Sundance 2025: Azi (dir. Montana Mann) | Review

The 41st edition of the Sundance Film Festival is running from January 23 to February 2. On this occasion, Montana Mann presented Azi, her third short film, to the public. Inspired by the director’s own experience, Azi tells the intimate, present-day story of a teenage girl coming to terms with her identity and sexuality. The short follows seventeen-year-old Azi (Dior Negeen Goodjohn) on a weekend trip to her best friend’s family, where she unexpectedly forms a mysterious and electric bond with another woman on the trip, Elizabeth (Breeda Wool), resulting in a psychological game that raises complex questions about their motivations, power dynamics and the ability to take control of one’s own body. Mann cuts her work in a classic tripartite pattern: encounter, conflict, denouement.

The Dreamlike Encounter

From the film’s beginning, the viewer is propelled into Azi’s interiority. Using very tight shots, Montana Mann successfully conveys the complexity of adolescence and the questions accompanying it.

In the first scene showing Elizabteh from the front, we see a close-up of Elizabeth entering the water in her bathing suit, as Azi looks on. Concealing her face, and by extension her identity, tells the viewer that Azi’s attraction to Elizabeth goes beyond mere physical attraction. Azi seems fascinated by what Elizabeth represents: the freedom of adulthood, novelty, freshness, the unknown and, of course, a woman’s body. Amid her quest for identity, Azi explores her own coming-of-age.

In the whirlwind of emotions conveyed by this first part, the viewer also feels a strong nostalgia specific to summer. The film, inspired by the director’s own life, evokes a vague, romanticized memory of carefree youth, reinforcing the impression of realism.

The Ambiguous Conflict

The film explores the power relationships between the two women external to the family. Permanent attraction and rejection frame their relationship.

After the bathing scene, we expect the first exchange between Azi and Elizabeth to fuel Azi’s attraction to Elizabeth. However, the evolution of their relationship catches the viewer off guard. The discovery of sexuality, which seemed to be Azi’s main concern, gradually fades.

Eventually, the new ambiguity of their bond leaves the viewer in a gray area, generating a kind of diffuse unease. This is intensified by a voyeuristic device composed of very tight shots and alternating blur and sharpness.

The first interaction marks a turning point. In this scene, Azi, smiling, approaches Elizabeth and points out that she’s sitting on her towel. Elizabeth replies that she’ll have to jump into the water from the roof if she wants to retrieve it.

Until then, Elizabeth had been surrounded by an idealized aura, as seen through Azi’s eyes. Yet this sharp remark shatters that image.

Nevertheless, looking back at the first scene, Elizabeth’s behavior comes as no surprise. Right from the start, she is the wicked stepmother as Azi’s friend complains that Elizabeth, absorbed in a telephone conversation, is delaying their departure.

A Vague Ending

In revenge for her remark, Azi steals Elizabeth’s dress and forces her to start an argument with her partner if she wants it back. Power dynamics reverse. Azi gains the upper hand through this blackmail.

The dinner scene marks the film’s second turning point. The viewer is plunged into a completely different environment: the four protagonists are outside, sitting down to dinner. Ingenious stylistic effect or simple misperception, they seem alone in the world, as if locked in a black room without walls. 

The relationship between Azi and Elizabeth takes a turn when Elizabeth starts an argument with the family’s father in response to Azi’s blackmail. The teenager seems both surprised and electrified by this behavior. What does this tell us about Elizabeth’s character? Is this just a childish game? Or is Elizabeth willing to jeopardize her relationship for the sake of a dress?

In the final scene, Azi returns the dress to Elizabeth with a smile reminiscent of the one at the beginning. This conclusion leaves the viewer in the dark. What does this exchange mean? Are they smiling at each other because they recognize themselves as two strong women? Are they aware of the absurdity of their relationship and power play? Do they restart their relationship from scratch? What are they thinking about?

Although the story at times relies on a harmonious visual device, with a succession of dreamlike shots, as in the bathing scene, Mann emphasizes the characters’ interiority through an avalanche of stylistic effects. This visual excess sometimes makes the work indigestible.

In the short film’s 14 minutes, Mann offers a poetic interpretation of the pivotal age of adolescence. However, the vague ending raises many questions and leaves the viewer wanting more. Nonetheless, this film, with its high quality and strong potential, tackles a powerful subject and conveys emotions that would benefit from being developed in a longer format.

The Film Fest Report team is an accredited media at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Expect substantial coverage from Park City, Utah, as the festival unfolds from January 23 to February 2, 2025.