Sorry, Baby

This is another film where I have a ton to say, but don't want my original thoughts getting lost in a giant pile of word vomit while I try and put the thoughts to the page.

Very clearly: I am not a woman, and have not gone through the specific type of trauma that takes place in this film. That said, I am a human being and have experienced a multitude of what many would consider to be out of the norm excessive traumas in my life, from an ex partner committing suicide to losing a brother to an accidental fentanyl overdose.

Trauma is something I believe until recently in this country, was an issue that was somewhat a shoved aside, something that wasn't talked about, something that in my parents day (I'm 43), would even be something to be embarrassed about. I'm sure all our Gen X parents were told to 'Man up' at some point in their lives.

Having gone through these very personal traumatic situations in my life has had a tremendous effect on who I am as a person, and how I deal with the outside world, and how I am able to control my own inner thoughts and emotions.

This is an incredible directorial debut from Eva Victor, who like many other found during 2020 while we were all stuck at our homes, and who in a very dark sarcastic way was able to breath some life and laughter into our minds during that psychotic year (also the year my brother passed).

With this film Eva paints around an act of force so intense and so heavy, without ever actually naming the act, but what she brilliantly shows you as a viewer is what becomes of someone who has experienced trauma throughout the following years, whether it be through moments of pure fear, moments of unwilling panic, moments of using laughter to continue to grieve, and moments of pure unadulterated pain.

I've been through these moments in my life, and I am thankful this film exists, as if you have not experienced heavy trauma in your life, this helps paint the portrait of what it's like for those of us who have.

I love the control of tone throughout and how it remains somber while allowing moments of breaths of fresh air through sarcastic comedy to allow your brain to take a breather.

The film executes a non-linear path that bookends itself with a monologue that I will definitely be reading over again and going back to in moments of solitude where I need to remember that even though trauma exists in my life, there are ways to pass through to get to the light at the end of the tunnel.

I'm looking forward to more from Eva Victor. Fantastic, touching work here.

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.

Without spoiling any specific details from the movie, the plot centers around a quiet student turned teacher who tries to overcome a horrific act committed against her.

It isn't a bad film. It's made well, cheap (which is nice to see for a change), and has some good actors, but the issue is that the movie adds nothing that hasn't been said a many times before. There are far better movies and shows about the exact same subject matter from a female's perspective like The Piano Teacher, Unbelievable, Girl Interrupted, Room, Precious, A Promising Young Woman, etc.

The issue with Sorry, Baby is it adds nothing and says very little of what hasn't already been said before. The only difference is this movie is a little more quirky with the humor and is very small scale, which is nice. But the writer throws it all away with a meandering, nonsensical ending that goes nowhere and abruptly ends with no resolution of any kind. I get wanting to keep the discussion open ended, but this felt lazy and uninspired.

Know a lot of people who love this film and maybe I'm the odd one out, but this movie felt incomplete to me. Will be interesting to see what the writer/director/producer/star does next.

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.

Beautiful acting by the lead, but the script lacks full development of the characters. Hard to understand main character's motivation. No development of origin. Also, she has no family. Why?

Lastly, portrayal of males was 1 dimensional and unbalanced. We see the sociopath, the nice but weak guy, the main doctor, and the strangely helpful but random older man. But we don't have the presence of one strong male in Agnes' life. That would have made this movie much better and more balanced.

Without that, you get a gut punch of having watched something really terrible happen to a nice person without any real good explanation and without enough redemption.

As such, it was unpleasant without enough redemption.