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Highlights from the 2022 Sundance Film Festival

Daryl McCormack and Emma Thompson star in Good Luck To You, Leo Grande. Nick Wall/Courtesy of Sundance Institute hide caption

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Nick Wall/Courtesy of Sundance Institute

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Highlights from the 2022 Sundance Film Festival

When it comes to the Sundance Film Festival, you never really know what you're going to get. Each year brings a chance to stumble upon surprises and delights from filmmakers both well-known and emerging. Today, we've picked a few films, touching on everything from misogyny to arrested development to racism, that we think are worth keeping on your radar in the coming year.

Highlights from the 2022 Sundance Film Festival

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'A Hero' is a powerful story of debt and distress

Actor Amir Jadidi stars in Asghar Farhadi's film, A Hero. Amazon Studios hide caption

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Amazon Studios

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'A Hero' is a powerful story of debt and distress

A Hero is the latest film from Oscar-winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi (A Separation, The Salesman). In this story, Amir Jadidi plays Rahim, a man who comes into possession of a lost handbag and some coins. But nothing goes as expected, and he becomes everything from a local celebrity to a suspected criminal. A Hero is on the short list for this year's international feature film Oscar, and is streaming on Amazon Prime.

'A Hero' is a powerful story of debt and distress

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Strangers on a train share a bumpy ride in the Finnish film 'Compartment No. 6'

Seidi Haarla plays a Finnish archaeology student traveling by train through Russia in Compartment No. 6. Sony Pictures Classics hide caption

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Sony Pictures Classics

Strangers on a train share a bumpy ride in the Finnish film 'Compartment No. 6'

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At times, Juho Kuosmanen's film plays like a scruffier, less romantic version of Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise. There's tension to every scene, a sense that anything could go wrong at any moment.

Strangers on a train share a bumpy ride in the Finnish film 'Compartment No. 6'

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Great 2021 Music Documentaries We Missed

Tina Turner performs with the Ikettes in 1973 in the HBO documentary Tina. Rhonda Graam/HBO Max hide caption

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Rhonda Graam/HBO Max

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Great 2021 Music Documentaries We Missed

Today we're recommending some of the great music documentaries we missed in 2021: The Velvet Underground, Framing Britney Spears, Controlling Britney Spears, and Tina.

Great 2021 Music Documentaries We Missed

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A seemingly good deed goes awry in Asghar Farhadi's gripping moral drama 'A Hero'

Rahim (Amir Jadidi) tries to reconnect with his son (Saleh Karimai) in A Hero. Amir Hossein Shojaei/Amazon Studios hide caption

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Amir Hossein Shojaei/Amazon Studios

A seemingly good deed goes awry in Asghar Farhadi's gripping moral drama 'A Hero'

Fresh Air

A media circus ensues when a man on leave from debtors' prison finds a handbag and returns it to its rightful owner. Motives are always more complicated than they appear in Asghar Farhadi's film.

A seemingly good deed goes awry in Asghar Farhadi's gripping moral drama 'A Hero'

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Something wicked-good this way comes: 'The Tragedy of Macbeth'

Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand in The Tragedy of Macbeth, directed by Joel Coen. Alison Rosa/A24/Apple TV+ hide caption

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Alison Rosa/A24/Apple TV+

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Something wicked-good this way comes: 'The Tragedy of Macbeth'

The Tragedy of Macbeth adapts Shakespeare's familiar tale of blood and betrayal, dreamlike daggers and stubborn stains. But its stars Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand are significantly older than the leads usually are, which makes the whole thing hit differently. Directed by Joel Coen, the film fuses black-and-white cinematography with a clean, minimalist production design that underscores the story's theatrical roots. It's now streaming on Apple TV+.

Something wicked-good this way comes: 'The Tragedy of Macbeth'

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'C'mon C'mon shows the pleasure and pangs of parenting

Joaquin Phoenix and Woody Norman in Mike Mills' film C'mon C'mon. A24 hide caption

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A24

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'C'mon C'mon shows the pleasure and pangs of parenting

In the movie C'mon C'mon, Joaquin Phoenix plays an audio journalist who, after visiting his sister (played by Gaby Hoffmann), takes his young nephew (played by Woody Norman) on the road as he interviews kids about the world. Along the way, the two learn a lot about each other. Directed by Mike Mills, it's a film about family, loss, and joy — and it's about radio.

