wants to make us laugh, but we always end up crying.

, which would be the translation of the original English title, talks about an accidental death (that of the director himself in a role very close to himself).

But he already discusses class differences, about the stupidity of some of the so-called '

', about the revelry of social networks and, why not, turns each of the well-intentioned conventions of '

' cinema in general and

gay '

And the latter, since we are in the temple of '

' cinema, has merit and is very funny.

Bitter at times, funny when it's time and always free.

A prodigy of irresponsibility to greet standing.

3. 'Infinity pool', by Brandon Cronenberg

Being the son of a genius is complicated.

And much more if you dedicate yourself to the same thing as your father and, if necessary, you even insist on maintaining the family business without a single reform.

It is one of those films for dissent, anger and you-plus.

As smug as she is, let's face it, hypnotic;

as witty as empty;

as cloudy as enjoyable.

It tells the story of a group of rich tourists in a luxury resort located in the poorest and most idyllic of countries (as contradictory as it sounds).

Boundless hedonism and the desperate search for new experiences packaged in a gift box make for a delusional fable that irritates as much as it makes you jump with pleasure, which is what it's all about.

The conversation on the bus back to the airport after everything that has happened and everything we have experienced portrays us in such a cruel way that, now, yes, only enthusiasm remains.

Very good the trio formed by

4. 'Polite Society', by Nida Manzoor

Let's imagine that someone comes up with a movie inspired by the Bollywood universe, but that includes martial arts, a sci-fi subplot, and some romantic comedy.

All this without renouncing social commentary, feminist demands and what the Anglo-Saxons call '

', which basically consists of fighting with hormones.

Well, that already exists and it's called

.

The British of Pakistani origin Manzoor makes a film that is as funny as it is agile, which reconciles with the suddenly fashionable aspiration to tell everything at once everywhere.

Shiny.

5. 'The infinite memory', by Maite Alberdi

The director of

leaves for a moment her cinematographic grammar manual determined to blur the limits that separate fiction from reality and gives herself over to the painstaking task of recording a life that is falling apart.

is a Chilean journalist who has spent an entire life dedicated to memorizing his own wounds and those of others with the sole objective of not being eaten by oblivion.

And so until he makes an appearance Alzheimer's.

With a steady hand, Alberdi succeeds in placing in parallel the drama of an entire country marked by fire by the brutality of the dictatorship and the tragedy of a man who suddenly does not know what he is, who he is, why he is.

We are talking about identity, we are talking about an enlightened, painful, sad and, above all, conciliatory document.

By the way, in the strict field of the documentary, the portrait of five transsexuals in

by newcomer D. Smith, was the king of this Sundance.

6. 'Eileen', by William Oldroyd

Who's afraid of

Few writers are so desired in the broadest sense of the word.

Undoubtedly, a risky move to compete from the screen with the memory turned on by each one of her readers.

And that is what William Oldroyd does with a taut, steely nerve.

From the hand of two superb

who was responsible for the disturbing '

' now achieves a labyrinthine and twisted psychodrama like a vine branch thrown into the fire that lasts in the memory as long as or more than the worst nightmare.

The first scene in which the protagonist spies on couples making love in the heat of cars covered in ice and frost while she masturbates, places the viewer on alert.

And there she stays to live the whole movie.

7. 'Cassandro', by Roger Ross Williams

The news and surprise was in Cassandro himself, alias of Saúl Armendáriz, who arrived in Park City as the strange, perfect and completely useless heroes.

They neither save nor redeem, but they fly.

The story of the "exotic" character, which is how, apparently, in the world of Mexican wrestling (the one with the masks) gay gladiators who boast of being gay (and gladiators, of course) are called gives rise to a resplendent film in which

shines.

No more no less.

It is a calm and even easy fable, but it is also a delicate study of characters who are harassed and, even for a moment, free.

What is it about.

8. 'Passages', by Ira Sachs

Why call it sex when only and only is love?

Sachs, one of the directors who best combines tenderness and melodrama, risks a triangular story where everything is suspended.

There is no conciliation or peace for the viewer in this tiny three-way tragedy between great performers like

It tells the story of a film director who one day falls in love with a woman.

So easy.

The problem (that there is) begins when he tells her husband about it, he too.

It is then when the homosexual and the hetero get confused, reply to each other and wonder about things such as desire, passion, love, dependence, narcissism, sacrifice... We could go on, but in truth everything is much less complicated, lighter and infinitely more perplexing.

9. 'Magazine dreams', by Elijah Bynum

A lot of muscle, little brain and, in the end, they cry like everyone else.

So said the song of Total Sinister and, with the exceptions that you want, so says the Elijah Bynum film that places its protagonist, actor

, a span above all the others.

The story of a bodybuilder locked up in the prison of his allegedly perfect body (as dramatic as it sounds) gives rise to a deep, oppressive, cloudy and very muscular film, no matter where you look at it.

10. 'A Little Prayer', by Angus MacLachlan

The family, that disease that requires even its own specialist.

The director and poet Angus MacLachlan encloses a family drama with an immense

in front between the four walls of an immeasurable landscape.

He seems contradictory and he is.

A father tries to prevent his daughter-in-law from the infidelities of his own son.

What follows is a delicate and extremely elegant journey to the bottom of broken feelings.

It is not a film for excitement, surprise and red carpets, but for just the opposite: introspection, acceptance of limits and... the prize of recognition.

And the latter makes it huge.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

• Netflix

• Alzheimer's

• theater

• cinema