The first couple days of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival have produced a fascinating blend of celebration, anticipation, and something akin to mourning. The question going into this final event in Park City was whether this would be a going-away party or a wake, and the answer is a little bit of both. People seem both ready to move on and yet are alos openly sharing memories of formative events that took place in the mountains of Utah over the last few decades. And over it all hangs the memory of Robert Redford, whose passing last year gives this final Park City Sundance an even greater sense of change.
Recognizing the unusual atmosphere of the last Sundance Film Festival in Utah, the programmers clearly endeavored to invite back people whose lives were changed by this incredible artistic venture. The fest is hosting legacy screenings of major Sundance films like “Humpday,” “Mysterious Skin,” “Little Miss Sunshine,” and even a 4K restoration of “Cronos” with Guillermo del Toro in attendance (I’ll try and report from that one).
They’ve also brought back current filmmakers who might not have new projects if it wasn’t for Sundance like Jay Duplass, kogonada, and Gregg Araki, who introduced his long-awaited “I Want Your Sex” on Friday night with a heartfelt ode to Redford himself. Araki, who has had 11 films premiere at Sundance, going all the way back to “The Living End,” kept saying that he couldn’t even fathom how Redford thought to do something this incredible in the mountains, but it was the end of his introduction that held the most power, noting that Redford’s legacy has no end. As if he was speaking right to him, Araki said, “You are a God to me. You are immortal.” You could almost feel his energy in the room.
Araki’s first film in over a decade is a call to the youth of today to get off their screens, leave the house, and get laid. It’s a story of sexual exploration for a generation that has been overprotected so much that they’re terrified to leave their comfort zones. How can you grow and become who you’re supposed to be if you never try something new? But it’s also about how that kind of sexual freedom can turn into degradation, exploitation, and even violation. Araki takes noir references, his vibrantly colorful aesthetic, and his quirky sense of humor and spins them into a consistently entertaining comedy. At a certain point, it feels like “I Want Your Sex” is about to get a bit sharper teeth, but it’s consistently funny, along with being a further reminder that Cooper Hoffman can do just about anything.
The star of “The Long Walk” plays Elliot, an ordinary guy who gets an internship with a hot artist named Erika Tracy (Olivia Wilde), a woman who uses her power and sexuality to get whatever she wants. Almost instantly, Erika and Elliot enter a dom-sub relationship wherein the older woman opens up the young man in pretty much every way that word can be used (and some you may not have thought of before). The bulk of “I Want Your Sex” is Elliot trying to figure out the rules with a woman who is his boss, mentor, teacher, sexual partner, and more. As is repeated multiple times, sex means nothing, but it also means everything. Even casual fornication changes a dynamic, and when there’s a power imbalance like the one between Erika & Elliott, it feels like tragedy is inevitable. And that might mean more than a broken heart or other body part.
Araki opens his film with a bit of a “Sunset Boulevard” nod as Erika’s lifeless body floats in her pool, and most of the story of how she got there is told by Elliot to cops played by Johnny Knoxville and Margaret Cho. And that’s just some of the inspired casting in this inventive comedy that also gives Daveed Diggs, Mason Gooding, and Chase Sui Wonders a chance to shine. But the movie belongs to Hoffman and Wilde, who are both fantastic. Most importantly, they are great together. Hoffman’s everyman energy bounces off Wilde’s intense beauty in a manner that gives the film its horny pulse.
Some of Araki’s best work over the years has found a way to get legitimately dark, and “I Want Your Sex” seems to turn away from that more than fans might expect. As much fun as this can be, there’s a version with a bit more bite that’s just that much better. After all, truly great sex sometimes leaves a mark.
Domhnall Gleeson, Gayle Rankin and Grant O’Rourke appear in The Incomer by Louis Paxton, an official selection of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Anthony Dickenson.Shifting gears entirely from someone whose life was changed at Sundance three decades ago to a filmmaker bringing his debut to the fest in 2026, crowds were equally pleased on opening night by Louis Paxton’s delightful “The Incomer,” a film inspired a bit by Scottish mythology, a bit by comedies from that region, and even a bit by the stylized worlds of Yorgos Lanthimos. “The Incomer” seems like a film that could break out from this year’s event, one that doesn’t have nearly the profile of the Araki comedy but a movie with broad, cross-demographic appeal. It’s a hard film not to like at least a little bit—as long as your tolerance for “quirky” isn’t extremely low—and some people are going to fall absolutely in love with its trio of outsiders trying to find their place in the world.
