
SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2025 REVIEW! In her short drama The Things We Keep, director-writer Joanna Fernandez makes the viewer as uncomfortable as possible in the span of 14 minutes. Kate (Rebecca Holopter) has come home to help her estranged mother, Sheila (Jenny O’Hara), pack up her house in preparation for moving to a care home. Sheila is a hoarder, and the house is so disgusting that one feels nothing short of fire could be effective at cleaning the space. She also has dementia and flies into a rage when Kate begins to clean out the detritus of years of hoarding. The situation takes an even more horrific turn when Kate begins peeling back the wallpaper to reveal hidden memories from the past.

A still from The Things We Keep by Joanna Fernandez, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Daeil Kim.
“…the house is so disgusting that one feels nothing short of fire could be effective…”
The film fits into the horror genre, first depicting the ordinary horror of a loved one whose mind has eroded to the point that they live in filth, disconnected from the outside world. Then, the dread morphs into a more allegorical place, making physical manifestations of the darkness that we try to hide away from ourselves and others. The Things We Keep could also be seen as a dark family drama. Perhaps the creeping death from the walls is what Sheila imagines will happen if all the carefully curated garbage in her house is disturbed. We also are left to wonder if Kate is doomed to the same fate. Kate’s disgust at the state of the house also seems to mirror her rage and regret at the ruins of her relationship with her mother. The film is a short but powerful look at a situation people do encounter in real life and the creeping awfulness that may await us.
The Things We Keep screened at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.

"…a short but powerful look at the creeping awfulness that may await us"