A memory, tinged with aching rawness, emerges in “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt,” the feature debut by writer/director Raven Jackson. This memory briefly foretells the knotting stream of remembrances that roots our protagonist, Mack (played in these early childhood scenes by a sage Kaylee Nicole Johnson). It begins in 1970, with young Mack’s hands caressing a fish’s scales before throwing the suffocated creature back into the glinting water.

Continue reading ‘All Dirt Roads Taste Of Salt’ Review: Raven Jackson Delivers A Potent Tribute To Black Life [Sundance] at The Playlist.

The Sundance Film Festival is back in Park City. Really. It’s really happening this time. We swear. America’s greatest film festival (well, at one time, it deserved that title, let’s see moving forward…) is returning to the chilly confines of an in-person event in Utah after a two-year pandemic break. Will there be parties? Will people crash the festival? Will any premiere lead to an old-fashioned all-night bidding war? Those questions are hard to answer now, but there is one thing we know: moviegoers will be in attendance, and many screenings have already sold out (many, though, in case you’re looking to crash last minute, have not).

Continue reading 25 Most Anticipated Films At The Sundance Film Festival at The Playlist.