Randall Park’s Shortcomings is a refreshingly hilarious of-the-moment Rom-Dram that explores identity with a self-aware twist.

A towering achievement of both animation and imagination, The Boy and the Heron was expected to be Miyazaki’s swan song, a fitting send-off for the auteur whom many see as the world’s greatest living animator. His choice of the somewhat ambiguous question “How Do You Live?” is especially poignant given the circumstances.

Here are my highlights from Tribeca 2023—five narrative films, five documentaries, plus three honorable mentions—in no particular order beyond the conversation they have with each other.

Set during the final years of the war in Afghanistan, anchored by standout performances from Dar Salim and Jake Gyllenhaal, Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant balances less successful action clichés with suspenseful character drama that speaks directly to the viewer’s sense of justice.

Bing Liu and Joshua Altman’s All These Sons is a rousing, hauntingly powerful tableau about the on-the-ground effort to quell gun violence in Chicago by an altruistic few.

Bing Liu’s documentary Minding The Gap contains more entertainment—and more authenticity—than most narrative features achieve in their very best moments. First-time director, DP, co-star and co-editor Liu explores the down-and-out world he shares with his two best friends in Rockford, Illinois: all three have tumultuous family lives; all three survive by skateboarding.

Ray Romano’s first foray into acting-directing, Somewhere in Queens, is an uproarious family drama more akin to Little Miss Sunshine than Everybody Loves Raymond.

Elijah Bynum’s Magazine Dreams is an intense, deeply unsettling psychological thriller, superbly anchored by Jonathan Major’s performance as manic-muscleman Killian Maddox.

Here’s a list of ten standout films—nine narrative and one documentary—that I reviewed during the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. In addition to my reasons why you should watch each film, I’ve included where to stream them now (or when and where to anticipate their wide release).

Michelangelo Frammartino’s Il Buco (“The Hole”) is a meditative journey into the center of the earth, replete with some of the year’s most gorgeous visuals and transportive sound design.

O Brother Wherefore Art Thou: Joel Cohen’s Stunning Solo Shakespeare

Kogonada’s After Yang opens with the most exhilarating dance sequence since Gaspar Noé’s Climax—but don’t be misled.

Yay or neigh?

Click it or Ticket: Joe Keery Slays in Uber-Dark-Satire

Like McCartney without Lennon, Danny Boyle’s Yesterday is long on whimsy, short on content—but it works. An entertaining one-note fantasy rom-com packed with every Beatles joke and fan-service imaginable, the winsome premise tells the tale of a struggling songwriter who discovers he’s the last man on earth who remembers The Beatles’ music—and capitalizes on it by performing their songs as his own.

Unbridled Creativity: No one is Safe from Riley’s Wackadoo Satire … Himself Included