It’s always fun to pick out themes of a festival and wonder what they say about the state of the world. Of course, it seems like every other Sundance has a dozen road-trip movies about families finding each other, but the truly unexpected visual or narrative motifs are often the most fascinating. What does it say about 2026 that people are getting sliced and diced in every other movie at SXSW, often by losing fingers? Discuss amongst yourselves.

The good news is that several of these films in which blades meet flesh have been pretty good, especially two in this particular dispatch. One of the best comedies at SXSW 2026 is the wickedly clever and unexpectedly violent “Chili Finger,” a Midwestern production that echoes early Coen brothers films like “Blood Simple,” “Raising Arizona,” and “Fargo.” It’s funny to be old enough to remember how so many indie filmmakers tried and failed to do the Coen thing in the ‘90s, only to now feel kind of nostalgic for a brand of dark humor that’s not common today.

The truth is that those films dubbed “Coen-esque” usually faltered because filmmakers didn’t realize how difficult it is to balance violence and humor without coming across as glib or exploitative. One of the many joys of Edd Benda and Stephen Helstad’s film is watching them thread that needle: keeping the proceedings both tense and funny at the same time.

“Chili Finger” is extremely loosely based on a true story, the writer/directors taking that tabloid tale and turning it into something both hilarious and even moving, a movie about a mother who is so rattled by becoming an empty nester that she opens a door to the unthinkable and can’t close it again. So many Coen films are about ordinary people who make really bad decisions, usually welcoming violence into their lives and realizing that they can’t take it back. Benda and Helstad turn the story of Anna Ayala, a woman who fraudulently claimed to find a finger in a Wendy’s chili bowl, into something strikingly relatable and funny, thanks in large part to the best work of Judy Greer’s career.

The always-welcome performer shines as Jess, a Wisconsin lawyer who tries (and fails) to hold back the tears as her only daughter goes off to college. Not only does this mean she’s now stuck with only her husband, Ron (Sean Astin), but she’ll also be reminded more often that they don’t have enough money to visit their out-of-state child. They can’t even afford to replace their bed frame. It’s not that Ron is a bad guy—Astin is great at playing a sort of unambitious-but-kind Midwestern dude—but he seems to only find joy in his near-daily visits to a regional fast-food chain called Blake Junior’s. While at lunch there one day, Jess finds a finger in her chili. To say chaos ensues would be an understatement.

At first, it seems like an executive (an effective Madeline Wise) named after her father, Blake, will handle it all. She offers Jess and Ron a sizable amount of money, but it comes with a clause: They can never come to Blake Junior’s again. This is kind of a dealbreaker for Ron, and the negotiations intensify until they walk out with $100k. When Daddy Blake himself (a wonderful John Goodman) finds out about the payout, he gets suspicious, sending an old friend and enforcer named Dave (Bryan Cranston) to investigate. It becomes clear pretty early that something isn’t right here. After all, the finger isn’t cooked.

“Chili Finger” navigates the ridiculous and the relatable, holding both in the same beat. It is a film about ludicrous people making bad choices, but the writing and ensemble keep those choices believable. In particular, Greer has a marvelous immediacy. We can see the wheels turning in her mind when she’s negotiating or navigating her way out of a new bad situation. Much of the joy of “Chili Finger” comes from how it places compiling problems in its protagonist’s way in a manner that makes watching her get around them a joy in itself. We root for Jess, a character who personifies that brand of Midwestern Nice: she wants to do the right thing, but you better not get in her way.