A poster for a missing young Native woman hangs in a Montana town, in this still from “Murder in Big Horn.” (Photo by Jeff Hutchens/Courtesy of Showtime and the Sundance Institute.
By Vanessa Zimmer
The 2023 Sundance Film Festival has barely extinguished the lights and closed the theater doors, and three of its juried selections are already debuting to wider audiences.
A three-episode documentary on missing Native women in rural Montana streams on Showtime, and a rat-infested animated tale riffing on the Pied Piper theme opens in theaters, both in coming days. And Brandon Cronenberg’s buzzy sci-fi thriller Infinity Pool dropped into theaters January 27, before the Festival had even ended.
If you missed these films at the Festival, or you’d like to watch them again, here’s the scoop.
The Amazing Maurice — Maurice the well-fed, smiling cat (voiced by Hugh Laurie), his entourage of smart rats, and Keith the piper (Himesh Patel) have a good scam going. The rats infiltrate a town, grossing out the citizens, who in turn pay big bucks for Keith to lead them away with his musical pipe — and on to the next town. But then they happen upon a village with a mystery, which the film’s narrator (Emilia Clarke) helps them solve. This animated film, directed by Toby Genkel, is a fun and uplifting ride based upon a fantasy novel by the late, great Terry Pratchett. It opens in theaters February 3.
Murder in Big Horn — Young Native women from the Crow and Northern Cheyenne reservations in Big Horn County, Montana, have gone missing in alarming numbers. Directors Razelle Benally (Oglala Lakota/Diné) and Matthew Galkin explore what has become an epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. Parents say law enforcement ignores their missing persons reports and/or fail to properly investigate. The three-episode documentary is available for streaming February 3 on Showtime.
Infinity Pool — Alexander Skarsgård and Mia Goth star in a surreal fever dream directed by Brandon Cronenberg (son of David), who continues delivering the family legacy in horror. Skarsgård plays a mild-mannered writer fending off writer’s block at an island resort, where Goth’s character, declaring herself his biggest fan, draws him into the carnal and violent subculture. The film is rated R. Opened in theaters January 27.
