Little Richard: I Am Everything

This rich, incredibly engaging documentary makes a very strong case that Little Richard is the real king of rock and roll. From his sound to the sense of freedom he represented, his music and career shaped entire generations of music that followed him. Musicians from Tom Jones to Mick Jagger talk about how profoundly Little Richard influenced them, and recorded interviews and secondhand accounts add everyone from Paul McCartney to David Bowie into the mix.

Tragically, he didn’t have that same power or freedom in his personal life. He didn’t receive an award until late in his career, and contract loopholes denied him decades of royalties. He also struggled internally, torn between his Christian faith and the flamboyant freedom of his rock and roll. The documentary finally tells all the parts of Little Richard’s complicated, fascinating story, and will hopefully finally give the performer the credit he deserves.

Fancy Dance

A heartbreaking story told in a realistic but unexpectedly gentle way, “Fancy Dance” is a quiet movie that will stay with you. A Native American con woman whose sister had gone missing struggles to take care of her niece while trying to find justice for her sister. When the girl’s white grandparents take custody, she has to kidnap her niece to help her fulfill her wish to go to the upcoming powwow.

The performances are all painfully genuine, never shying away from the awfulness but equally focused on the beauty. Explanations for cultural details are slipped in naturally without interrupting the story at all, letting us get even deeper into the movie. The ending is the best part of the movie, beautiful and poignant in equal measure.

Aliens Abducted My Parents and Now I Feel Kinda Left Out

Sometimes charm makes up for a lot. That’s the case with “Aliens Abducted My Parents,” a sweet, quirky YA story about a boy who believes in aliens and a girl desperate to get out of town. The cast is all excellent, particularly Jacob Buster as the local “weird kid.” He’s incredibly engaging, enough that some critics have said that he doesn’t work as the local outcast. Some people, though, know that it doesn’t matter how likable you are – if you’re weird, you’re a target.

There are some flaws in the movie, including some questionable character decisions and a deeply hokey special effect. But the chemistry between Buster and Emma Tremblay is genuine and fun, and Kenneth Cummins is entertaining as the eager younger brother. They’re definitely people worth spending time with, no matter how far they end up traveling.

Animation Short Film Program

Animation at Sundance is always a tricky thing, with many examples tilting so far into the experimental that it’s hard for most people to enjoy it as a movie. Still, there are always a few charmers in the collection. This year there’s “Well Wishes My Love, Your Love,” which pairs unusual animation with a very sweet story about two friends and a prosthetic arm. On the sillier side is “BurgerWorld,” an entertaining yarn about two teenage fast-food workers who travel to a magical land where all the inhabitants are meat and vegetables.

Jenniffer Wardell is an award-winning movie critic and member of the Utah Film Critics Association. Find her on Twitter at @wardellwriter or drop her a line at [email protected].