Writer/director Victor has made an incredibly impressive debut with her film Sorry, Baby, a surprisingly moving and entertaining reflection on surviving sexual assault and the essential connection of friendship. Early into Sorry, Baby I knew I was watching something special and excited about a new film maker.
Despite the description of the film I just gave, please understand Sorry, Baby is a very funny, very watchable film, that despite dealing with some quite significant themes, is engaging and cathartic. Victor, who also stars, brings what turns out to be a delightful, if exceptionally dry, sense of humour to her character allowing us to digest everything without dismissing it or being overwhelmed. Her handling of the narrative, through some non-linear jumps in the timeline work well without feeling gimmicky, and help bring us full circle to the climax, a rather hopeful and promising ending that the title reflects.
Victor focuses on her friendship with Ackie’s character, cantering the importance of this friendship despite their careers and separate romantic relationships. She carves out a space for her own sexual connection with Hedges’ character which isn’t handled in a rom com meet cute way, but finds a wonderful level of humour with it, and a wonderfully honest look at how romantic/sexual relationships can be clumsy and far from perfect without being bad which is remarkable in a film about a truly bad sexual experience her character experiences elsewhere.
Victor’s handling of the assault, which is not depicted on screen and is recounted to the audience and Ackie through her own description, is deft and sensitive. It is an extremely banal sexual assault, which also allows the film to explore the impacts of such an event despite it not being the sort of explicitly violent incident we often associate with the concept. The film has the space to acknowledge just how much this moment, both the actions of the perpetrator, and the subsequent reactions that followed, took from her and so much of what makes Sorry, Baby work.
Sorry, Baby was quietly revelatory, a sweet surprise of a film that truly grabbed my heart and gave me hope. It made me laugh and reflect on painful things at the same time. Victor has truely broken onto the scene in an exciting way with this very lovely little film.
Sorry, Baby
Starring: Eva Victor, Naomi Ackie, Lucas Hedges, John Carroll Lynch, Louis Cancelmi, Kelly McCormack
Writer/Director: Eva Victor
No comments:
Post a Comment