Annual Top Films Lists

Top 50 Most Anticipated American Independent Films of 2019: #45. Jacob Estes’ Relive

Published on January 23, 2019

Relive

In his previous pair, Jacob Estes worked narratives that overlapped in genres and that featured dissension within group, so while he has patched together a rather small filmography over the long game, perhaps in this case, good things happen to those who wait. Hitting Blumhouse paydirt with a project that promises a bit of horror, sci-fi and thriller type element, formerly known as Only You, the secretive The Sixth Sense sounding Relive went into production in July 2017 with David Oyelowo in the lead. This is Estes’ third feature (2004’s Mean Creek (trailer) was followed by 2011’s The Details) film to premiere at Sundance in just as many tries.

Gist: After a man’s family dies in what appears to be a murder, he gets a phone call from one of the dead, his niece. He’s not sure if she’s a ghost or if he’s going mad, but as it turns out, he’s not.

Release Date/Prediction: Selected for the Premieres section at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival (January 27th premiere date), this should receive a theatrical release sometime this year.

Eric Lavallée

Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).