Sugar Daddy

If you are expecting some trash expose exploiting victim culture, you should turn away and go find yourself a bucket and cry your tears into it as you binge watch animal rescue videos. No judgement of course.

Kelly McCormack brings Darren into solid form. A constant mess juxtaposed on the narrow ledge of life and morality. Her performance of a train wreck is addictive. Darren is nervous, fleshy, transient yet heavy like a boulder on your chest.

The pace and the cuts have great direction. The cinematography matches. It is a slow burn, that leaves a mark.

Initially I was lured in to watching the 2020 drama movie "Sugar Daddy" given the relatively high rating that the movie had scored here on IMDb; which was as 7.5 on April 6th, 2021. Sure, I hadn't even heard about the movie, nor did I know what it was about. But the title of the movie and the high rating made me have an interest in it. So of course I sat down to watch it.

While running at 99 minutes, this movie was incredibly slow paced. It was so slow paced that it felt like a 180 minute movie. I have never sat through anything that mind-numbingly slow before. And it made the movie suffer terribly from it. In fact, I gave up on the movie with just 17 minutes left to watch. But at that time I was so bored senseless that I just didn't care about the movie anymore, nor did I care about the storyline or characters.

The storyline told in "Sugar Daddy" does have some interesting aspects to it, but it was just way too mundane and devoid of interesting things. The storyline was suffering so terribly from having virtually nothing interesting taking place as the movie trotted on at an unfathomably monotonous pace.

It should be said, though, that the acting performances in the movie were actually quite good. I am not overly familiar with actress Kelly McCormack, but she really put on a strong and believable performance in "Sugar Daddy". Just a shame that the pointless script and storyline held her back. It was also nice to see Colm Feore in the movie, as he delivered a good performance - which he has a tendency of doing in whatever he is in. But again, the lack of a proper script was just serving as an anchor around his legs.

The storyline, as written by Kelly McCormack - whom also starts in the movie herself - was just something that fell short of entertaining me. The movie started out adequately, but the air quickly left the deflating storyline and I was left with something that proved less than enjoyable and entertaining. Needless to say that it was an ordeal to sit through this movie.

My rating of director Wendy Morgan's 2020 movie lands on a mere two out of ten stars, and that is based solely on the acting performances, because the storyline was just a swing and a miss. And with just 17 minutes left to watch of the movie, I can honestly say that I am not returning to finish the movie, because I just have lost all interest in the storyline and character alike.

This movie really surprised me. I had low expectations perhaps. A strong all Canadian cast that normally play supporting roles; a debut writing effort; and a single poor review at the time I watched this. But something pulled me in anyway. I was intrigued to see how Kelly McCormack would be in a lead role as I had only ever seen her as a supporting actor in a SciFi series (Killjoys).

I was truly blown away. Kelly is an amazingly talented performer. Not just in her acting skills but her singing and writing too. The story line was strong and well paced; the cinematography and production well done and the music was perfect. I was drawn into Kelly's character, Darren, feeling the angst she was going through. I was doubly surprised when I realized Kelly was performing her own music.

I do suggest watching this on a big screen with good speakers.

Now if you are expecting some seedy movie about sugar daddies and sugar babies, it isn't that at all. It is just a backdrop to the personal journey Darren goes through which is brought to a solid conclusion.

While Colm Feore and Amanda Brugel were supporting actors, their performances were rock solid. Amanda's screen time was short being only in a handful of scenes but she was very present in this movie.

I am now a Kelly McCormack fan and I really look forward to her future projects.

The only good thing about this movie is Amanda Brugel. The pace is so slow, and the lead character is annoying as hell. I would like most of my 101 minutes back, please.

The character of Darren is clunky and unlikeable but extremely talented. Talent hasn't gotten her far though and so she must sign up to Sugar Daddy for wealthy men. She really just wants to make art and create a space of her own. For Darren this living thing is awkward; but she grins and bears it. And she appears to push through all the discomfort, but she summarily buries her feelings from herself so that she can carry on. Her saving grace is she is very ambitious. Her Achilles heel is she is equally reckless. She has to balance these qualities and package this into something substantive that can jettison her, so people are actually able to recognize her multiple talents. But she is unable to take any feedback. Her group of friends are so caught up in taking sides, trying to prove where they stand around the politics of sugardaddying that they don't really see her pain and are of little help. The scene of her careening around that room is almost too painful to watch. The fact that no one really takes an interest in her only adds to her sense of overwhelm and isolation. Darrin herself can't even begin to face, let alone reckon with the ramifications of her decisions and choices because she can't settle down long enough to consider who she is or what any of the choices mean. We do see her buying instruments and creating music. This will be her saving grace, her way to finally calm her inner frustration. You want to route for her, tell her it will all be okay. She will figure it all out. Actually she is figuring it all out. But Darrin wouldn't have the language for that and she wouldn't afford us or herself this opportunity. She is wholly reactive and spewing her anger into her music. She is like an overgrown toddler barreling down the street. When she gets the opportunity to go see the record producer she gives her some helpful info. But Darrin is too fragile to listen. I kept finding myself relieved that her suitors were actually mostly not bad guys. If they had been Darrin might not make it to the next stage in her journey; as she is already so easily provoked, like an open wound. All of this is understandable due to how much she has lost, and how precarious her recent experiences have been. She desperately needs kindness and tenderness but she can't seem to comfort herself which would be thr first step. She has to learn from her own hard knocks. But she is so hard on herself that this seems really unlikely. The antagonist in the movie and her primary sugar daddy gives her a much needed payment so she can finally get the room and space she needs to work things out. For him this is not a particularly emotional choice but simply a pragmatic one. Still it is a grand and compelling gesture that is a game changer for her. But she can't slow down, which might allow her to recognize how her life has changed, which is considerable. Instead she wants to get to the bottom of the gesture. She confronts him at a dinner and he dismisses her. So she cannot get the emotional catharsis she desperately needs, not even from him. What Darrin needs is adversarial mirroring, someone to get scrappy and messy with her; but not leave. I believe this is what the scene with her roomate is about. It's messy and confusing and compelling. When she tries to get him to have sex with her, by pushing herself on him it is a reversal of traditional power dynamics. Darrin is desperate to feel things on her own terms, and she is incredibly independent. Almost to a fault. She learns that in the final analysis, she will have to do all of this for herself. There is no one there to work it out with. Other people aren't willing to grapple with her complexities. And so when she has the room of her own, and all her tools of creation, she makes messy powerful evocative ritualistic music. She spews forth all of the things she will no longer swallow. She surrenders entirely. The scene with the oil she vomits up is pivotal. Now she is finally an empty vessel. She is then able to find beauty and refinement in herself and then with another. The scene with her sister singing accapella with her reflects this new energy. This song offers a much needed expression of peace. The song shows the sisters singing face to face; in a gesture of cohesion and symmetry. And in this song Darrin is steady, and aligned. She is symbolically finally able to internalize her own experiences. This movie is a powerful feast for the senses. We are taken on Darrin's inner journey each step of the way, and we are asked to feel her discordance palpably. I found it almost disorienting at times. We see this disconnect and feel it in scene after scene. We feel too the beauty she is trying to reach for and create as it emerges slowly. I was stunned by the colors, the rich fabrics, and the singing. And I was piqued by the uncomfortable tense sequences we were asked to travel with and through. These become the backdrop; as we grow to tentatively trust Darrin's ability to work it all out. I appreciate how much Kelly trusted her audience to stay with and live in this discomfort. She trusted her own artistic choices instead of making obvious easy choices. More please, from this extraordinary human. Highly recommended.