"It's the sort of small, character-driven American indie that has served as the festival's lifeblood for almost 50 years and, as the system has expanded in some ways and shrunk in others, the sort that has often struggled to make it far out of Park City. Back in 2023, a quiet, disarming and perfectly Sundance film called A Little Prayer premiered yet didn't get released until late last summer and was seen by a precious few."
"Writer-director Rachel Lambert wants us to be enchanted and she busies her film with lush, consuming music choices (some dodgy sound mixing often means some songs are a little too consuming) and longing, loving shots of nature and her persistence pays off at times. Her last film, Sundance 2024's Sometimes I Think About Dying, boasted a similar sensory loveliness to it, both films capturing the bewitching pull of a certain leafy small-town life."
"The world is not kind to films like Carousel at this very moment and while I would love to see this particular subgenre flourish in the way it used to back in the 90s and 00s, it's hard to muster up much in the way of strong feelings here. That's ultimately a bit of a problem for a film all about the headiness and enormity of love, both lost and found, where feelings should be front and centre."
Grief over Robert Redford's death and Sundance's move from Park City overshadow the festival's opening and dampen attention on early premieres. Carousel is a small, character-driven American indie that embodies the festival's traditional lifeblood but faces a hostile market outside Park City. The film aims for enchantment through lush, consuming music choices, longing nature shots, and sensory direction. Patchy sound mixing sometimes lets songs overwhelm scenes. Rachel Lambert's persistence and visual sensibility yield occasional payoffs, echoing the sensory loveliness of her previous film Sometimes I Think About Dying. The film struggles to generate sustained strong feelings despite its aesthetics.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]