Top 100 Most Anticipated American Indie Films of 2018: #4. Sebastián Silva’s TYREL

Tyrel

You can wager on the cinema offerings of the Brooklyn based, Santiago born Sebastián Silva to be bold, the comedy to be subversive, and rather than comfort, the more dramatic elements are meant to disrupt in a provoke discussion type manner. An artist who simply can’t sit still, narratively and tonally speaking, Silva’s last item Nasty Baby was as unpredictable and against the grain as they come, with Silva and Wiig breaking out perfs you’re unlikely to see anywhere else. So far, his filmography is one half Chilean with The Maid (2009 – here is our interview with him) being his breakout film, and the almost back to back films of Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus (2012) and Magic Magic (2013) making him a household indiewood name.

In my Sundance predictions, I mentioned that what Lanthimos is to Cannes, Silva is to Sundance, so naturally he becomes the eldest filmmaker in the U.S. Dramatic Comp with his seventh feature film titled Tyrel. Described as more provocative than Get Out, Silva would put Captain Dad on the backburner, landing a formidable cast in Jason Mitchell, Christopher Abbott (video interview), Michael Cera, Caleb Landry Jones and Ann Dowd for an early shoot exactly one year back. This sees Tyler (Mitchell) spirals out of control when he realizes he‘s the only black person attending a weekend birthday party in a secluded cabin. Worth mentioning is how the chosen film title and protagonist’s name don’t correlate. Update: TYREL was a Sundance critical darling, and stands as my #2 pick of the fest.

Release Date/Prediction: Selected for the U.S Dramatic Competition for the Sundance Film Festival, this will likely see more play on the festival circuit.