And so this year’s Sundance has officially begun, with grief over the loss of founder Robert Redford and its move from long-running home Park City likely to drown out the sounds of anyone talking about the first narrative premiere. It wouldn’t be the first time it has started with a whimper (unofficial opening day films have previously included misfires like After the Wedding, Freaky Tales, Netflix’s Taylor Swift doc and last year’s Jimpa) but there’s something specifically disappointing about a film such as Carousel showing at a festival such as Sundance.
It’s the sort of small, character-driven American indie that has served as the festival’s lifeblood for almost 50 years and, as the system has expanded in some ways and shrunk in others, the sort that has often struggled to make it far out of Park City. Back in 2023, a quiet, disarming and perfectly Sundance film called A Little Prayer premiered yet didn’t get released until late last summer and was seen by a precious few. The world is not kind to films like Carousel at this very moment and while I would love to see this particular subgenre flourish in the way it used to back in the 90s and 00s, it’s hard to muster up much in the way of strong feelings here.
