The Sweet East Review: A Patchwork Of Curiosity, Connection, And Beautiful Strangeness [Cannes 2023]
When Andrea Arnold's "American Honey" debuted at Cannes in 2016, the world was ushered into a whirlwind of hopeful, harrowing, and empowering Americana that reshaped the emotional core of what it means to find yourself in a vast sea of new experiences. The next chapter in the Americana film canon, cinematographer-turned-director Sean Price Williams' "The Sweet East," takes the best of those elements and turns them on their ears, weaving a patchwork quilt of curiosity, connection, and unadulterated strangeness. It takes things, and I mean all things, a step further than past films of its type — and it makes sure its audience is along for the ride in all of its odd and audacious glory. After all, there is nothing more arduous and beautiful than living life, and there is certainly nothing stranger.
"The Sweet East" follows Talia Ryder's Lillian, a high school senior who slips away from her classmates on a school trip to Washington D.C. and runs off into the vast expanse of the American East Coast. As she traverses from state to state, she finds herself in increasingly bizarre circumstances with a cast of eccentric weirdos who open her eyes to the world and teach her all the ways she can exist within it.
Morphing Alice In Wonderland into an Americana dreamscape
Sean Price Williams' directorial debut stands out in many ways, but the deeply engaging script and story that morphs "Alice In Wonderland" into an Americana dreamscape is potentially the most striking element. Screenwriter Nick Pinkerton smartly captures the varied vernaculars of the different generations and sects of people throughout the America of today. Both young and old(er) are represented in a way that feels natural and real through the text, not a caricature but also not too far-fetched either. The way we speak in 2023 is something of its own beast, and Pinkerton taps into that style without sacrificing substance. Plus, the script is pretty damn funny in some of its most memorable moments.
The script wouldn't be what it is in its final form without the film's impeccable cast, which is full of folks who play strange so well. Even the small cameos become etched into your brain because of the sheer commitment of the performers, like the appearances from indie-darlings-slash-real-life-weirdos Peter Vack and Betsey Brown, who show up in the first five minutes in a little bit that sets the wacky overall tone. But the stand-out performance lies in the grace, introspection, and subtle cunning of Ryder's Lillian. At a mere 20 years old, Ryder is a quiet force, one that seems to be so in tune with her character that she blends right in and settles deep into Lillian's heart. It's not Ryder's debut, but it certainly will be a film that shines a bright spotlight on her skills in a way that is sure to bring her more of the kind of complex and unique work she deserves.
Doing unredeemable characters well
"Red Rocket" favorite Simon Rex, playwright Jeremy O. Harris, and "The Bear" star Ayo Edebiri round out the film's supporting cast, and boy do they make a meal of each of their smart and bizarre segments in the film, which is broken up into chapters based on where on the East coast Lillian is at that time. Rex takes a page from the book of "Red Rocket" to bring a seemingly well-meaning and soft white supremacist to life, delighting in the sleazy craft of making this kind of character palatable. We know he does unredeemable characters well, and "The Sweet East" is no exception. In fact, it might be one of his best roles.
Harris and Edebiri are utterly delightful as an eccentric producer-director duo who scout Lillian on the NYC streets for a peculiar period film. They're perfectly matched as a pair, with each of their comedic impulses informing one another to the point where they feel like identical twins finishing each other's sentences via extra-sensory perception. Overall, the film is on point with its incredibly smart casting, and that victory aids in fully shaping the world Price Williams and Pinkerton concocted in their zany witch's cauldron.
A real sense of connection
Price Williams' film is as visually striking as you'd expect from the cinematographer of "Good Time," but with a real sense of connection to the natural world as it pertains to both landscapes and humanity. He delights in showing us not only human life in America but also the sprawling topography and vistas that make up the Eastern seaboard. His shots are delicate and feel almost ephemeral, like that particular view, in all its beauty and splendor, might disappear at any moment—which in and of itself is a tentpole of Lillian's rabbit-hole journey. Price Williams has shot over 100 films at this point in his career, and "The Sweet East" is a movie that allows him to truly flex his talent for cultivating both softness and harshness within moments of one another. His directorial debut enables him to expand on those skills and give way to a fully realized vision of a deliciously unorthodox world not too dissimilar from our own.
/Film Rating: 8 out of 10