Here’s a quick look at a pair of US narrative films from Sundance 2026.
Take Me Home, directed by Liz Sargent, is a very personal project, but that doesn’t mean it’s not of wider value. Anna (Anna Sagent, the director’s sister) is a 38-year-old Korean-American with cognitive disability. She lives with her aging adoptive parents. The three of them struggle to take care of each other. None could get by without the others. When Anna’s mother dies, her sister Emily (Ali Ahn) who has established a life of her own away from the family, is pulled into the situation. Emily and Anna have always had a bond, but it’s clear that she can’t stay. As Anna and her father continue to struggle, we know that the situation can’t go on.
There are various scenes in which we see cruise ships coming and going. (The film is set in Florida.) Those ships with so many people having good times are something of a contrast to the every day struggle of Anna’s family. Emily is in some ways has a foot in both worlds. She has to go back to her world, but is still tied to her family and its difficulties.
The film has a somewhat ambiguous ending that viewers can interpret in various ways. There is tragedy, but is it for the better? Perhaps we’ll see the ending as reality. Maybe we’ll see it as a dream of what could be—possibly even what heaven will be like.
The film is built around various structured improvisations, which allow the actors to freely play out the situations. Liz Sargent was awarded the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. The citation read: “For modeling a different way to tell a story. This is a movie that embraced the truth of the moment on set, necessitating the filmmaker be fully present to shift, reflect, and trust her vision, in order to capture the miracle that she did.”
Jenny Slate and Chris Pine appear in Carousel by Rachel Lambert, an official selection of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
Carousel, directed by Rachel Lambert, is a romantic comedy that comes up a little bit short in the end. Noah (Chris Pine) is a divorced doctor in Cleveland who we see right away is a nice guy. (He picks up a worm near his car and returns it to the lawn so it’s not run over.) His daughter has taken up debate in school. The debate teacher is Rebecca (Jenny Slate), Noah’s high school girlfriend, who is back in town to sell her parents’ home. She also works as a congressional aid in DC. (Not sure how this commute works.) Sparks begin to fly again, and Noah and Rebecca quickly reestablish their romance (to the refrain “I Fall in Love too Easily”).
There will, of course, be friction to come. There will be a blow-up. Both Noah and Rebecca have professional decisions to make. Will love find a way to heal them all?
While I generally saw this as a step up from a Hallmark Channel offering, there were times that I thought the film never really filled in the blanks. There are two scenes with Noah’s ex who is still in his daughter’s life. It’s a side plot that I’m sure would add some important information to the father/daughter dynamic, and to Noah’s situation in general. As I said earlier, Rebecca’s dual jobs—teacher and congressional aide—plus the matter of dealing with her parents and their house make you wonder how she has time to get back into Noah’s life. It all makes for a nice story, but one that just left too many questions for me.
