The Sweet East

Just here to say I loved the film. The dialogue is well written, made me laugh and snigger throughout. Simon Rex and Talia Ryder got me glued to the screen. Now I'll have to follow whatever these two are starring in next..

The story of the Sweet East starts with a song, sung by a continuously sullen Lillian.. I loved the song and thought this was such a good way to introduce the audience to the character, because everything you need to know about Lillian is in the delivery of the song.

Then begins a 'coming of age' story, following this smart yet clueless, single-minded yet insecure girl.

It really reminded me of my own teenage self and the way I imitated people, took over habits, was intimidated by peers, had power without realising it, got lost, screwed up, was approached by men, used my looks to my advantage and experimented with it with zero care about the impact it had on others.. I thought this was the most realistic depiction of female teenage-hood I've seen on film in a long time.

Really hope to see more from the director Sean Price Williams and the main actors. Talia Ryder Simon Rex and Ayo Edibiri particularly are very fun to watch.

This happened and then this happened and after that this happened.

In 1973, a British movie called O Lucky Man was released with a similar story structure. Namely, a protagonist falls from one improbable situation to another whilst passing commentary on the world around us.

In this movie, all sorts of 'thrilling' adventures befall Taila Ryder as she is led from one implausible situation to the next. An activist, ingenue, actress, thief, prisoner, etc. Until its disappointing climax.

Ryder is good as the nonplussed main character, the script seems largely improvised, the plot doesn't exist and the poor quality film stock and directing style made me want to shower after watching it.

It quite good with some reservations.

Aight. So we're following Lillian who ran away (just for fun) and now she's getting mixed up with all sorts of people. We have some radical artists/activists, some alt right crowd, some actors, some radical religions types. So, I guess, this whole movie supposed to be like a portrait of the country. Or political satire maybe. In reality though, it's very tedious and obnoxious experience.

The main reason - Lillian. She's shallow, superficial, uninteresting human being. She's annoying and frustrating. She got nothing original to say. She's boring and she bored. And not really a compelling or sympathetic character.

Side characters are fine though, but it feels like their potential is wasted on Lillian.

Cinematography is also nice, but not strong enough to carry the whole thing.

The whole movie feels like a magical fever dream, but in a positive way. There is so much happening during the whole movie that you probably need to watch it a few times in order to identify all the metaphors that were used to create this gem. Alice in Wonderland meets American Girl from the 90s meets kafkaesk Sarcasm and Randomness. I loved it, for me it's a one of a kind movie. Talia Ryder is the absolut perfect choice for Lillian, I don't think anyone else could have pulled off that role as much as she did.

If you are open to something special - give it a try :) You get to know a lot of interesting characters and aspects about what they stand for. 10/10 for me!

High school student Lillian (Talia Ryder) and her classmates from South Carolina are on a field trip to Washington, D. C. She sets off on her own to have a series of rambling adventures.

Lillian is the bohemian pixie dream girl, a cousin of the manic pixie dream girl. She's more chilled. She goes on a meandering 70's style journey into outsider America. I'm intrigued by her trip for the first half. She's cute and is that girl. After about an hour, the movie goes off the rails. It does something completely ridiculous. The quirky rambling series of new friends becomes a rather silly random event. At that point, the movie loses me and it never gets me back.