Marvelous and the Black Hole

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It's definitely my fault, but my Sundance schedule so far can mostly be characterized by incredibly ambiguous endings, extremely layered narratives, and emotionally heavy stories that left me utterly exhausted by the end of the day. After an overwhelming, devastating viewing of Mass, I seriously needed something to boost my spirit and recharge my energy for the rest of the day. Therefore, I'm super delighted that Marvelous and the Black Hole is such a wonderfully light, funny, uplifting film.

Miya Cech (Sammy) and Rhea Perlman (Margot) offer two heartfelt, amusing performances by portraying captivating characters who have more things in common than they imagine. With a beautifully written, nuanced screenplay and terrific direction, Kate Tsang delivers a lovely story about sensitive matters such as grief, anger, and the whole "moving on" theme, but also about following your passion without holding anything back. It was with genuine pleasure and joy that I closely followed the young protagonist throughout the entire runtime without looking away from the screen.

My biggest compliment has to go to Tsang's writing. I can count so many apparently irrelevant little details that later pay off in such an emotionally resonant manner. I dropped a couple of tears in the last few minutes when Sammy gets to prove her worth, and part of that is also due to Miya's display, an astonishing surprise for me. In addition to this, I love the little sketches spread across the movie, like the screen was Sammy's notebook, demonstrating what she's feeling in the moment. An innovative, entertaining way of developing a character further.

Marvelous and the Black Hole is a massive surprise, being one of my absolute favorites from Sundance so far. Kate Tsang's feature directorial debut is a huge success that definitely places her as a filmmaker to pay close attention to in the following years. With a remarkably subtle, detailed screenplay, Miya Cech and Rhea Perlman spread their sparkling chemistry across the screen, delivering two of the most entertaining performances I've seen in the last few days. A heartwarming story that begins with the impact of the loss of a mother and finishes with an emotionally powerful, uplifting, magic(al) show that I'll remember for quite a while. The young protagonist is so relatable that I couldn't help but drop a couple of tears by the end.

Rating: A-

Sammy (Miya Cech) is a troubled girl in school. She's a rebel with cause. She is struggling from her beloved mother's death and her father (Leonardo Nam) having a new girlfriend. He's threatening her with military school and sends her to community college. She is uninterested in the class. She is befriended by Sammy (Rhea Perlman), a children's magician.

I like the emotional story. Sammy's age confused me for most of this movie. First, she looks like a kid and I assumed that she's a young high schooler. Next thing I know, she's smoking and attending community college in a class with a bunch of adults. Then again, the military school threat only works if she's a minor. It's all a jumbo. The movie needs to do a quick exposition. Her father can list her failings in short order and that would be enough to lay out her story. Quite frankly, her birthday surprised me a little. It would be helpful to know that her character is that young. I like the young actress and Rhea Perlman. I like the emotions of their stories.

Quite a waste calling this film predictable. Like calling James Bond films 'predictable.' The ensemble cast did a great job in this small budget film that examines one teen's grief based destructive path angst. Then, to our viewer delight we have the arrival of Rhea Perlman the 'magician' and the real star of the film Sebastian the rabbit. The look and feel of a well made low budget indie film with a big dose of feel good angst resolution!

The 2021 comedy "Marvelous and the Black Hole" from writer and director Kate Tsang was a movie that fully and wholly managed to elude my radar. And it wasn't before now in 2022, as I stumbled upon it by sheer random chance that I came to know about it.

I didn't have any expectations to the movie, but I will say that the movie's cover, despite of its simplicity, had some appeal to me, and it was what drew me to initially pick up the movie.

The storyline told in "Marvelous and the Black Hole", as written by Kate Tsang, was actually a good storyline in my opinion. But I do think that this is not actually a movie that will easily and overly find a base with just everyone in the audience, as it can be somewhat of an acquired taste.

The acting performances in the movie were good, and it was actually nice to see Rhea Perlman on the screen. I don't think I've actually seen her on the screen since "Cheers". Now, I wasn't familiar with Miya Cech, but she really put on a memorable performance. The movie had a good cast ensemble, with mostly unfamiliar faces and names to me, and that is something I enjoy in movies.

If you enjoy quirky comedies that doesn't just offer the usual run-of-the-mill-and-straight-from-the-blueprint-of-how-to-make-a-successful-comedy, then give "Marvelous and the Black Hole" a chance. I did, and I was genuinely entertained by the storyline.

However, while it was a good movie, then I don't think that "Marvelous and the Black Hole" is a movie that I will ever return to watch a second time, simply because the storyline doesn't have enough layers to facilitate and support more than a single viewing.

My rating of writer and director Kate Tsang's 2021 comedy "Marvelous and the Black Hole" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Mrs. Shullivan and I really enjoyed this story line about the family dynamics that evolves around a teenage girl named Sammy (Miya Cech) who recently lost her mother. Sammy is being raised by her hard working widower father Angus (Leonardo Nam) and the responsibility of monitoring what the troubled teen Sammy is doing is relegated to her older sister Patricia (Kannon). Sammy's father is trying to move on with his life after losing his wife and the mother of his two (2) daughters six (6) months earlier so he has developed a serious relationship with a new female companion that his two (2) daughters expressive faces reflect their disapproval of.

Sammy is taking the loss of her mother, and her fathers new female companion with a rebellious attitude that lands her in her fathers dog house. Sammy is told to attend a small business school and if she refuses her fathers initial direction he has threatened to send her away to a disciplinary summer camp for challenging teens.

As troubled teens with a bad attitude go, Sammy was lucky enough to accidentally meet up with a quirky middle aged female magician who enjoys doing magic shows for children. We the audience see a gradual change in Sammy's bad behaviour as she grows to like spending time with Margot the Magician (Rhea Perlman) and her focus on the negative gradually transitions into a focus on learning magic.

But the real magic is the transition between Sammy and her family including Angus's female companion Marianne (Paulina Lule) as she realizes through the relationship she has developed with Margot the magician that acceptance of her mothers death is not the end of the world but the beginning of a new life and new way of family living.

This is a heart warming story of family and (new) friends relationships, and the magic is the story and the entire cast's performances. I give this under rated film a superb 9 out of 10 IMDb rating.