If you're going to tackle the kind of subject matter tackled in Sorry, Baby then you need to be confident in your abilities. There's a delicate touch required to create something that ends up being smart, a bit funny, and often tinged with deep sadness. Writer-director-star Eva Victor has that delicate touch, leading to Sorry, Baby being one of the most well-crafted and brilliant feature debuts I have seen in years.
Victor plays Agnes, a young woman who seems to be most content when able to spend time with her friend, Lydie (Naomi Ackie). It soon becomes clear that something happened in the recent past to strengthen their bond even further, but what exactly that is won't be revealed until later in the movie. Lydie is in new and scary territory, in love with someone and pregnant via a sperm donor, but Agnes has now been made fearful of environments that she has been familiar with for years. And it's not fucking fair, not in the slightest.
Given how great her performance is here, and her mannerisms, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Victor is actually the result of some mad scientist's attempt to clone Julianne Moore. That's a bit flippant, I know, but I mean it as a major compliment. Victor has that same ability to move between serious and more light-hearted moments with equal ease, and a relatively calm exterior that has the potential to crack and explode any minute. She's helped here by co-starring with the brilliant Ackie, and there are superb supporting turns from Kelly McCormack (being hilariously paranoid and always comparing herself to others), Lucas Hedges (a neighbour who may also be a potential partner), Louis Cancelmi, E. R. Fightmaster, and John Carroll Lynch.
You might already know what Sorry, Baby is really about, but I'm not going into any more detail here. The construction of the screenplay sandwiches the main event between scenes that show how Agnes struggles to deal with her new way of viewing the world, and whether or not she wants to spend much time outside of her own home. One scene in particular, showing Agnes almost processing part of her pain and thinking out loud when questioned during consideration for jury duty, is a masterful distillation of the trauma, scars, and repercussions stemming from one crime that has her still, somehow, giving equal consideration to how it will affect others around her.
Sometimes it's important to dive into more aspects of a film, especially when trying to convey to others just how good it is. Sometimes it's important to recognise that the film itself is just part of an ongoing conversation that needs to keep happening until our society undergoes a seismic shift in attitudes and morality. And there are times during that conversation when you should shut up and listen. Watching Sorry, Baby feels like a time for many to shut up and listen. And I would be doing it a disservice if I spent any more time here waffling on about my own reaction to it.
Seek it out immediately. You'll be glad that you did.
10/10
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