Sometimes I get impatient while waiting for the theatrical release of a remarkable film I’ve seen and reviewed at a film festival: I can barely wait for other people whose opinions I respect and trust to see it as well, so they, too, can spread the good word. More important, I want everyone — friends, colleagues, students, total strangers — to share the experience of discovering something special, preferably as a communal experience in a movie theater.
Which is why I am happy to report that Sadie, one of the very best films I caught at SXSW 2018 last March, is going to open Oct. 12 in New York and Los Angeles before, I hope, rolling out nationwide. It’s the latest feature from writer-director Megan Griffiths, an indie filmmaker I’ve been keeping an eye on ever since I saw her arresting human trafficking drama Eden (currently available, and well worth your attention, on Amazon Prime) at SXSW 2012, and later enjoyed her criminally under-rated Lucky Them (2013), a dramedy showcasing a perfectly cast Toni Collette as a rock journalist oddly coupled with Thomas Haden Church’s nouveau riche amateur documentarian. I had high expectations walking into Sadie. Those expectations were, to put it mildly, surpassed.
As I wrote in my Variety review:
“The eponymous protagonist at the chilly heart of Sadie is a troubled 13-year-old girl who is driven to extremes by her unyielding notions about what constitutes loyalty. Of course, Sadie — rivetingly played with tamped-down intensity by newcomer Sophia Mitri Schloss — would no doubt dispute that description, if only because it implies she’s not in full control of her actions at every moment. She’d have you know that if anyone or anything is doing any driving, well, she’s the one at the wheel. Equal parts coming-of-age story and slow-burn thriller, writer-director Megan Griffiths’ quietly absorbing and methodically disquieting drama is a genuine rarity: a sympathetic portrait of a budding sociopath.”
You can read the rest of my Variety review here. And you can view a trailer for Sadie here.
No comments:
Post a Comment