Bad things will happen – and they can sweep through a life like a cyclone. Comedian and internet personality Eva Victor’s debut feature is an acerbically funny, deeply human exploration of this inevitability, the precarity of safety in the world for women, and their solidarity as an antidote to despair. Victor stars as Agnes, a star English lit grad student at a college in rural New England, whose sense of self is totally derailed when her thesis supervisor sexually assaults her.
The film, which has Moonlight director Barry Jenkins as a producer, is fragmented into sections occurring years apart. It’s concerned less with the day in question than with its aftermath, and is a disarmingly honest portrait (joining the lineage of shows like Fleabag or I May Destroy You) of the way trauma can make a person stuck, their future obscured. Agnes spirals into evermore eccentric coping mechanisms, even as she stays high-functioning in her career and gains a tenured teaching post. Her friend Lydie (Naomi Ackie) persists as a steady anchor, amid the alienating reactions of others. — Carmen Gray.
Directed by Eva Victor
Starring John Carroll Lynch, Naomi Ackie, Lucas Hedges, Louis Cancelmi, Eva Victor, Kelly McCormack, Hettienne Park, Cody Reiss, Jordan Mendoza
Vanity Fair – “Sorry, Baby is funny, sad, thoughtful, and specific, a keenly observed portrait of a woman blown off course by a traumatic incident.” (full review here)
Variety – “If Sorry, Baby works, it’s because Victor strikes such a tricky tone: Her debut is warm and compassionate, advancing a conversation for which we’re still trying to find the words.” (full review here)
Austin Chronicle – “Shot on location in Northeastern Massachusetts, chilliness hangs in the air of every frame, but Sorry, Baby – a uniquely special thing – is suffused with warmth.” (full review here)
