TAGGED AS: festivals, movies, Sundance
The latest and probably one of the last editions of the Park City staple Sundance Film Festival wrapped last weekend. This is not to say that the storied 40-year-plus festival will be ending, but rather, it will likely be vacating its Park City home after the contract renewal of 2027. The conversations around what Sundance will remain and what Sundance is today dominated most of the headlines last week, but this year’s slate was just as interesting and vibrant as previous years, with more than a few hidden gems and buzzy acquisitions.
Recommended: Sundance Scorecard
Yes, they took a little longer than in previous years to premiere and find audiences, but they were impressive nonetheless. Read on for a recap of our favorite narrative films from this year’s Sundance Film Festival. If you’re looking out for the best docs we saw at the festival, please keep an eye out for our dcoumentary-focused wrap-up, which we’ll publish soon.
Which of these are you looking forward to seeing in theaters? Let us know in the comments.
The Ballad of Wallis Island (2025)
First, we have Focus Features’ music-based dramedy, The Ballad of Wallis Island, a delightfully hilarious jaunt into the world of musician romance dynamics that feels like a farcical take on Yesterday or Once. Carey Mulligan elevates every aspect of the film with her casual ease on screen. If you can picture Stevie Knicks disappearing after the seminal album Rumors and then being invited to play a private show with Fleetwood Mac frontman Lindsay Buckingham 10 years later, you’ve got the general gist of star and co-writer Tom Basden’s quippy screenplay. The laugh-out-loud journey also boasts some impressive musical interludes courtesy of Basden. This one will warm audiences and give them new songs to hum along with once they leave. Jon Negroni of InBetweenDrafts wrote, “[The Ballad of Wallas Island] is a cinematic sea shanty about misfits, music, and the scruffy relationships that define us. It’s also the funniest movie I’ve seen in ages.”
Together (2025)
The most explosive acquisition of the festival was Together from writer-director Michael Shanks. The relationship-driven body horror lit up Midnight Festival audiences and debuted to rave reviews. Led by the jaw-dropping dual performance of married couple Alison Brie and Dave Franco, Together provoked laughs and gasps through its packed premiere screening. A bold take on the horrors of modern dating, the film centers on a couple on the brink of separation who are cursed not to separate — in every sense of the word. Franco and Brie are exceptional in what we argue is the best entry of their stellar shared filmography (The Little Hours, Somebody I Used to Know, and The Rental). We expect audiences won’t have to wait long before they can enjoy Shanks’ daring debut. Brittany Patrice Witherspoon of Screen Rant wrote, “Together is a twisted, f–ked-up romance about taking the plunge and seeing what works out best in the end!”
Train Dreams (2025)
The talented and gifted team behind Jockey and Sing Sing, Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar, are back with their next feature, and that pretty much had us sold. Considering they assembled Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones, and Kerry Condon for an elite all-star cast, it’s no wonder it turned out to be one of our faves. This cinematic exploration of the American rails of the 20th century reminds us of the work of Chloé Zhao, another chronicler of lesser-seen parts of the American West. Nick Schager of The Daily Beast called Train Dreams “A poignant and poetic drama about the things that vanish and those that remain, and the finest offering at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.“
Touch Me (2025)
If the delusion of “I can fix him” were a film, it would be Touch Me. Courtesy of writer-director Addison Heimann, Touch Me is a madcap trip into what happens when codependency and an alien invasion go wrong. Feeling ripped out of the pages of an avant-garde manga with hilarious nods to 1960s and 1970s Japanese cinema, Touch Me is just as delectable and bizarre as the logline suggests. The chemistry between Olivia Taylor Dudley (The Magicians) and Jordan Gavaris (Orphan Black) anchors the film in realism despite the outlandish concept of a narcissistic alien who can conjure ecstasy with a single touch. This is not your average extraterrestrial invasion story, as it delves into more profound commentary than you would expect. Josh Korngut of Dread Central called it “a compelling exploration of millennial anxiety through a bizarre blend of sci-fi pop existentialism.”
If I Had Legs I'd Kick You (2025)
Rose Byrne reminds us why she is one of our most prolific comedic actresses with her stellar work in the dark comedy If I Had Legs I’d Kick You. One of the most entertaining crash-outs you can witness on screen, writer-director Mary Bronstein’s latest effort delightfully illustrates how dark things can get when a woman dares to “have it all.” If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is a horrific dark comedy about the pressures of working motherhood and aging that sways from delirium to a devilish descent into near madness, and critics have been astounded by Byrne’s range and Bronstein’s anxious and witty script. “Byrne gives an unmissable performance that blew me away and Bronstein capably handles complex subjects and discussions about motherhood and womanhood,” wrote Mae Abdulbaki of Screen Rant.
Lurker (2025)
An interesting new take on the stalker-turned-friend-turned-antagonist storyline, Sundance fave Lurker reminds audiences of an updated Single White Female or Ingrid Goes West with less of the campy drama of more recent entries like Saltburn. It’s a taut exploration of what can happen if you let the wrong person into your circle just as your star is on the rise. Theodore Pellerin, who plays Matthew, our updated Mr. Ripley, uses all of his cunning and calculation to inject himself into Archie Madekwe’s inner circle. Despite the rich history of similar stories, writer-director Alex Russell distinguishes his take by subverting the narrative tropes. Gregory Ellwood of The Playlist writes that Lurker is “one of those ‘tales as old as time’ stories, but how Russell deconstructs this phenomenon in contemporary Hollywood is close to being revelatory.”
Twinless (2025)
Next up, we have Twinless, arguably one of the fest’s best and most buzzed-about features. Dylan O’Brien serves up a comically disturbing performance leading writer-director James Sweeney’s absurdist script. Centered on two grieving men who form an unlikely friendship, Twinless explores the messy intersection between grief, codependency, and loneliness. We would love to regale you with some of the rave-worthy parts of the narrative, but they lean heavily into spoiler territory and are decidedly NSFW. The most apt description is that the film is a stellar example of how incredible cinema can get when you get very weird with it and then dare to ask, “How do we get even weirder?”
Rebuilding (2025)
The tragic irony of watching a film about rebuilding after a devastating wildfire while much of the greater Los Angeles film community was recovering from exactly that cannot be overstated. Still, those who caught Max Walker-Silverman’s Rebuilding also remarked how the film is infinitely more powerful than you could have guessed. This is primarily due to what actors Josh O’Connor, Meghann Fahy, and Kali Reese put on screen. This is a love letter to the power of community and never giving up, and critics and attendees gushed about the performances and mused how impactful the film will likely be when it reaches other communities reeling from natural disasters or communal loss. David Ehrlich of Indiewire wrote, “Loath as I am to label anything as ‘the movie people need right now,’ it’s hard to think of Silverman’s Rebuilding in any other terms.”
Possibly one of the best slice-of-life portrayals to debut at Sundance, Mad Bills to Pay is so culturally specific it feels more akin to a cinéma vérité. Joel Alfonso Vargas’ debut film is a potent peek into what it is like to hustle every day, trying to make a dollar out of 15 cents. The film follows Rico, a 19-year-old Bronx native, as he navigates the dramas of his close-knit Dominican community while dealing with the realities of young fatherhood, the random pain of New York City transportation, and the anguish of breaking generational curses. Mad Bills to Pay is a refreshing twist on the classic coming-of-age story that inspired Jonathan Holland of Screen International to write, “This amiable, down-to-earth take on a young New Yorker’s struggles to find a role for himself has its flaws, but they can be forgiven on account of Rico (Juan Collado), its shambolic, supremely chill and ever-present protagonist.”
The 2025 Sundance Film Festival ran from January 23 to February 2.
