A24’s black comedy Sorry, Baby, comedian and actor Eva Victor‘s feature writing and directing debut produced by Barry Jenkins, opens at Lincoln Square and Angelika in NY, and the Grove and Century City in LA. This was one of the buzziest titles in Sundance and one of the few there to sell in a major deal — for about $8 million.
“A star is born, and so is a born filmmaker,” said Deadline’s review, with Pete Hammond calling it “one of the most assured and heartfelt films I have seen in a very long time.” It went on to close the Directors’ Fortnight section at Cannes.
The film lands amid a box office boom with another big weekend led by F1 and M3GAN 2.0. Indie distributors have been carefully evaluating whether the rising tide of the past few months lifts all boats and have been rather upbeat so far.
Victor, a standup comedian whose credits include HBO’s Billions, also stars as Agnes, a young woman who begins to work through a trauma when a beloved friend on the brink of a major milestone visits, and the non-linear narrative keeps audiences guessing. Also stars Naomi Ackie, Lucas Hedges, John Carroll Lynch, Louis Cancelmi, Kelly McCormack. Sorry, Baby is Rotten Tomato Certified Fresh with critics at 97%.
IFC Films debuts Berlin premiering Hot Milk at 375 theaters. See Deadline review. Rose (Fiona Shaw) and her daughter Sofia (Emma Mackey) travel to the Spanish seaside town of Almería to consult with the shamanic Dr. Gómez, a physician who may hold the cure to Rose’s mystery illness, which has left her wheelchair bound. In sun-bleached town, Sofia, who has been trapped by her mother’s illness all her life, starts to shed her inhibitions, enticed by the persuasive charms of enigmatic traveler Ingrid (Vicky Krieps).
Hope Runs High Films is out with Tomás Gómez Bustillo’s Chronicles of a Wandering Saint at IFC Center. July 5 in LA, July 6 in Seattle, July 19 in San Francisco. Nominated for three Independent Spirit Awards (Best First Feature, Best First Screenplay, and Best Cinematography). Chronicles is set in a tiny Argentinian town where a pious yet competitive woman decides that staging a miracle could be her ticket to sainthood. After discovering a lost statue, she orchestrates a grand reveal that will finally anoint her as the most admired woman in town. But before the unveiling, a jarring event forcing her to reevaluate everything she once took for granted. At 100% with critics on Rotten Tomatoes (31 reviews).
Greenwich Entertainment’s blur To The End on the iconic British band blur (Song 2, Girls & Boys). Directed by Toby L.
Follows friends and bandmates Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree coming together to record its first album in eight years, the chart-topping The Ballad of Darren, and prepare for the biggest concerts of their career, two sold-out shows at Wembley Stadium. With footage of the band in the studio and on the road, plus performances of their much-loved, seminal songs. World premiered at Sheffield DocFest. Greenwich also acquired the director’s sister film blur: Live At Wembley Stadium.
Abramorama opens Elliot Kirschner doc The Last Class on Robert Reich at the Quad Cinema. In LA July 10 at the Landmark Nuart, adds other cities thereafter and is holding one-day theatrical screenings June 30 (and July 14 and September 17) powered by Gathr at arthouse theaters in Seattle, Houston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Berkeley, Phoenix, Miami and Washington, D.C. The event cinema company helps indie helmers self-distribute their films.
Restoration, re-releases: Wong Kar Wai’s romantic masterpiece In The Mood For Love from Janus Films opens at the IFC Center and Film at Lincoln Center this weekend, at LA’s Laemmle Royal and Glendale next.
Fathom is re-releasing Amy Heckerling’s Clueless thisSunday on the film’s 30th anniversary.
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