INDIE MOVIE REVIEW - SORRY, BABY

 SORRY, BABY 

Something bad happened to Agnes, but life goes on for everyone else. When a beloved friend on the brink of a major milestone visits, Agnes starts to realize just how stuck she's been, and begins to work through how to move forward.

Release date: January 27, 2025 

Director: Eva Victor

Screenplay: Eva Victor

Starring: Eva Victor, Naomi Ackie, Lucas Hedges, Kelly McCormack

Distributed by: A24

Cinematography: Mia Cioffi Henry

Some movies stick with you for their messaging through their starkness, their bold dramatic effect, or their richness, but it's not often that such a subtle and humorous approach accompanies such an important topic. Something that sits with you and kind of gnaws at you in the back of your mind in a way that you are left with such a unique hope veiled in bleakness. 

 Yes, this movie is smart, strong thematically, and slow-paced, but in a way you can appreciate if you let it sink in what you are experiencing. It is VERY INDIE.   

This all starts with what may be my favorite writing of the year. What Eva Victor was able to accomplish with all its layers, nuances, and its mock humor is nothing short of impressive. It screams off the page like a burning itch, and it is equally handled with such care and resolve that you are constantly challenged by its premise, its solutions, and its self-deprecating and unintentional humor. All of these elements combined for what is just a surreal, almost all too real, life cycle of a young, smart, talented woman having it all rip at the seams that she tries very little to keep from fraying or staying together. It is a fascinating character study on so many levels. 

It is equally handled and brilliantly coaxed by its incredibly rich cast. Starting with Eva as Agnes, and the breath of fresh, give no fucks, air from Naomi Ackie's Lydie to the audacious comic reliefs from Lucas Hedges' neighborly booty call Gavin, and the jealous, over the top, weird stalking of Kelly McCormick's Natasha. There are great small turns in here, most notably John Carroll Lynch, who has one of the best turning points of perspective for Agnes, and the villainy of Louis Cancelmi, who you think has one way he is going to impact this story until he really does and you are floored by its sheer atrocity.   

One of the great things this film does, in the writing especially, is give you what you need to know when you need to know it in a non-linear fashion. Which, for this moviegoer, played so brilliantly in the unraveling of this onion that you knew was rotten, just not to the degree it turned out it could be. I love that this jigsaw puzzle had ridges and sharp corners, and it didn't all fit the first time you tried to piece it together. That is brilliant writing at its best. 

However, the writing is matched by the brilliant designs of several key moments in Mia Cioffi Henry's cinematography.  There are so many moments when we are left in stillness and quiet, and it is so powerful and engaging because the design to go wider and just present everything in a framework of perspective made this ten times more impactful and meaningful. There is an incredible sequence when Agnes gets into the car and is just driving away from the moment of all moments in this movie, and it meets with this amazing darkness, which is starkly interrupted by the headlights of the car behind. 

I loved the framing of John Carroll Lynch and Eva Victor's moment. I love how it went from switching close-ups to this settled in wide edge framing. Such a powerful and meaningful choice. It's also amazing how much not moving the camera, even though things are going on around and behind it, and I loved the idea of what we didn't see here. Which not only did that play to the powerful moments, but also the playful, funny ones too. It allowed the script to shine and still give us enough of the visual we needed to connect the dots. 

I have to imagine, and maybe can't imagine, how personal a story this had to be for Eva. She has such a great approach to filmmaking and writing, and I hope this wasn't all she has to say and do when it comes to making movies, because this was brilliant. She is a voice that I think has the perfect pitch to show how slow and steady can be good, even mysterious, as much as thought-provoking. Also, how it can be meaningful when not everything is pretty and pre-packaged. That most of the time it is complicated and messy at best, and yet so profound by being simultaneously beautiful, funny, and ugly.

GO CATCH THIS MOVIE IN THEATERS NOW BEFORE ITS TOO LATE, TRUST ME YOUR SUPER HERO STUFF WILL STILL BE THERE LONG AFTER THIS ONE HAS GONE.