The influence of the Greek “weird wave,” and to a lesser extent the moral mazes of Austria’s Michael Haneke, have been seeping into U.S.
indie cinema for quite a while now, and Riley Stearns’ third feature, Dual, comfortably fits into the Sundance slot taken last year by Pascual Sisto’s bizarre dysfunctional family satire John And The Hole.
Stearns doesn’t quite nail the macabre mundanity of absurdist classics such as Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Lobster — in which the residents of a drab seaside spa hotel must find a soulmate within 45 days or be turned into an animal — but he gives it a good shot, drawing a surprisingly committed performance from Karen Gillan in the kind of role usually earmarked for Aubrey Plaza in her spiky Ingrid Goes West mode.The opening sequence of Sundance Film Festival U.S.
Dramatic Competition entry Dual sets the tone, albeit a little clumsily. A regular Joe in sneakers, jeans and a grey hoodie stands on a football pitch where a foldaway table presents him with a variety of options: an axe, shears, a combat knife, a crossbow and a mallet.
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