Skip to main content
Currently Reading R#J Review: Confined to Digital Screens, Romeo and Juliet Update Feels More Like an Experiment Than a Movie
Carey Williams bold technological gamble finds some contemporary relevance but eschews narrative purpose for its unique setting.
Tomris Laffly, provided by
FacebookTwitterEmail
Director: Carey Williams
With: Camaron Engels, Sydney Graham, Moe Irvin, RJ Cyler, Siddiq Saunderson, Francesca Noel, Maria Gabriela de Faria, Diego Tinoco, Russell Hornsby.
Running time: Running time: 91 MIN.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
There are instances in director Carey Williams’ boldly experimental yet wearisome “R#J” that genuinely grasp the essence of romance, identity and existence in the age of social media. Those fleeting but relatable moments feel like major triumphs in Williams’ Gen Z-centric adaptation of “Romeo and Juliet,” a movie that unfolds almost entirely on electronic screens. And you get a taste of them enough times
18 movies you can see at Sidewalk during Sundance Film Festival
Updated Jan 13, 2021;
Posted Jan 11, 2021 Philly D.A., a documentary about Larry Krasner, Philadelphia’s district attorney, will be screened in Birmingham on Feb. 2, 2021, at the Sidewalk Cinema and Sidewalk Starlite Pop-Up Drive-In. The screenings are part of the Sidewalk lineup as a satellite venue for the Sundance Film Festival.(PBS)
Facebook Share
The Sidewalk Film Festival has announced the lineup of movies that will screen in Birmingham as part of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Fifteen films will be presented, Jan. 28-Feb. 3, at the Sidewalk Film Center and Cinema, 1821 Second Ave. North, and the Sidewalk Starlite Pop-Up Drive-In, 1801 First Ave. North.
Passing
The indie film showcase s pandemic-era program also has directorial debuts by Jerrod Carmichael, Pascual Sisto and Questlove with his Black Woodstock documentary.
As Sundance director Tabitha Jackson s reign at the indie film festival gets well underway, the marquee indie U.S. film showcase has gone mostly online with a pandemic-era discovery lineup filled with work by women and BIPOC directors and more than half the 2021 program shot by first-time helmers.
For Jackson, the focus on debut feature directors underlines how, despite the COVID-19 crisis pausing film production in Hollywood and upending planning for Sundance s upcoming Jan. 28 to Feb. 3, 2021, edition, the marquee festival isn t playing it safe as it doubles down on revealing new independent voices to the world.
Together
Together starring Ed Helms
are among 72 features selected for 2021 Sundance Film Festival, which runs online and in select US arthouse venues from January 28-February 3.
The line-up, announced on Tuesday (December 15), includes
One For The Road, Thai filmmaker Baz Poonpiriya’s follow-up to
Bad Genius; Edgar Wright’s music documentary
The Sparks Brothers
Land; Ben Wheatley’s virus horror
In The Earth; The Roots drummer Questlove’s documentary
Summer Of Soul; and Kevin Macdonald’s Special Screenings selection
Life In A Day 2020.
A features roster representing 29 countries and 38 first-time feature filmmakers includes three films from Cannes Label 2020:
Pascual Sisto’s