SORRY, BABY: 3 ½ STARS. “heartwarming and heartbreaking.”
SYNOPSIS: “Sorry, Baby” from writer, director and star Eva Victor, is a black comedy about sexual assault and survival.
CAST: Eva Victor, Naomi Ackie, Lucas Hedges, John Carroll Lynch, Louis Cancelmi, Kelly McCormack. Directed by Eva Victor.
REVIEW: An idiosyncratic comedy, “Sorry, Baby” is a simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking look at a very difficult subject.
Told on a broken timeline, the story of English professor Agnes (Eva Victor) is told in a series of chapters, beginning long after the movie’s inciting incident.
In the opening segment Lydie (Naomi Ackie), Agnes’s best friend and former roommate, comes to visit from NYC. Their deep bond is immediately apparent as they get caught up, share in-jokes and intimate details of their lives.
It’s also evident that something tragic hangs over Agnes like a dark cloud.
Later, in a segment titled “The Year with the Bad Thing” we learn about a sexual assault (NO SPOILERS HERE), and the long-lasting effects of that physical betrayal.
As Agnes’s rock and best friend, Ackie is a font of understanding, humor and ride-or-die friendship. It’s a lovely performance that reveals the character’s steeliness, vulnerabilities and concern. She always knows the right thing to say, and more importantly, in an extended scene in which Agnes recounts the assault, knows when to listen.
The star of the show, however, is Victor. “Sorry, Baby” is a remarkably assured debut as a writer and director, but it is her breakout performance as a person who uses humor and intelligence as a shield as protection from trauma, that is both devastating and captivating. Her deadpan humor and occasional silences mask a deep-rooted pain, and Victor carries the film’s emotional weight as she looks toward recovery.
“Sorry, Baby” is a layered look at trauma that allows Agnes room to heal. She was victimized, but she isn’t a victim. Instead, she’s on a complex journey of healing, with all the attendant, knotty emotions that accompany that process.
