Sundance 2025: Lurker; Free Leonard Peltier; Oh, Hi | Festivals & Awards

Sometimes at a festival, a movie will begin that’s so good that, by the time you get to its final act, you’re praying for it not to mess up. There haven’t been nearly as many movies during Sundance where I’ve felt that. One of them is here in this dispatch, along with a powerful documentary and another film that’s the opposite of the kind of movie I just described.

Combining the obsessive spirit of “Laura” and the frenetic sleaziness of “Nightcrawler,” writer/director Alex Russell’s “Lurker” is a borderline paranoid thriller made for the starfucker in everyone. It begins with sweaty flair when rising pop star Oliver (Archie Madekwe) saunters into the clothing store where Matthew (Théodore Pellerin) works. Matthew appears like a fan as everyone maneuvers to gain Oliver’s attention. He plugs his phone into the shop’s speaker system and puts on Nile Rodgers’ “My Love Song For You.” It’s one of Oliver’s favorite songs. Matthew doesn’t let on that he got the information from stalking Oliver’s socials. Instead, he claims it’s beloved by his grandmother. The ploy is just enough to get Matthew invited to Oliver’s show and then into his inner circle. 

Russell’s film takes great pleasure in invoking the natural power imbalance between star and fan. For instance, Oliver’s manager, Shai (Havana Rose Liu) even recommends that Matthew make himself useful if he hopes to stick around. A resourceful Matthew picks up a camcorder to make a BTS documentary of Oliver. Seeing Oliver and his friends through Matthew’s lens provides a grungy visual aesthetic to his fanatic point of view that contrasts with the mellow texture of Kodak film. Tellingly, the closer Matthew gets to Oliver, the more we see the world through Matthew’s eyes. Russell’s quick maneuvering script will flip who exactly is in control between Oliver and Matthew for devastatingly hilarious and chilling moments.         

Though this ensemble is rich with scene stealers, like Zack Fox as one of Oliver’s friends, the two-hand component is stellar. As the vulnerable, desperately neurotic Matthew, Pellerin often recalls Anthony Perkins. He easily slithers his body around this denizen of hangers-on, allowing flashes of jealousy and vindictiveness to wash across his face. Russell trusts Pellerin, allowing the camera to hold on his sunken gaze as he devises ways to push rivals to Oliver’s attention from his path. I’ve always enjoyed Madekwe’s screen presence; he screams someone capable of so much more if ever given the opportunity. He has a juicy role here as both the instigator of Matthew’s obsession and the person who, in truth, pines for it. Madekwe’s wonderfully expressive eyes key us to his character’s unspoken desires, insecurities, and pettiness. 

Consequently, “Lurker” isn’t solely about Matthew’s fixation on Oliver; it’s also Oliver’s vain wish to be the biggest pop star in the world. And like Matthew, Oliver will stop at nothing—even if it means degrading himself to accomplish his goal. In that sense, Russell’s film is also about Hollywood, and not in an inside baseball way. It’s a vicious cycle of doing anything to get the shot, to catch the essence, to craft a mythology around the image. The ones who succeed are willing to drop any pretense of morality of being a moth baking by a star. “Lurker” isn’t a cautionary tale. It’s a slick, eerie, and deliciously messy guide to relevance.     

Many stains can be counted on the tapestry of America’s history, but few are as deep as the wrongful conviction of Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier. A member of the American Indian Movement (AIM), Peltier supported and fought for Indigenous rights in the face of the government’s designs to strip native land to mine iron and uranium. His fight, specifically against the FBI, came to a head in a standoff at Pine Ridge, North Dakota in 1975. The confrontation resulted in the deaths of FBI agents Ronald Arthur Williams and Jack Ross Coler. Three men were arrested in connection: Robert Robideau, Dino Butler and Peltier. While Robideau and Butler were exonerated, Peliter, who fled across the Canadian border and was eventually extradited, was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences. Since his conviction, activists have fought for his release. 

David France and Jesse Short Bull’s comprehensive documentary “Free Leonard Peltier” is a rebellious picture of a great wrong that’s taken decades to right. To tell Peltier’s frustrating story, the directing duo go back to the beginning, charting Peltier’s early life—from his time at an Indian Boarding School to his introduction to AIM. Talking heads like Lakota Elder Alex White Plume, Puyallup Elder Ramona Bennett, AIM leader Madonna Thunder Hawk, and more recount the events that ratcheted up the tension between activists and the FBI: the occupation of the Bureau of Indian Activities building, the standoff at Wounded Knee, and betrayal by Chairman Dick Wilson. We’re also guided through Peltier’s unfair trial, and the coercion and flimsy evidence used to convict him. Most of all, through an archival documentary interview with Peltier, he’s able to tell his own story too.

France and Short Bull’s documentary is a slick piece of historical reconstruction, especially the taut editing that takes through the five decades of Peltier’s incarceration. Where it falters is in the recreation scene of the faithful raid, a shoddily made Generative AI simulation. The film also, through Peltier’s permission, also utilized AI to “enhance his interview recordings and [give] voice to passages from his writing.” The reliance on AI doesn’t necessarily break the documentary, but it doesn’t make it either. Still, it’s difficult not to be swept up by the emotion of Peltier’s journey. “Free Leonard Peltier” is as defiant as its subject.  

I never believed a single second of writer/director Sophie Brooks’ underwhelming relationship dramedy “Oh, Hi.” This is the kind of winking film about obsession that’s picking the bones of an infinitely better, albeit more sinister thriller like “Misery.” 

In it, Iris (Molly Gordon) is heading to a tranquil camp retreat to the rolling countryside of Hi, New York, with her boyfriend, Isaac (Logan Lerman). At the least, they’re supposed to be passionately sexually attracted to one another. But there’s no real hint of a spark. Even in their lovey-dovey scenes: kissing in the nearby pond, reading in the sun, and dining on scallops and pasta—they have a flat dynamic, mostly because they barely know each other. Though they’ve been dating for four months, their conversations mostly revolve around first-week dating topics, such as when they fell for each other or if either has experienced a broken heart. 

Therefore, when the film’s inciting revelation hits, it doesn’t really come as a shock. During sex, Iris chains Isaac to the bed. It’s a consensual decision, one driven by wanting to try something different. But when Isaac tells Iris he doesn’t want a relationship and that he’s been seeing other women, Iris decides to keep him shackled for 12 hours in a bid to prove to him why they should be together. Now, you might think the nonexistent spark between Iris and Isaac is intentional. Lerman and Gordon, however, also lack chemistry. And because they don’t have a believable bond, the desire to see these two people together significantly diminishes. That want then becomes miniscule because Isaac is simply an unlikable guy. 

See, the primary problem with Brooks’ “Oh, Hi” is we’re led to believe that Iris would give up anything to be with Isaac. She will even call in her friends Max (Geraldine Viswanathan) and Kenny (John Reynolds) and perform witchcraft to keep him. But if we don’t believe they should be together, then there’s no number of syrupy compositions or “Islands in the Stream” needle drops or sharp zingers by Gordon that’ll make the hour-plus worth of hijinks worth sitting through. While Brooks’ film is certainly keenly interested in the anxieties faced by commitment-phobic millennials, those anxieties are too on-the-nose to be felt outside the confines of an outlandishly insipid romance.