Cinema from the Spectrum

Eva Victor opens their feature directorial debut, Sorry, Baby, with a shot of a two-story house nearly surrounded by the dark night. The vocal harmonies Lia Ouyang Rusli peppers throughout their gently subtly score get a spotlight, almost as if they’re hovering around the frame. It lasts for what feels like a minute until a car pulls up into its driveway. This house will stage the reunion between Agnes (Victor) and Lydie (Naomi Ackie, lovely throughout), best friends since their days in grad school.

When we meet them both at the start, Agnes is now a full-time English professor at the school where she previously studied, and Lydie is about to become a mom. They shoot about their lives then and now. The conversations feel natural and lived-in. Somewhere along the way though, Lydie asks Agnes if she ever leaves the house (which they once shared, and which Agnes now owns). It’s a fitting line to place at the start, because it lets you know that a) you’ll be familiar with that house by the time the film ends, and b) this might not be what you expected from the creator behind such videos as “i invited hozier over to a dinner party and things got weird.”

Told in a non-linear fashion and separated into chapters, the film hops around various years in Agnes’ life, and her attempts to carry on in the wake of a bad thing (as one of the film’s chapters dubs it) that happened to her. What that bad thing is, it’s best not to say. But Victor makes the smart and sensitive decision to never show it. We — as the viewer — only the house it takes place in (in a moment almost parallel to the film’s first shot, only the camera waits from day-to-night).

From there on, Victor (working with cinematographer Mia Cioffi Henry) depicts the immediate aftermath with lengthy takes and smart blocking, allows the viewer to focus on Agnes’ body language post-the incident (which Victor — as a performer — very effectively communicates). There’s no music. Until she reaches her campus, there’s barely much in the way of dialogue. It’s mostly background noise, growing louder at a given notice. It’s a striking series of scenes, even more impressive because not once does it ever feel sensationalized or exploitive. It feels true to life, which is one of the biggest compliments you can give a film like this (a debut no less).

I realize that I’m perhaps making Sorry, Baby sound like a dour, depressing drama. It isn’t. Not in the least. For a movie dealing directly with trauma and the fragmented process of healing from it, it’s a dryly funny and deeply tender take on this kind of story, and Victor’s sense of control insofar as tonal balance (certainly on a script level) is commendable. Even in the moments where it feels it might tip over at times, Victor manages to bring it back around and keep things grounded.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t call back to Henry’s camerawork, which is a highlight throughout. Working with Victor, the restrained nature of it allows many of the film’s moments to simply breathe and feel more intimate, which accentuate the performances and their lived-in energy. A great example is a poignant scene between Agnes and a sandwich shop owner, who the great John Carroll Lynch infuses with much warmth. Lucas Hedges also makes a memorable appearance as Agnes’ neighbor, who she may or may not be sleeping with.

While I wouldn’t necessarily call Sorry, Baby a perfect debut feature, it sure is a solid one, with plenty of nuance and comfort. I don’t know where Eva Victor goes next as a filmmaker after this, but I know that I’m quite intrigued to find out.

Watch the trailer right here.

All images via A24.

Directed by Eva Victor
Screenplay by Eva Victor
Produced by Adele Romanski, Mark Ceryak, Barry Jenkins, Frank Ariza
Starring Eva Victor, Naomi Ackie, Lucas Hedges, John Carroll Lynch, Louis Cancelmi, Kelly McCormack
Premiere Date: January 27, 2025
Running Time: 103 minutes