SORRY, BABY
(director/writer: Eva Victor; cinematographer: Mia Cioffi Henry; editors: Randy Atkins/Alex O’Flinn; music: Lia Ouyang Rusli; cast: Eva Victor (Agnes), Naomi Acki (Lydie), Lucas Hedges (Gavin), John Carroll Lynch (Pete), Louis Cancelmi (Prof. Decker), Kelly McCormack (Natasha), Liz Bishop (Elizabeth), Jordan Mendoza (Logan), Hetienne Park (Eleanor Winston), Marc Carver (Dr. Evans), Cody Reiss (Devin), Celeste Oliva (Sophie), Conor Sweeney (Jeremy); Runtime: 103; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Mark Ceryak, Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski, Frank Ariza; A Tango, High Frequency Entertainment; 2025)
“The gist of the film shows that no matter the trauma involved life goes on.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
The auspicious writing and directing debut of the 30-year-old comedian and actress Eva Victor. Her dramedy, filmed in four chapters, with the first chapter entitled “The Year of the Baby,” is about Agnes (Eva Victor), a bright and idealistic young woman trying to get it together to get on with her life after a sexual assault made her rethink things.
It opens in the present, where she teaches in the same grad school she was sexually attacked. The film then turns back to the incident, showing us how she’s depressed and filled with suicidal thoughts. It shows us little of the attack by her thesis adviser, Professor Decker (Louis Cancelmi). But instead shows her confiding to her sympathetic lesbian roommate Lydie (Naomi Ackie) about the incident, filing a police report and getting checked-out at the hospital.
The willowy 20-something brunette Agnes, the rape victim, is an English professor at an elite New England College located in the country (it was filmed in Ipswich, Massachusetts). She lives in the grad school dorm with her best friend roommate Lydie. She earns her progressive stripes by defending to her class the controversial novel Lolita as one that deserves to be read.
The gist of the film shows that no matter the trauma involved life goes on, as we watch Agnes cavort in a friendly manner with an acquaintance (Lucas Hedges) and maintain a continual friendship with Lydie despite several changes in their relationship.
It played at the Sundance Film Festival.
REVIEWED ON 2/6/2025 GRADE: B
dennisschwartzreviews.com