Gayle Rankin does the best work of her career as Isla, a woman who has spent her entire life on a remote Scottish isle with her brother Sandy (Grant O’Rourke). They are the only two residents of this windswept land, unless you count the gulls. They have created their own insular life, one that includes storytelling, gull hunting for food, and the occasional brawl. Most of all, they hate “incomers,” people from the mainland who their father told them would destroy everything they valued. At its core, this is a story of introverts, people who have been told the world outside their door is terrifying and out to hurt them. Clearly, it’s a film with a bit of timeliness in an era in which outsiders seem increasingly misunderstood, but Paxton doesn’t lean into that theme too much. (Arguably not enough.)
Life changes for Isla and Sandy when a handsome redhead named Daniel (Domhnall Gleeson) lands on their shore. Daniel is a low-level official who has been sent there to basically tell them that Scotland considers them squatters and that they’ll be evicted. Isla and Sandy fight back, basically taking Daniel prisoner. Of course, a new face with new stories of the mainland is pretty intriguing and both Isla and Sandy find themselves drawn to Daniel. He kinda starts to dig their unusual view of the world, too.
“The Incomer” can verge on being overly quirky, but Rankin, O’Rourke, and Gleeson make such smart choices throughout, not just in comic timing but in the traps they avoid. In particular, Rankin is spectacular, finding echoes of longing for a life that her father taught her to fear. Overall, “The Incomer” is funny, weird, and even a bit moving. It’s in the NEXT section of Sundance, which is meant to announce interesting new talent. Louis Paxton is certainly one to watch.
Marilyn, Maria and Joel Bamford appear in Paralyzed by Hope: The Maria Bamford Story by Judd Apatow and Neil Berkeley, an official selection of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute.Maria Bamford can’t be considered a “new talent” but she is one that has never gotten the widespread praise that she deserves. Adored by almost everyone in the stand-up comedy community, she is the subject of “Paralyzed by Hope: The Maria Bamford Story,” co-directed by Judd Apatow and Neil Berkeley (“Gilbert”). Apatow introduced this hysterical bio-doc by basically saying he just wanted more people to know about Bamford’s talent. It’s funny how Bamford always comes up when people in the industry talk about great comedians—Patton Oswalt, Conan O’Brien, Stephen Colbert, and more give her flowers here—but she’s far from a household name. This film, which feels very likely to end up on Netflix given Ted Sarandos himself is a major interview subject, should help raise her profile.
Maria Bamford’s act is like no one else’s. She does impressions that are so incredible that you feel like you know the people she’s impersonating. It’s not just a generic “L.A. woman.” You can somehow picture the person as if you also were annoyed by them earlier that day. It’s almost eerie. And when you see footage of her parents or hear from her sister in this film and then see Bamford do the impressions in her act, it’s breathtaking.
It’s kinda hard to explain the Bamford appeal. Just know that she is fearless on stage, someone who uses her mental illness and upbringing to remarkable comedic effect. There are a few jokes in “Paralyzed by Hope” about the death of her mother that so brilliantly verge on offensive but instead just come off wonderfully personal and relatable. She’s one of those performers who doesn’t really have boundaries, especially when it comes to sharing personal demons of her own and her family, but she never feels like she’s being cruel to those she loves. She’s undeniably brilliant, and yet that genius is shaded by crippling depression that led her to believe for years that she might hurt herself or others at any minute.
Not only has Bamford pushed through what would have destroyed so many others, she has become a role model, speaking at conventions for people with OCD. While the film about her sometimes feels a bit bio-doc generic (we don’t need to hear from her manager how talented she is), and runs about 15-20 minutes too long, her story is clearly one that more people need to hear—people who love comedy and people who are struggling to maintain their own stability.
The truth is that the title is a bit misleading. It’s a line from early in her stand-up career, but I found great hope in Maria’s story, one about a person who didn’t overcome her demons as much as teach them how to laugh.
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