Sundance 2020: SAUDI RUNAWAY, BEAST BEAST, & ZOLA

Sundance 2020 brought a great crop of compelling female-centric films. Diverse in age, culture, and subject matter, the following films are a testament to the essence of unveiling varying human conditions in the world of storytelling. Moreover, they illustrate the influence of technology and social media in today’s day and age as a platform to convey the most glorious and troubling aspects of ourselves.

Saudi Runaway (Susanne Regina Meures)

There’s nothing more haunting then when you can’t call your home, your home. Part of the World Cinema Documentary Competition category, Saudi Runaway illustrates the harrowing life of women in Saudi Arabia through the eyes of 26-year-old Muna. She’s a young woman who plans to escape her country during her honeymoon.

The documentary chronicles the courage, might, and fear of Muna who secretly films her life and escape on her iPhone. Tired of being restrained by a patriarchal family, society, and government, she decides what a thousand women plan to do each year in Saudi Arabia – flee. Under the country’s male guardianship law, women are considered legal dependents and require a male guardian to consent to all of their life choices.

We’re given a first-hand look at how male guardianship works and is manifested in Muna’s life. She can’t leave the house without her father; she can’t get a driver’s license or renew her passport unless she is granted permission by her future husband. In the opening of the film, she asks, “Did Allah really want us women to be second-degree citizens? ” Muna leads a life that she cannot call her own. Thus, she decides to do what is punishable by law – she makes her own choice.

Though it isn’t her desire to get married, she gives into it, seeing that her honeymoon in Abu Dhabi as her one shot to get out. So she goes on with the wedding preparation and films everything. The film gets quite suspenseful, as the pressures of her family heavily weigh on her. She doesn’t want to leave her little brother behind who is often subjected to several beatings by their father. There are also other surprising news that occurs after her wedding that only makes it harder for her to leave. And as the six month validity period on her passport quickly comes to an end, tensions run high, and she must take swift action.

The logistics behind this film are striking. Under the guidance of director Susanne Regina Meures who connected with Muna in a chatroom specifically for oppressed Saudi women, Muna would capture footage of her daily life and upload it onto a Dropbox for Meures. There’s one particular scene where Muna desperately tries to upload her videos onto her laptop, as she sits in full makeup, hair, and dress just minutes before making her entrance at her wedding celebration.

While watching Saudi Runaway, many will be reminded of Midnight Traveler, an engrossing family documentary from last year’s Sundance which chronicles the escape of an Afghan family from the Taliban, all shot on an iPhone. These films capture the day-to-day silent trials and tribulations along with endearment shared among families.

It’s alarming how natural and quiet Saudi Runaway is. With a title such as this, many people may expect a documentary filled with suspenseful chaos and a woman belligerently on the run. That’s why we’re taken aback by Muna’s quiet strife and strength throughout her journey. It’s not a story driven by sensationalism. It’s a story driven by courage that is unapologetically hers, and we are honorably taken inside her world. Rooted in humility, Saudi Runaway intelligently navigates the meaning of choice, independence, risk, and fear in the life of a Saudi Arabian woman.

Beast Beast (Danny Madden)

A selection of Sundance’s NEXT category, Beast Beast is a coming-of-age film by director and writer Danny Madden that follows three young people whose lives intersect in a terrible tragedy. It follows three kids: Krista (Shirley Chen), a high school theater geek, Nito (Jose Angeles) a sweet skater punk, and Adam (Will Madden, the director’s younger brother) a gun aficionado.

There’s plenty of weed, parties, selfies, shoplifting, and YouTube videos that we often see in 21st century teen films. But what perhaps makes Madden’s film unique from other types of coming-of-age films is this raw and dangerous desire for attention that is harnessed by the mighty reigns of social media. This is especially prevalent in Adam, Krista’s 24-year-old neighbor, who has his eyes set on becoming a YouTube influencer by creating gun tutorials and reviews. The only thing is, his videos aren’t getting substantial views. He obsessively checks the dwindling number on his projects and shoots retakes of videos, desperately trying to hit the right beat.

