Sundance 2020: HIGH TIDE, BLACK BEAR & THE NIGHT HOUSE

Sundance 2020 was quite the ride as I made my way through Park City over the last week. Again, I got to meet a lot of fantastic and talented people (which is always inspiring to me) and enjoy a similar vibe again that hung over the snowy town: movies – we love them and we celebrate them!

This year, I was able to see several terrific films. Here’s three in particular that utilized the potential power of tension. All three are narratively (and tonally) variant, but they all share in their apt way of creating suspense in unique fashions: High Tide, Black Bear and The Night House.

Marea alta (High Tide) (Verónica Chen)

From the moment High Tide begins, Laura (Gloria Carrá)- seen dancing behind her large windows alone in her extravagant beach side home, there’s a sense of unease. In fact, it’s a perceptible and important element to the film, one that shifts as things get progressively more complicated. Laura is having a BBQ built outside and the lead contractor, Weisman (Jorge Sesán), sees her and starts flirting. Despite Laura noting his aggressive nature she reciprocates, and that rush and blatant demeanor (which is also disparaging) leads to her sleeping with him.

After that, Weisman leaves and she’s left to engaging with the workers Toto (Cristian Salguero) and Hueso (Hector Bordoni) alone, who know what transpired, as they finish the project. In addition to their inability to separate what happened with the professional work environment, there’s a feeling of advantage that they frequent. As if, because she’s a married woman, who slept with their boss, she isn’t deserving of the same amount of respect and they can toy with her as they choose.

This sets up a premise that is quite fascinating in an unconventional sense, and Chen does a terrific job of keeping us on our toes, while side-stepping our expectations. How you feel about Laura changes several times, as more dividers are born. You empathize with her reactions as the workers continue to press their luck, even when she’s continuing to making Poor choices.

First, it’s glances and small invasions (using the phone in the house etc) then it’s having parties and watching her from outside the house at night. Laura is reaching her breaking point, but what will she do when she gets there?

High Tide moves with a measurable and sustainable tension. It is also visually stunning, instilling a clear confidence behind the lens and within the script, from Chen. The cinematography works to fashion a distinct sensation of captivity, that’s further perpetuated by Gloria Carrá and her inward seclusion.

Even in its lulls (and this is a crawl of a build) this mistake turns into a crumbling of control that’s executed impeccably by our lead. She’s also mercurial, at one time tentative and nervous, and in another (later) sequence, seemingly certain of her choices, even as she’s losing her tether to sanity. This makes for a bold, dark, adult-thriller.

In the end, as the film continues to catch you off guard, is her final decision brought on by a scorned ego, or is it privilege? She treats the two men poorly, regardless of their previous treatment to her, from a pedestal of class. It brings up some thought-provoking ideas, as no one gets away unscathed. Regardless of where you fall on the morality or fault of the characters, this is a keen character study that is exceptionally well-made, with an especially rapt performance from Carrá.

Stay tuned for interviews!

Black Bear (Lawrence Michael Levine)

Black Bear is a very compelling film because, primarily, we get two in one. There is a chasm in the center that brings about a different perspective, essentially allowing its three leads to pursue differing identities as the story switches to be a film set in the same location. This is both a fun and interesting mode of storytelling, that in this particular case, works.

When it starts Allison (Aubrey Plaza) arrives to stay with couple Gabe (Christopher Abbott) and pregnant wife Blair (Sarah Gadon), to work on a new script. There’s a clear playfulness to Allison and Gabe’s interactions from the beginning, which creates a strong undercurrent of jealousy when his wife comes into things, leading to a verbal sparring match between the three.  Lawrence Michael Levine manages to bottle the unease and curiosity that comes from human interactions and develop it into a script that the actors aptly match.
All three feign vulnerability or exhibit self-serving and self-protecting actions. One part in particular, as the conversation becomes increasingly hyperbolic, I couldn’t look away. I could have stuck with just this story, it worked so well. Plaza accepts the challenge of the role wholeheartedly and gives us a high caliber performance that may be the best of her career.

Black Bear is hilarious, with very sharply written but still organic dialogue that fills the space of a film even in the most intimate of moments. There’s a palpable awkwardness and tension spread throughout. All three of the performances are incredible, as they bounce from lows to highs, from intense emotional indignation to flirtatious looks and mannerisms. Black Bear is continuously engaging.

In the second part, as the story changes and the cast increases, so too does the look and feel, with cinematographer Rob Leitzell adding to the already frenzied sensation of making a movie. Both parts have an abbreviated tale that relies heavily on the building of suspense, made possible with Levine’s attention to detail and visceral, impressive acting.

There’s a manipulation that Lawrence Michael Levine uses within the context of these various characters, that he also turns on his audience. What’s really going on here? The answer will undoubtedly vary given the viewer, but the question will remain. That snare is what makes this sneaky little delight worth exploring. It’s edgy, odd, and provides an incredible outlet for the talent involved, even when it occasionally gets hindered by its own arrogance.

Black Bear is self-aware, and I think that makes it even funnier, wittier, and all around- enjoyable, as it puts a spotlight on the collide of life and art.

Check out a video on the red carpet with stars Sarah Gadon and Christopher Abbott.

The Night House (David Bruckner)

When I walked away from the theater at the premiere for The Night House, I was still humming. The building was like one big nervous system, a hair on the back of neck that wouldn’t calm, and it made other’s reactions inherently connected with my own. There are a lot of scares, using sound and visuals to keep the audience in a perpetual state of unsettled.  This is a ghost story, but there’s a lot more hiding beneath the shadows, making it a well-formed, fear-fueled experience.

David Bruckner’s film follows Beth (Rebecca Hall) struggling after the loss of her husband. At first, she feels a presence, displayed with a trickling of the usual signs, (I.E: music playing in the middle of the night, loud banging). This is also met with her own grief, and her adjustment to life without her partner. Is she dreaming?Hallucinating? Or is something trying to communicate with her?

She starts to find out more about her late husband, Owen (Evan Jongkeit), as she’s challenged by the drive to understood why he took his own life and the potential danger of digging too deep. This is something people often strive to find when there’s a suicide involved, and with these contemplations come another powerful performance from Hall. The score by Ben Lovett, in combination with an excellent sound team, proves efficiently invasive with the scares that come, becoming a character in and of itself.

Unfortunately, some of the devices that David Bruckner uses to keep us uncomfortable, are played to excess. It doesn’t negate the genuine suspense, but makes other moments feel redundant. The script by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski also finds itself in moments of unnecessary extension, but is still riveting enough to keep your attention. There is a twist in the final act that truly warrants its discovery, and I have a hard time ever believing there’ll be a reason not to watch Rebecca Hall.

Bruckner is patient in his distribution of the story, using the house and his lead in a way that makes the jumps that come, earned. This is a film that is crucial on the less you know is better logic, so I won’t give too much detail on how it plays out. Things are uncovered, and with each new sliver of the truth there’s a bigger weight tied around Hall and the audience. It’s both human and supernatural in its exploration, and this is what horror, in both the universal encapsulation of fear and our own psychological untangling of it, is supposed to do.

It was an experience, to say the least, at the midnight showing, adding an ambiance to the already memorable feature. I would recommend seeing it that way yourself when possible. You won’t be sorry.

Stay tuned for interviews!

Were you able to see any of these films? If so – what did you think? We want to know! Tell us in the comments below.

For more information on the films and programming go here. There’s more coverage to come, so keep reading!