There's always a few intriguing indie creations in the Sundance Film Festival line-up that are frustratingly bad, atrociously misguided films. Unfortunately I watched one of them at the 2026 fest called Run Amok and boy did it bother me. I'm not one to dig into a film, but this deserves serious criticism. This is one of the most shockingly bad examples of wrong-headed storytelling despite good intentions, and despite a desire to openly address a major problem in American society. Based on the short film of the same name, Run Amok is director NB Mager's feature directorial debut after making a few other shorts as well. When it begins it just seems to be another offbeat, nerdy story of a high school music geek coming-of-age as she works to put on a musical for a special event at the school. Once it reveals what's really going on in it and what it's really trying to comment on, instead of building up to anything sharp and cathartic and clever, it instead flounders and flops around. The result is cringy, surface-level commentary that ends up offending rather than helping. // Continue Reading ›