'C'mon C'mon shows the pleasure and pangs of parenting

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Remembering Sidney Poitier

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Keystone/Getty Images

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Remembering Sidney Poitier

Hollywood legend Sidney Poitier died last week at age of 94. He was a man of many firsts, including the first Black performer to win the best actor Oscar for the 1963 film Lilies of the Field. He was also a humanitarian who was active during the civil rights movement, and also someone who was quite obviously dedicated to his craft. And today we remember Poitier's work, including In The Heat Of The Night and To Sir With Love.

Remembering Sidney Poitier

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Great 2021 Movies You May Have Missed

Nine Days, which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, is writer-director Edson Oda's debut feature film. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics hide caption

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Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Great 2021 Movies You May Have Missed

We cover a lot of movies here on Pop Culture Happy Hour, but we can't come close to hitting every great film. Today, we're inviting some of our favorite film critics to share the movies they loved from 2021 — the ones that got past us the first time, but should definitely get added to your queue.

Great 2021 Movies You May Have Missed

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Iranian Oscars entry 'A Hero' explores the complexity of a good deed

The Iranian film A Hero is about a man who becomes a celebrity after doing a good deed. In filmmaker Asghar Farhadi's hands, what seems to be a black and white morality tale becomes more gray.

Iranian Oscars entry 'A Hero' explores the complexity of a good deed

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The past and present collide in 'The Lost Daughter'

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Netflix

Pop Culture Happy Hour

The past and present collide in 'The Lost Daughter'

In the Netflix film The Lost Daughter, Olivia Coleman plays Leda, a professor on a working holiday in Greece who becomes fascinated by a young mother played by Dakota Johnson. This leads Leda to think about her own past, and to flashbacks in which the young Leda is played by Jessie Buckley. Adapted from the 2006 Elena Ferrante novel of the same name, The Lost Daughter marks the directorial debut of Maggie Gyllenhaal. The film also stars Peter Sarsgaard, Ed Harris, and Paul Mescal.

The past and present collide in 'The Lost Daughter'

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'Don't Look Up' is an environmental satire that squanders its resources

Cate Blanchett, Tyler Perry, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Jennifer Lawrence in Don't Look Up. Niko Tavernise/Netlfix hide caption

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Niko Tavernise/Netlfix

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Don't Look Up' is an environmental satire that squanders its resources

The new Netflix film Don't Look Up has a crazy Academy Awards pedigree. Writer-director Adam McKay won an Oscar for The Big Short and the Oscar-studded cast includes Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence as scientists who discover that a massive comet is hurtling toward Earth. The only problem: They can't get the media's attention (represented here by Cate Blanchett and Tyler Perry) or get the president (played by Meryl Streep) to care. But with all these stars in the mix, did Don't Look Up miss the mark?

'Don't Look Up' is an environmental satire that squanders its resources

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In 'Parallel Mothers,' Almodóvar hitches unruly passions to women and family

Filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar takes a long, colorful look at motherhood in his melodrama Parallel Mothers, starring Penélope Cruz.

In 'Parallel Mothers,' Almodóvar hitches unruly passions to women and family

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Review: Every beat of 'The Tragedy of Macbeth' is a cinematic flourish

Denzel Washington takes on the title character in Joel Coen's Bard-based film, The Tragedy of Macbeth, with murder-minded Lady Macbeth played by Coen's wife, Frances McDormand.

Review: Every beat of 'The Tragedy of Macbeth' is a cinematic flourish

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This 'Macbeth' adaptation distills Shakespeare's tragedy to its furious essence

Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand play Shakespeare's famously murderous couple in The Tragedy of Macbeth. Apple TV+ hide caption

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Apple TV+

This 'Macbeth' adaptation distills Shakespeare's tragedy to its furious essence

Fresh Air

Director Joel Coen's The Tragedy of Macbeth is a bewitching piece of craftsmanship, featuring Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand as the murderous power couple.

This 'Macbeth' adaptation distills Shakespeare's tragedy to its furious essence

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