Now following the success of CODA, the 2023 Sundance Film Festival became the topic of far greater anticipation. Given that Apple paid 25 million dollars for the rights to release CODA on its streaming service, film studios responded by bringing deep pockets to this year’s festival. Many of the festival’s popular entries such as Flora and Son and Fair Play sold as high as $20 million to Apple and Netflix, respectively.

A Man Called Otto achieves something so rare in Hollywood these days. It is a feel-good movie featuring a beloved Hollywood icon playing against type that plays to all ages and demographics. A Man Called Otto exists merely as an inconsequential, but delightful story about the power of friendship and family featuring a surprisingly touching message about kindness to all.

The absurdity of the scenes is often complemented by the portrayal of the characters who are deeply flawed human beings, and only have showbusiness as an outlet. Each character’s arc shows how someone’s humanity will clash with the hungry beast that is Hollywood, and Manny’s transformation in particular illustrates this. He becomes Americanized and swallowed by the system as he falls in love with Hollywood and adopts its shallow norms, while his cultural identity is slowly eroded away. 

Naima’s family struggles to make ends meet and when her father becomes too sick to pull his rickshaw, Naima decides that the only way she can help bring in money is to find work in the big city of Dhaka. One of the film’s most interesting aspects is the authentic portrayal of life in Bangladesh -- from the bustling outdoor markets in the village to the frantic, crowded streets of the city.

As the story moves along, Doug and Ralph become unwitting agents in the breakout of the coronavirus, which was orchestrated by fake Hillary to get rid of fake Trump after the 2016 election. It’s hard to tell what purpose Tucker and Ralph serve in the plot, since apparently, they don’t have any sway in the government despite being immortal and witnessing all the major events of American history. Since they have both been around for centuries, this is just an excuse for them to rant about the erosion of American values.

Bahrani’s skill as a storyteller comes through because in the first third of the movie, Davis comes off as a likable guy who wants to save lives and keep families together, but some dark truths are foreshadowed as the story develops. Davis’s character as depicted here slowly deteriorates, as interviews and events make him seem like he’s desperate to maintain his image as a savior.

While the performances in the movie range from average to bad, the real issue is the script. The writer clearly wants to include their social commentary on top of what is a bargain-bin-level idea and at this point, I think the general audience is past the point of needing bad movies that try to make statements on race and gender roles. Isabella is meant to be an empowered character by the end, but the execution is just confusing and sloppy.

What really makes this movie stand out is the brilliant writing and directing of Martin McDonagh, combined with the stellar performances from Colin Farrell as Padraic and Brendan Gleeson as Colm. Padraic goes through his own stages of grief since not only did he lose a friend in Colm, but others on the island have died, making it feel like Padraic’s world is shrinking. This all happens against the backdrop of the civil war.

Santoshi is a newly widowed father going through depression and dealing with debt as he tries to keep his daughter Kaede happy and in school. After telling his daughter that he plans to track down a serial killer for the reward money, Santoshi vanishes, leaving Kaede to investigate what happened to him. The first quarter of the movie has an almost lighthearted tone as Kaede does her best to find leads on her father’s whereabouts, but things get dark quickly after she has a confrontation with the serial killer.