Why is it that I'm liking the ones with all the mixed reviews? Either way, I don't care what y'all think. On the run, Marian returns to her hometown to hide out with her identical twin sister, Vivian, and in doing so alters the trajectory of both their lives. Superior had my attention from start to finish. What it gave me is something I didn't expect. The 80s aesthetic is on point from the wonderful score, production, and cinematography - shot on 16 mm. Erin Vassilopoulos returns to make a feature length set 6 years after her original short takes place. Had I know this is technically a sequel to the short film prior to watching, some question would've been answered. Upon watching most were explained and I could follow along easily. The story is equally entertaining and off putting. It takes a thriller sort of approach at the beginning and continues that throughout. Real twins Alessandra and Ani Mesa do wonders. Their chemistry is always there which I just loved. The main villain of the story had me questioning a bit. I don't really know too much about him so I'm wondering if it's from the short, but it doesn't seem right. More out of him would've been nice. This is a slow-paced film that won't get to all audiences. I found it to be a blast but some will think another short would've been more suitable. Still, this is my second favorite of the festival so far and I'd love to see what happens to Superior in the future!

I had the opportunity to see this film premiere at Sundance and really enjoyed the movie from start to finish.

The high points of the movie were the pacing and originality of the story as well as the character disassociation that takes place at the height of the plot. The disassociation seemed really original and I wish it was played up even more!

I docked a star or two for a couple of reasons (I'm new to film and cinema history so excuse any criticisms that I have which are related to stylistic choices). One thing that I found unnecessary was the driving home of 80's references - every time a period reference became a focal point, I found myself looking for physical objects that would be contradictory. Second, I found that Vivian's character could have been written better in the first half of the movie. Her initial interactions with Marian seemed improvised and unusual given the time the sisters had been apart, at least unusual without much context. Lastly, and this may be purely stylistic, but the subjects were sometimes precisely center-camera, in a way that drew my eyes from the subjects and to their setting (particularly in the house).

Overall I thought this was a great debut by Vassilopoulos - I'm excited to follow her work and see how her career evolves from Superior.