Each winter, actors, writers, directors, and cinephiles descend on Park City, Utah, for the Sundance Film Festival. The fest routinely debuts some of the buzziest upcoming movies, and it’s frequently a launchpad for future Oscar nominees (recently, Kieran Culkin in “A Real Pain” and Troy Kotsur in “CODA”).
Sundance 2025, which ran from Jan. 23 to Feb. 2, was no exception. We saw movies featuring well-known stars turning in their career-best work and breakout performances from up-and-comers alike. Most intriguingly, this year’s festival gave us snapshots of actors in the process of expanding perceptions of what they’re able to do, given the right material.
A prime example: Rose Byrne’s leading turn in A24’s “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” the second feature from writer-director Mary Bronstein. Byrne is best known for her roles in broad comedies like “Bridesmaids” and “Spy,” but she’s a frayed nerve in “If I Had Legs” as Linda, an exhausted therapist whose young daughter is battling an eating disorder. Byrne’s frantic performance had our hearts in our throats as Linda gradually loses her tenuous grip on reality.
Byrne isn’t the only comedic actor to show off their range in “If I Had Legs.” There’s also Conan O’Brien’s captivating performance as Linda’s therapist and co-worker, whose deadpan monologue about a rat trapped in an experiment knocked our socks off.
The most glamorous snow bunny at Sundance this year was Jennifer Lopez, who came to promote “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” Bill Condon’s big-screen adaptation of the Tony-winning 1993 musical. The film follows a pair of prisoners in 1980s Argentina: gay window dresser Luis Molina (Tonatiuh) and communist revolutionary Valentin Arregui (Diego Luna). To pass the time, Luis entertains the reluctant Valentin with the plots of movies starring his screen idol, Ingrid Luna (Lopez). She’s magnetic as she shifts between two of Ingrid’s most legendary roles: the proud, vulnerable Aurora and the mystical, menacing Spider Woman.
“Kiss of the Spider Woman” Courtesy Sundance Institute
But Tonatiuh is the true discovery of Condon’s film. Though the actor was a regular on TV series like “Vida” and “Hidden Canyons,” “Kiss of the Spider Woman” marks their first major feature—and they positively flourish on the big screen. Tonatiuh sells Luis’ passion for Old Hollywood glamour even as Valentin’s influence reshapes him into a radical. Tonatiuh sings beautifully, yes, but they also break your heart.
Sundance has kick-started the careers of many emerging auteurs, including some who appear in their own films. One of this year’s most lauded titles was “Sorry, Baby,” from Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award winner Eva Victor. She plays Agnes, an English professor coming to terms with a sexual assault she experienced in grad school. Victor’s natural wit pervades every frame of this nonlinear narrative; that wry humor makes the moments when Agnes is grappling with her trauma even more devastating.
Then there’s James Sweeney’s queer dark comedy “Twinless,” which took home the Sundance Audience Award. The film centers on Dennis (Sweeney) and Roman (Dylan O’Brien), two men who connect at a support group for people grieving the death of their twin. Sweeney slowly reveals the depth of his character’s profound loneliness—and, later in the film, his surprising creepiness.
O’Brien, meanwhile, nabbed the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for his dual performance as Roman and his late brother, Rocky. As the former, the actor projects a dude-bro machismo that’s tinged with sadness. When we see Rocky in a flashback, he’s vibrant in a way his twin could never hope to be.
For a more verité take on queer life, look to the understated work of Tom Blyth and Russell Tovey in “Plainclothes,” which won the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast. Carmen Emmi’s 1990s-set drama stars Blyth as a cop who’s coming to terms with his sexuality even as he orchestrates stings to entrap other gay men. When he meets a married man (Tovey), the two embark on an affair that’s fraught but tender.
“Plainclothes” Credit: Ethan Palmer
Another standout performance came from Joel Edgerton in Clint Bentley’s “Train Dreams.” Adapted from Denis Johnson’s acclaimed 2011 novella, the moving period drama follows Robert Grainier, a railroad laborer in the American Northwest who’s haunted by the specter of death. Edgerton grounds this sweeping, decades-spanning epic in his deeply felt performance.
One of the fest’s most intimate entries was “Peter Hujar’s Day” from veteran indie filmmaker Ira Sachs. The two-hander stars Ben Whishaw as the titular photographer and Rebecca Hall as his friend, writer Linda Rosenkrantz. The dialogue is taken directly from the transcript of a real-life interview Rosenkrantz conducted with Hujar in 1974. The project is an act of revival from a pair of performers who bring their characters—and 1970s New York City—to vivid life.
Like many titles to come out of Sundance this year, “Peter Hujar’s Day” feels like a magic trick. And isn’t that the reason we go to film festivals in the first place?
This story originally appeared in the Feb. 20 issue of Backstage Magazine.