Christopher Zalla | Through the Shattered Lens

To be absolutely honest, I didn’t really pay much attention to the Sundance Film Festival this year. I may or may not regret that come next December. Traditionally, it seems that at least a few Oscar contenders begin their journey at Sundance but there’s always a chance that the big Sundance success story could turn out to be something like Zola, a film that gets a lot of festival hype but doesn’t really stick around in anyone’s mind afterwards.

Today, the 2023 Sundance Film Festival’s awards winners were announced. Time will tell whether or not the films listed below will have much of a life outside of Sundance. Out of the films honored, Magazine Dreams sounds like the one most likely to break out.

U.S. DRAMATIC COMPETITION
Grand Jury Prize: A.V. Rockwell for “A Thousand and One”
Audience Award: “The Persian Version,” directed by Maryam Keshavarz
Directing: Sing J. Lee for “The Accidental Getaway Driver”
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: Maryam Keshavarz for “The Persian Version”
Special Jury Award: Acting: Lio Mehiel for “Mutt”
Special Jury Award: Ensemble: The cast of “Theater Camp,” directed by Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman.
Special Jury Award: Creative Vision: The creative team of “Magazine Dreams,” directed by Elijah Bynum
Festival Favorite Award: “Radical,” directed by Christopher Zalla

U.S. DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Grand Jury Prize: “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project,” directed by Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson
Audience Award: “Beyond Utopia”
Directing: Luke Lorentzen for “A Still Small Voice”
Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award: Daniela I. Quiroz for “Going Varsity in Mariachi”
Special Jury Award – Clarity of Vision: “The Stroll,” directed by Kristen Lovell & Zackary Drucke
Special Jury Award – Freedom of Expression: “Bad Press

WORLD CINEMA DRAMATIC COMPETITION
Grand Jury Prize: “Scrapper”
Audience Award: “Shayda,” directed by Noora Niasari
Directing Award: Marija Kavtaradze “Slow”
Special Jury Award – Cinematography: Lílis Soares for “Mami Wata”
Special Jury Award – Best Performance: Rosa Marchant, “When It Melts”
Special Jury Award – Creative Vision: Sofia Alaoui for “Animalia”

WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Grand Jury Prize: “The Eternal Memory”
Audience Award: “20 Days in Mariupol,” directed and produced by Mstyslav Chernov

Special Jury Prize – Directing: “Smoke, Sauna Sisterhood,” Anna Hints
Special Jury Award – Creative Vision: “Fantastic Machine”
Special Jury Award – Verité: “Against the Tide”

OTHER AWARDS
NEXT Audience Award: “Kokomo City”
NEXT Innovator Award: “Kokomo City”
Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize: “The Pod Generation”

SHORTS
Short Film Grand Jury Prize: “When You Left Me on That Boulevard,” directed by Kayla Abuda Galang
Short Film Jury Award – U.S. Fiction: “Rest Stop,” directed by Crystal Kayiza
Short Film Jury Award – International Fiction: “The Kidnapping of the Bride,” Sophia Mocorrea
Short Film Jury Award – Non-Fiction: “Will You Look at Me,” directed by Shuli Huang.
Short Film Special Jury Award – International Directing: “AliEN0089,” directed by Valeria Hofmann.
Short Film Special Jury Award – U.S Directing: “The Vacation,” directed by Jarreau Carrillo

On Saturday night, I watched the latest Lifetime original movie, Beautiful & Twisted!

Why Was I Watching It?

Ever since I first saw the commercial during Whitney, I have been looking forward to seeing Beautiful & Twisted. Not only was it true crime (which is one of my favorite Lifetime movie genres) but it also featured Rob Lowe. Rob has appeared in a few Lifetime films and they always seem to bring out his best.

What Was It About?

The film is narrated by Ben Novack (Rob Lowe), who starts things off by telling us that he’s dead. We see how Ben, the eccentric son of a millionaire hotelier, first met and subsequently married a stripper named Narcy (Paz Vega). Ben likes collecting Batman memorabilia. Narcy likes money. They both like kinky sex.

However, Ben is often unfaithful to Narcy and finds himself on the receiving end of her often violent tempter. When Narcy finds out that Ben is planning on leaving his fortune to his mother (Candice Bergen), Narcy has her murdered. And when she worries that Ben might like her daughter (played by Seychelle Gabriel) more than her, Narcy has Ben brutally murdered. Not only does she get her brother to beat him to death but she also demands that his eyes be gouged out of his head.

AGCK!

Amazingly enough, this is all based on a true story.

What Worked?

This is one of the best Lifetime films that I’ve seen in a while! It was stylish, it was melodramatic, it was occasionally funny, and it was over-the-top in the best way possible. The settings were opulent, the clothes were to die for, and the pace was relentless. Even the music was great! Seriously, if you’re going to make a movie about kinky sex and murder among the wealthy, you should at least have fun with it. And, despite all of the grisly murders, Beautiful & Twisted was definitely fun.

Rob Lowe was sympathetically weird as Ben while, in the role of Narcy, Paz Vega gave a performance worthy of an old school femme fatale.

All in all, Beautiful & Twisted is exactly the type of movie that we Lifetime viewers have been hoping for.

What Did Not Work?

It all worked. This one of the best Lifetime movies ever!

“Oh my God! Just like me” Moments

Well, I have to admit that I’ve never had anyone killed and I doubt that I ever will. I’m just not the murderous type, regardless of what you may have heard. However, much like Narcy, I’m not above using my cleavage to get what I want.

Lessons Learned

If there’s any lesson to be learned from watching any of these Lifetime true crime films, it’s that you shouldn’t murder anyone because, regardless of how cute or clever you may be, you will eventually end up getting caught. And then someone will make a movie about you and you’ll end up with a bunch of snarky people on twitter talking about how crazy you are. It’s better to just get a divorce.