No story is ever completely one thing at the Sundance Film Festival, and that’s especially true for this year’s offerings. The Ugly Stepsister, a period-accurate adaptation of a Grimm fairytale, actually has a lot to say about our modern-day affinity for body modification. Bubble & Squeak, meanwhile, has the look and feel of a Wes Anderson tribute — but beyond its use of symmetrical set design and deadpan humor, it manages to tell a profound story about the breakdown of a marriage.
The same might be said for Oh, Hi!, an off-beat romantic comedy from director Sophie Brooks. Its logline is cryptic, teasing a romantic getaway between Iris (The Bear’s Molly Gordon) and her beau Isaac (Logan Lerman) that inevitably goes awry. At first blush, it sounds a lot like a new take on Misery — and the allusions to Stephen King’s twisted romance certainly manifest before long. But Brooks makes the brilliant choice to cocoon a bonkers psychological showdown within a truly evocative relationship drama, delivering a fitting portrait of “soft boys” and “sad girls.”
