Institute History
Description
Director Rick Alverson’s The Mountain premiered in the 2018 Venice International Film Festival’s Venezia 75 competition. It is Alverson’s third consecutive feature to screen at the Sundance Film Festival.
The year is 1953. Andy, a young, introverted teenager, works as a Zamboni driver at an ice rink where his father is a flamboyant skating instructor. Andy’s mother is institutionalized. When Andy meets Dr. Wallace Fiennes, a famous lobotomist now in the sad decline of his career, the shy young man joins the doctor on a tour of rural mental hospitals. As Fiennes desperately evangelizes for the lobotomy procedure to drum up business, Andy becomes infatuated with a patient and her father and immerses himself in the surreal, burgeoning New Age movement of the American West.
Alverson, known for his grim, hypnotic body of work, has crafted another cryptic odyssey through the backroads of America. Pushing his peculiar vision to new heights of design, sound, and story, he captures another standout performance from Tye Sheridan while mixing things up with new players like Jeff Goldblum, Denis Lavant, and Udo Kier.