Sorry, Baby
(2024 | USA | 103 minutes | Eva Victor)

Everyone was right: Eva Victor’s wondrously delicate and wry Sorry Baby is definitely the film of Sundance. As producers, Barry Jenkins and Adele Romanski basically never miss.

Spanning several nonlinear chapters in the life of a small college English professor, the film is an incisive (and often funny) exploration about the ways that trauma ripples through a life and the slow ways it heals (and doesn’t). Working as writer, director, and star in her debut feature, we meet Agnes as her best friend, former roommate played by Naomi Ackie arrives from New York for a long overdue visit. Over the course of the weekend, they’ll catch up with former classmates and reveal some exciting life developments.

The bond of their friendship is instantly evident, such that their familiar shorthand evades details of the incident in their shared past that reshaped Agnes’s life. We can imagine the pieces and put them together, but the story reveals itself in measured flashbacks to her days as a graduate student before jumping forward again in time. Each vignette reveals details and depths with a soft touch and delicate humor. Even Victor’s depiction of the core trauma keeps the details at a distance and instead spotlights the effects of a betrayal and the long challenging road to recover. Along the way, we come to experience the transformational healing power of cuddly creatures found along the way, like best friends, surprisingly sensitive sandwich vendors, abandoned kittens, and Lucas Hedges.

A must-see, sure to be in the conversation for the rest of the year.

Sorry, Baby played as an official selection of the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. It is available for online viewing from January 30-February 2.