"SORRY, BABY" - REVIEW
SORRY, BABY is a wonderful film that is somewhat difficult to write about.
Some of that difficulty stems from the heartbreaking subject matter, which I did not fully know of going in, but had inklings about based on its sparse promotional materials. I would hate for my spelling-it-out to dissuade anyone from seeing it. Some of the difficulty stems from the fact that the story of the film is a healing journey, told in five chapters in which not much happens and yet so very much is happening (mostly) over the course of one year. It moves at the speed of life: slower paced on the outside as depicted in the film’s sleepy Massachusetts college town, but racing on the inside of our protagonist Agnes (Eva Victor, who also wrote and directed), a college professor who walks a mental and emotional tightrope in her daily navigations with people (best friends, colleagues and neighbors) with intelligence and awkward humor, as the pain of her central traumatic incident comes in waves. And some of that difficulty comes from trying to talk about its presentation, which is sober but gentle in cathartic moments that don’t call histrionic attention to themselves, and organic moments of genuine laugh-out-loud hilarity that you don’t see coming, that don’t feel like “jokes.“
In writing reviews, I am a big believer in the tenets of Roger Ebert, with one of them being the attempt to convey the experience of watching the movie, which I find more valuable than summarizing the plot. There’s the “what it’s about” and the “how it’s about it.” I can’t recall ever having seen a film with this subject matter treated with such gentility, without becoming maudlin or manipulative on one hand, or sensationalized or exploitative on the other. SORRY, BABY has a brisk running time and has no fat on it, yet honors that running time with space to think and listen. While thematically different, SORRY, BABY reminded me a little of Jim Jarmusch’s PATERSON in terms of its pace and rhythm, and it reminded me a lot of last summer’s JANET PLANET, another bright, rural Massachusetts-set film about kind people stuck in limbo, and the type of film that I find to be a welcome summer palate cleanser in between dinosaurs and supermen.
Kudos to A24 and producers Barry Jenkins and Adele Romanowski for introducing us to the film’s incredible writer/director/star, Eva Victor, whose debut is stunning and who I could watch all day long. Often wearing baggy clothing that does not betray her tall willowy frame, and an expression that contains multitudes of intelligence and amusement (even while often avoiding eye contact), Victor shares an amazing rapport with Naomi Ackie (MICKEY 17, WHITNEY HOUSTON: I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY), who plays her grad school roommate and best friend Lydie with a warmth and comfort and wicked sense of humor we desire in all cherished friendships, and whose absence is felt when she disappears from the film for a time. They share a pivotal scene, presented with great honesty, as a beautiful example of what to do when someone tells you something painful in a way that is not prescriptive, in a way that would open up the listener, regardless of whether or not that was something they personally experienced (which I also acknowledge is the experience of too many women), as a means to see something not from your own discomfort, but from the other person‘s processing of pain. It helps to frame Victor’s acting style, where even her saying the word “hi“ carries an air of “sorry to bother you, but I need something.“
Every other performance in the film is top-notch, from Kelly McCormack (ANOTHER SIMPLE FAVOR) as a jealous grad school rival, to Lucas Hedges (MANCHESTER BY THE SEA) as Gavin, Agnes’s sweet bumbling neighbor (and this may be the first time I’ve ever seen Hedges play an official adult, or perhaps as someone who is not also defined by being someone’s child). Louis Cancelmi (THE IRISHMAN) makes a strong enough impression as Preston, Agnes’s grad school professor, who only has a few brief scenes but whose central imposition looms large over Agnes and her story. It’s always a pleasure to see Hettiene Park (YOUNG ADULT, DON’T LOOK UP), here as an attorney conducting jury selection, and lastly, we get a salty-but-sweet turn from the great John Caroll Lynch (in THE FOUNDER mode, thankfully, not ZODIAC mode) in a scene that made me lean over to my guest at our critics screening and say, “that was a perfect scene.“
I could say that about nearly every scene in this miraculous film. The best films out there have the potential to be healing products, and this is one of this year’s very best. SORRY, BABY is a warm hug of a movie, and a wake-up call to slow down and be present. It’s a beacon to listening and to being frank. To taking naps and taking baths. To wearing cozy clothes and reading books with your limbs stretched out or your feet up against the wall. Moving forward through your own pain and being happy for your friends. Finding stray kittens, and finding yourself again. It’s about being OK with not being OK, and making space for rest and tending to basic human needs. All of these things culminate in a beautiful final scene which, while feeling open-ended in an independent movie sort of way, shows that Agnes, with her gentle frankness and gallows humor, paired with a beautiful support system, will endure.
SORRY, BABY is now playing in New York and LA, and opens wider on Friday, July 25.
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Zach is a proud member of the Minnesota Film Critics Association (MNFCA). For more info about Zach, the organization, or to read other great reviews from other great Minnesota-based film critics, click here: https://mnfilmcriticalliance.wordpress.com/