Sweetheart

Sweetheart (2021) is a movie from the UK that was written and directed by Marley Morrison. It stars Nell Barlow as AJ, a troubled, depressed adolescent. Jo Hartley portrays Tina, her mother. Ella-Rae Smith is Isla, a lifeguard at the caravan beach resort where the family goes for a vacation.

AJ is the protagonist, so we naturally want to see things her way. However, she's hard to like. In movies, as in life, sullen depressed people pull you down, even when you try to lift them up. That's how the movie starts, and the plot continues from there.

This is a pretty good film, especially because the actors are talented professionals. It's definitely not a feel-good movie, although it has its moments. We saw Sweetheart virtually as part of ImageOut, the outstanding Rochester LGBT Film Festival. The movie has an IMDb rating of 6.9. I agreed, and rated it 7.

This was such a great film. The type of film that evokes almost the full spectrum of emotions! I laughed, felt frustration, annoyance, sadness and mu heart glowed a lot by the end! Serious subjects and issues confronted but in an accessible and very relatable way.

At the beginning what seem to be fairly obvious and stereotypical (even comical?) characters, soon become complex and deeply developed people with who most people could find reflections of themselves. I thought the performances were excellent. Most significantly by Nell Barlow, Ella-Rae Smith and the sometimes overlooked Jo Hartley, who I wish we saw more of. I hope after this film she is considered for lead parts in prime time dramas.

A British set film.

Looking for a feel good movie that captivates the true side to life in the shoes of a young gay 17 year old?? Sweetheart is definitely everything you need for a film night in... look no further!

When I was in my late teen's, Bill Forsyth's "Gregory's Girl" perfectly epitomised the angst of the school years' emotions I'd left behind me. And I was very much heterosexual. With "Sweetheart", Marley Morrison in an astonishing feature debut delivers a "Gregory's Girl" for today's much more sexually fluid times.

Positives:

• What a great ensemble cast! It's all headed up by Nell Barlow, amazingly in her feature debut. Nell manages to perfectly deliver the hair-pullingly frustrating unpredictability of a teenage girl: always planning to go off doing something worthy like "knitting jumpers for elephants in Indonesia". But she manages to keep the portrayal just the right side of parody, not straying into 'Kevin and Perry' territory. "What's wrong with you?" asks her mother. "I'm 17. Everything's wrong with me" she replies. It's an immaculate performance for someone so young.

• Jo Hartley is also fabulous as A. J.'s mum, a lost soul struggling with her own worries, without having those of AJ to add to them. It's not portrayed as a typical 'Mum v Teen' battle, but beautifully nuanced. "Just because you're a lesbian now, it doesn't mean you have to dress like a boy" she pleads with A. J.
• If you're trying to place her, Ella Rae-Smith was the striking girl in the baseball cap in Netflix's "The Stranger". She is also wonderful here, as the 'hot girl' who you think has it all but is underneath deeply troubled and conflicted. A sex scene (beautifully lit and filmed - by either Emily Almond Barr or Matthew Wicks - manages to show absolutely nothing but is deliciously erotic as a result.

• The writing by Marley Morrison feels very autobiographical. And, as I found through reading this Guardian article about Morrison's gender-journey, there is a lot of personal experience in here. It's clever that the film is claustrophobically set in the remote holiday park (actually the real Freshwater Beach Holiday Park near Bridport on the Dorset coast). If it had been set in a big city like London, AJ could have constantly fled from her feelings, never resolving them. Here, she is constantly running into Isla.... there is no escape.

• I also very much liked the relationship written between A. J. and Steve. Steve is almost the safety valve on the pressure cooker, always helpfully allowing some steam to escape. It adds warmth to the story.

• For such an indie picture, there's a range of great tunes on the soundtrack: mostly from bands I have never heard of (probably making it affordable). I'm not sure if there's to be a soundtrack album released, but it's worth a listen if so.

Negatives:

• I wasn't fond of the sound mix on the film. Some of the dialogue was indistinct.

• A. J. gives us an occasional running commentary of her thoughts as a voiceover. Regular readers of my blog will know my thoughts on this subject! I'm not sure if it added much to the story: a 'show-not-tell' approach would have been my preference.

Summary Thoughts on "Sweetheart": I likened this film to 1980's "Gregory's Girl", and that's a great compliment. That movie made stars out of John Gordon Sinclair and Clare Grogan. I'd predict similar great things for Nell Barlow, Ella Rae-Smith and particularly for writer/director Marley Morrison. I'll very much look forward to Marley's future projects. It's a cracking little British film. It deserves a major cinema release, but I suspect this is one that you might need to hunt out at your less mainstream cinemas. But please do so - it's well worth it. Very much recommended.

(For the full graphical review and video, check out #onemannsmovies on the web, Facebook and Tiktok. Thank-you!)

To hate all and everyone, due to the hormonal developments in a young british teenagers body, growing up in a society where sexual norms has smoldered into pieces and the choice of the 2 standard gender has become multible genders, that makes a bewildered and confused young lass become a danger to society and family, and the psychosocial stand to take becomes the toughest task to make in your lifetime.

Even though sad and serious, it has a bright side too, of warmth and giggelish british humour, with some archbritish holiday/caravan park amusement, and a dressing code and make up taste that only the brits can do.

The grumpy old man and ditto wife that agrees that we are glad that ''we have had the time of our life'', had a good laugh at times, its not a perfect match, but made to make you feel and emphasize. A 7 for this lot.