The Big Picture · Discussion · Review · Interview
February 4, 2025/ 101 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
Sean and Amanda take stock of a thin Sundance 2025 from afar, break down the Best Picture nominee 'Nickel Boys,' and check in on 'Goodrich' and 'September 5.' Director Tim Fehlbaum stops by to talk 'September 5.'
26 films across 6 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
Housekeepingthe mailbag move and the Oscar race
The Karla Sofía Gascón social-media scandal broke wide over the weekend. The hosts think the resurfaced posts, and Gascón's defensive 60 Minutes appearance, imperil the film's Best Picture and Zoe Saldaña's Supporting Actress campaigns; Sean guesses Saldaña survives it.
The likely beneficiary if the Emilia Pérez campaign collapses. Its earlier AI-tooling controversy now looks minor by comparison.
Floated as another film that could pass Emilia Pérez if voters treat the scandal as a repudiation.
Sundance 2025Sean's dispatch: the standouts, roughly best-first
The best thing Sean saw. Clint Bentley directs, he and Greg Kwedar (the 'Sing Sing' pair) wrote it, from the Denis Johnson novella. Joel Edgerton plays a turn-of-the-century logger; Sean, long cool on Edgerton, says the part finally fits his taciturn quiet. Netflix bought it, which deflated him for a film he wanted on a big screen.
Geeta Gandbhir's documentary, told entirely through police body-cam, about a fatal neighbor dispute and Florida's stand-your-ground law. Sean puts it right at the edge of exploitative without crossing it; it kept him up.
David Osit's documentary on the Dateline series 'To Catch a Predator,' probing the ethics of the show. One of Sean's three favorite docs.
Charlie Shackleton's essay film. After the book rights fell through, he narrates the true-crime documentary he couldn't make and unpacks the genre's tropes. Clever, a step below the other two docs.
Alireza Khatami's psychological thriller, set in Turkey, that Sean places between Farhadi-style Iranian realism and David Lynch. He won't describe the plot.
Marc Anthony Green's A24 debut with Ayo Edebiri and John Malkovich, out March 14. Both hosts saw it early and liked its strange pop energy; the Nile Rodgers/The-Dream score stood out.
Eva Victor writes, directs, and stars as a woman in a college town reckoning with a trauma; Lucas Hedges and Naomi Ackie co-star. A24 bought it. Sean liked it, less than the festival crowd did.
A24 documentary about an irreverent ad man filming his own colon-cancer treatment. Won the U.S. documentary audience award.
Mstyslav Chernov's follow-up to '20 Days in Mariupol,' embedded with Ukrainian troops trying to retake a strategic forest. A tough watch.
Cole Webley directs, Robert Machoian writes; John Magaro as a father who flees Nevada with his two young kids for Nebraska. The saddest thing Sean saw.
Amy Berg's documentary on Jeff Buckley, as close to a definitive account as we're likely to get.
The Selena documentary; standard but good, per Sean. Pulled from the virtual platform mid-festival after piracy.
Documentary on Jacinda Ardern and New Zealand's approach to the COVID lockdown.
Documentary tracing Matlin's career, her relationship with William Hurt, and her years as Hollywood's lone deaf advocate before 'CODA.'
Questlove's Sly Stone documentary, subtitled the burden of Black genius. Made by Sean's friend Joseph Patel.
Dylan O'Brien plays two very different twins and won an acting award; also pulled after piracy. Sean didn't love it but rates O'Brien.
Dave Franco and Alison Brie thriller, sold to Neon out of the midnight section, one of only three festival sales by Monday.
Focus film with Carey Mulligan, a bigger-ticket title kept off the virtual platform.
‘Nickel Boys’the Best Picture nominee, with spoilers flagged
RaMell Ross directs, from Colson Whitehead's novel, with Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Hamish Linklater, Fred Hechinger, and Daveed Diggs. Two Black boys at an abusive 1960s Florida reform school modeled on the real Dozier School. Shot largely in first-person POV that flips between the two leads about 35 minutes in; both hosts call it astonishing and heartbreaking, with the modern-day framing the weaker half. Sean interviewed Ross on the Dec. 20 episode.
‘Goodrich’the Michael Keaton family dramedy, on Max
Hallie Meyers-Shyer (daughter of Nancy Meyers and the late Charles Shyer) writes and directs; Michael Keaton as an LA art dealer whose wife enters rehab, leaving him with nine-year-old twins, while his pregnant grown daughter (Mila Kunis) needs him too. The mid-budget studio dramedy the hosts miss; Amanda wanted a stronger actress opposite Keaton, and Sean thinks Keaton's charm makes the character too likable.
‘September 5’quick take before the interview
Tim Fehlbaum's procedural about the ABC Sports crew that covered the 1972 Munich hostage crisis live, with John Magaro at the center. Sean reads it as a Sorkin/Fincher movie about people obsessed with doing a job, and compares it (as a compliment) to a good HBO original.
In conversation
Fehlbaum on building the film from producer Jeffrey Mason's control-room memories, recreating archival footage seamlessly while keeping Jim McKay's real broadcast, casting American actors with help from Sean Penn's company, and Munich '72 as a turning point in live TV. Golden Globe nominated.
His last great thing: Edward Berger's Vatican drama, which he admires for its craft and its confined world.
Also mentioned raised along the way
Around Sundance Sing SingJockey
Around ‘Nickel Boys’ The Tree of LifeHale County This Morning, This Evening
Around ‘Goodrich’ Home AgainBeetlejuice BeetlejuiceKnox Goes AwayPorco RossoPrincess MononokeMamma Mia!
Around the interview One Day in SeptemberTides
In passing The HustlerPast LivesThe CoolerThe SavagesSinners20 Days in MariupolChildren of MenBlack Hawk DownThe Idea of You
Next week (garbage love) CompanionYou're Cordially InvitedLove MeLove HurtsHeart Eyes
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV To Catch a PredatorDatelineMaking a MurdererThe AgencyWorld News Tonight60 Minutes
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