These scenes are amusing and authentically capture the neurotic desire to make something of oneself in today’s vast digital landscape. They also capture the isolation that Adam feels, as he locks himself away in his room, away from his parents whom he still relies on.

Krista, an aspiring actress, is a teen full of whimsy who is an active member of her school’s drama group and makes acting videos on her phone. She meets Nito, the new kid at school and talented skateboarder who partakes in mischief with a group of older kids. They start hanging out which turns into blossoming first love.

All three characters deal with challenging relationships and circumstances at home but each have their own outlet that they use for catharsis. For Krista, as unfortunate events unfold, acting becomes her form of release and getting in tune with her brightest and darkest feelings.

Chen, Angeles, and Madden provide solid and naturalistic performances. They gracefully wade through the whimsy, grit, fear, and anger of growing up in an image-centric culture. Projecting oneself onto a social platform can be highly empowering yet also dangerous depending on how you approach it. Clearly a breakout role for Chen, the actress impressively carries contradicting emotions of sweetness, rage, confusion, and desperation.

Sound design, cinematography, and editing are married extremely well together in Beast Beast. There’s a scene at a party where Krista is being violently grabbed by someone, and the way the camera cuts, pans, and fades in and out with the music is gripping and really pulls us into her experience.

The last parts of the film bring on a series of grim events that take us aback. It all feels far too extreme, unfortunately. The film relies heavily on this particular incident to drive the story forward, but it ends up sputtering. There are various components in the film that director and writer Madden could have and should have further explored such as assault in Krista’s case and the feelings of isolation and fear among the three central characters.

The way in which gun violence is used to propel the story and characters forward among all of this feels far too abrupt that the story and characters feel short changed in the end. The way it’s fleshed out doesn’t do gun violence any justice nor does it do the characters any justice. Their journeys falter in the end, and the authenticity peels away.

Zola (Janicza Bravo)

Zola is a wild ride full of colorful cinematography, rhythm, and style. Part of the U.S. Dramatic Competition category, it was one heck of a way to wake me up at 8 a.m. There’s an ironic sense of whimsy stitched throughout the film that illustrates the bizarre and shocking journey that the characters go through.

Based on a series of a 148 tweets, the film is narrated is narrated by Zola (Taylour Paige), a waitress and dancer, who proceeds to explain “why me and this b*tch fell out.” This b*tch refers to Stefani (Riley Keough) who meets Zola at a diner and invites her to come dance with her at the strip clubs in Florida.

What was supposed to be a casual and fun dancing trip turns into a nightmare of a road trip comprised of a dangerous pimp, X, (Colman Domingo) who expects Zola to do sex work for them. Zola soon learns that her so-called friend Stefani isn’t very honest and knowingly lured her into this trap.

Yes, quite a grim premise, but thanks to director and writer Janicza Bravo’s stunning visuals, ingenious humor, and brilliant use of sound and music, the film turns out to be a unique, fun, and wild ride. With a production design reminiscent of the Safdie Brothers, the film carries a luscious and gaudy atmosphere that crafts an engrossing retro dystopian vibe.

Zola creatively plays with sound. We often hear the buzzing of a cellphone and tweeting in the background to craft a film that is deeply rooted in social media. Not to mention, a kinetic soundtrack that meditatively pulses to mysterious, grim, and bizarre circumstances of the central characters.

The way cinematography is used to illuminate the odd and tense relationship between the two female leads creates an ironic sense of whimsy that is amusing and cleverly showers the narrative with charm. Having previously directed Lemon (which premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival), Bravo certainly has taste in color, visuals, and animation when it comes to building peculiar, vivacious, and fascinating worlds behind the lense.

Though the narrative loses its momentum towards the end of the film, with a talented and diverse cast, Zola still ingratiates us with the performances that we need to feel fulfilled by the end. With an eye for detail, we can only look forward to what this talented director and writer brews next. Like the Safdie Brothers, Bravo is definitely going to craft a name for herself as an admirably unconventional and stylistic auteur.