Sorry, Baby

I've seen this twice now (Sundance and LA premier), and what struck me on the second viewing is how cozy this movie is, despite the circumstances of the plot.

At my second screening, Eva Victor did a Q&A and emphasized how important it was for her to make sure the audience felt safe and she parsed through this story, and to avoid any depictions of violence onscreen.

This translated pretty clearly, as the warmth and love from friends, strangers, and new love interests help guide Agnes through the pain, guilt, regret, and distrust.

Also, awesome depiction of the Cat Distribution system. 10/10 cat.

Watched at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.

Gosh, where can I begin? This movie is both hilarious and heartbreaking as it perfectly portrays of both the drama and comedic moments of life despite the harrowing situation that has been encountered. Eva Victor, who directed and acted, crafts an incredible drama that becomes a good character study of finding ways to move on with great dialogue, character dynamics, performances, and direction on the tone and atmosphere throughout.

Presented with good realistic camerawork, structure, and editing, the movie handles it serious themes solely and perfectly. Including great characters, atmospheres and cunning dialogue that are presented throughout the story that achieves the realism and nature approaches or life. There are some dialogue moments that are still burned into my memory which shows how good the dialogue is. Each conversation, choices and structure is held perfectly from Victor with each pacing moment feeling balanced, tone being focused and a good sense of humane style of life. No moment there was something that felt out of place, cheesy or unrealistic.

Eva Victor might be a new voice in cinema pretty soon and I do hope Victor is able to get the chance to shine soon.

Greetings again from the darkness. Once it became a bumper sticker, it also became a cliché. "Stuff" happens. It happens to each of us. Of course, the degree to which something bad affects us is a personal matter, and how we deal with it determines the impact on our life. A traumatic event will stick with us forever in what's best described as the aftermath. Although we get some backstory, first time writer-director Eva Victor focuses on the aftermath, and the result is a realistic, grounded, and emotional expose' of one woman's journey to dealing.

Much of the brilliance of the film is derived from the performance of the filmmaker, Eva Victor, as Agnes. Victor built an online following thanks to some comedy shorts, yet it's on screen where this unique and ground-breaking talent truly arrives. Presented in five chapters, the story is told in mostly chronological order, except for the first segment which establishes the utter closeness of friends, Agnes and Lydie (Naomie Ackie, BLINK TWICE, 2024). The two were graduate school classmates, with Lydie moving on to New York City while Agnes remained to become a professor at the small New England school they attended.

We learn that the two besties shared a thesis advisor in Preston Decker (Louis Cancelmi, KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON, 2023), and he viewed Agnes as a brilliant student, and Lydie as a bit less. In a genius bit of filmmaking, we see the evening when Agnes is sexually assaulted, and that's followed by a visceral scene in which Agnes describes the event in excruciating detail to Lydie. It's an event that Agnes carries with her, ultimately driving an incredible scene with Lydie's newborn baby. Other memorable players here include fellow graduate student Natasha (Kelly McCormack, "A League of Their Own"), whose no-filter rudeness and jealousy contribute to her scene-stealing; Gavin (Lucas Hedges, MANCHESTER BY THE SEA, 2016) as Anges' neighbor with benefits; Fran (E. R. Frightmaster, "Grey's Anatomy") as Lydie's spouse; attorney Eleanor Winston (Hettiene Park, DON'T LOOK UP, 2021), who conducts Agnes' jury pool interview in a powerful scene; and Pete (John Carroll Lynch, FARGO, 2996) as a good listener and proficient sandwich maker in another of the film's best scenes.

That should seem like a lot for one movie. It is. Key elements here include a cat, a sandwich, a mouse, lighter fluid, and boots. The film is filled with direct talk - Agnes says things out loud that many of us think to ourselves. She is a bit of all of us ... with a deadpan delivery that sometimes finds the humor in the worst moments. Eva Victor will likely remind many of Phoebe Waller-Bridge of "Fleabag" due to her look and height, and there is no denying the talent on display. The scene with Agnes speaking directly to the baby hits home, and the words are those we would all appreciate at any stage in life, but certainly in the aftermath of one of those bad times as we attempt to move on.

Opening in theaters on July 18, 2025.

Sorry, Baby was a movie I hadn't heard about or read any reviews. So, I went in not knowing what to expect.

Agnes (Eva Victor) is a full professor (!) in her 20's (!!!) at some unidentified small college that seems to be in northern Massachusetts by the seashore. Agnes is kind of quirky, a little off at times and obviously a loner. Her one good friend, Lydie (Naomi Ackie), has left the house they shared - platonically - and moved on to a career and a relationship in NYC. Lydie then comes for a visit and they are both very chill and at ease with one another in a nice way. Lydie then reveals that she is pregnant. The movie then bounces back to when they and some friends were working on their dissertations three or so years a ago, then to the more immediate term of the past year or so and then jumps ahead to the not too distant future when Lydie has had her child.

All through the focus is on Agnes and a trauma she experienced (no spoiler) and how she is coping and how mostly Lydie helped her. The mood bounces from stress, to being poignant and the to being funny - but none of it laugh out loud funny. It's a quirky portrait of single childless cat lady (yes, there is a cat featured pretty significantly) without really embracing that concept for self-deprecation or for self-affirmation. The movie meanders, which is nice for a change, yet doesn't really make any kind of impact one way or another. Sorry, Baby is just there.

Sorry, Baby won't be everyone's cup of tea - and I would recommend waiting for it to come out on streaming.

Sorry, Baby is a slow burn-it takes its time to build tension, and for a while, you're not quite sure where it's going or what it's about. But that's what makes it work. The early pacing is essential; it lets you settle into the characters and truly get to know them before the tension creeps in and the stakes start to rise.

The acting is incredible-subtle, restrained, and deeply natural. It's a masterclass in quiet, grounded performance. There's a scene where the lead delivers a monologue in the tub, and it doesn't feel like she's reciting lines. We're with her in that memory. We're seeing what she saw. I got the sense that some of the film may have been improvised, but if so, it only added to the realism. The whole film has a lived-in, organic quality.

That said, a few of the smaller supporting roles toward the end didn't quite land for me and briefly took me out of the experience. And I'm still unsure what Agnes wanted-what her internal drive was. There's such beautiful artistic depth here, but I couldn't fully grasp what was pushing her forward. Then again, maybe that's the point, as hinted in the final monologue.

There's also powerful symbolism throughout. One moment that stood out was her driving, the headlights trailing behind her like a new memory that will chase her forever. Another was the way the passage of time was expressed through visual shifts, especially at the professor's home. These moments are executed with both restraint and emotional weight.

The film resists cliché. One of its most striking choices is its sense of timelessness. You can't quite place what year it's set in-there are no cell phones, the clothing is neutral, and her thesis is typed on paper rather than submitted digitally. If I had to guess, I'd say 1998. I caught a glimpse of an older New York license plate that reinforced that impression.

Ultimately, Sorry, Baby delivers a quiet but profound message about humanity: we have to be prepared to live in an imperfect world. We will get hurt-that's just part of it-but we have to find a way to keep going.