Sundance Film Festival 2022, Report #1: FIRE OF LOVE, WATCHER And LUCY & DESI

One of my favorite times of the year is back as we celebrate new and exciting cinema at the beginning of 2022! While Sundance this year is virtual again, understandably so, I’m happy to be able to experience it. There have been so many new and exciting voices, and I’m honored to be able to spotlight them.

With my first report, I talk about two documentaries and a thriller, each done by a female director.

Fire of Love (Sara Dosa)

Fire of Love flows with passion.

Meet the thrill-seeking, married Katia and Maurice Krafft. She’s a geochemist, and he a geologist, both are Alsatian French volcanologists. Their research and subsequent capturing of active volcanoes is unparalleled, and over the course of the documentary, we truly get to know the pair and see their story told in a magnificent fashion.

“Curiosity is Stronger Than Fear”

Fire of Love is about the choices we make and the people and aspirations we love. This documentary really struck me. When I was first attuned to the film I was intrigued, but some of its kind don’t work if they are heavily reliant on footage. This is so lush with it I can’t help but think about what wasn’t included, and it made me instantly want to research this ambitious, daring duo. I was entirely transfixed, to say the least.
So often, my favorite documentaries are the ones that focus on people that are inspiring. I love diving into a world I didn’t know before, and with Fire of Love, this is most certainly a place I have never been. In fact, very few have. It takes on the challenge of being a romance of hearts and minds, and the danger of volcanoes.

The video footage is staggering, a real look into the beauty and destruction of nature, but also, those who devote their lives to understanding it. I had to scrape my jaw off the floor a few times when seeing its power: lava towering over while these two stood below. The juxtaposition of a human gazing up in awe with something so massive and daunting takes your breath away.

I also found myself intimately connecting with this married couple at the center. They found their calling, and I wish that for us all. It feels dangerous, and Sara Dosa‘s documentary never settles for anything but full immersion into just how risky these exploits were. Yet, there’s also a sense of admiration. Right from its beginning, you know the stakes, and you can’t help but fall in love with these two. You’ll be in awe. I felt educated, and ultimately, moved. I was able to glimpse into another’s universe and hear about extraordinary people. Fire of Love is amazing, a feat of feats. Powerful, all around.

Watcher (Chloe Okuno)

You’re in a new place, you don’t speak the language, there’s a serial killer nearby, your husband works late and you feel someone is watching you. Terrifying? Yes. Watcher takes these threads, these finite definers of paranoia and fear, and molds them in a slow-burn thriller that doesn’t always keep its finger on the pulse.

Julia (Maika Monroe) and her husband Francis (Karl Glusman) move to Bucharest for his work. It doesn’t take long, as he’s often away late, that the unknown city plants a seed of loneliness. Loneliness turns to fear as one night she looks out her window and notices others in the building across the way, including, someone looking back. When she’s out one day she sees someone in a movie theater and then a grocery store and is convinced this man is following her. What proceeds is disbelief from her husband and others, who gaslights her when she insists. As we watch, the audience is also led with a hand of ambiguity, wondering ourselves, what exactly is happening, but Maika’s performance ensures that we know her truth.

For a long while, this movie worked for me, and by its end, it’s not to say it didn’t, but I wish it had kept the Hitchc*ck-like ambiance. Monroe truly taps into that fear in a genuinely powerful performance. Chloe Okuno’s vision makes this a tense ride, aided by terrific sound design, and eerily shot cinematography. She really utilizes her surroundings, the streets, and the building that somehow seems ominous and distant right from the start.

Some moments, in particular, feel hair-raising, a bead of sweat down your back, and a lingering gut check sensation that something isn’t right. Women go through this a lot, and there’s a real reason for the intuition and this sensation of dread, as you walk down the street or get a lingering gaze. Watcher makes this prominent, guided by Maika. It plays like a throwback to a lot of films but also has a fresh coat of paint. Where the film teeters is in its focus and pacing, becoming wobbly as it’s crests its final act.

Maika Monroe is fantastic and Chloe Okuno manages to potently capture feelings of isolation and anxiety, even if some of the story doesn’t quite hit for me. Love that final shot!

Lucy and Desi (Amy Poehler)

“Underneath all of this painful stuff and disappointment, at the core, it’s all about unconditional love.”

You would be hard-pressed to find anyone who does not know the names Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, and with good reasons. Much like the documentary and biopic of Princess Diana, Lucy and Desi also received recent attention. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Being the Ricardos, but as someone who grew up watching I Love Lucy and idolizing Lucille’s comedic strengths, I felt hungry for something that had more. More story, more heart, and more life.

This was it.

I wasn’t expecting to be so emotional by its end, but if I’ve learned anything during this Sundance experience it’s that I should be. This documentary debut by Poehler feels nostalgic, sweet and charming. Through interviews with their daughter and others who were greatly moved by these performers, it’s clear that their legacy is astute. Utilizing recordings from the pair, with plenty of poignant recollections, spotlighting the heartbreak and the love, Lucy and Desi provokes a real response. The chronology plays out in order from the before, the story of their relationship, and the after. We hear about how they started and when their paths crossed, their partnership, both in the spotlight and at home, and where their lives would split and eventually, reconnect.

In a lot of ways, the film shows Poehler’s own passion and clearly how inspiring of a project this was. It permeates through to make this a hearty recollection. I discovered a lot about the dedicated duo, that I didn’t know prior.

It is a lovingly crafted ode to a comedy legacy. I’m grateful for this film, and the careful collection of footage. The ending was especially touching (maybe have a tissue on hand). Amy Poehler, you’ve done them right.