MIFF: SORRY, BABY

One of Sundances buzziest debuts, this A24-backed dramedy about a young womans recovery from trauma announces writer/director/star Eva Victor as a formidable new talent.

Agnes feels stuck. Unlike her best friend, Lydie, whos moved to New York and is now expecting a baby, Agnes still lives in the New England house they once shared as graduate students, now working as a professor at her alma mater. A bad thing happened to Agnes a few years ago and, since then, despite her best efforts, life hasnt gotten back on track.

Writer/director Eva Victors performance as Agnes is a breathtaking tonal balancing act between heartbreaking and hilarious. Rather than focusing on the traumatic event, the non-chronological story illuminates the smaller moments in Agness life, such as attending jury duty, adopting a kitten and eating a sandwich patchwork details punctuating her uneven road to recovery. With its profound honesty, humanity and razor-sharp voice, Victors script won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at Sundance before A24 scooped up distribution rights in a bidding war. Produced by Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski and Mark Ceryak  the same team behind Aftersun (MIFF 2022) and featuring key supporting turns from Naomi Ackie, Lucas Hedges and Kelly McCormack, Sorry, Baby is a funny, gentle and nuanced look at what it means to survive.

No quick hit of words could ever accurately convey the power and potency of Victors debut, a darkly funny and enormously tender film.  IndieWire