Whereas Alex Garland chose grand spectacle to tell the story of afractured America in Civil War, Sean Price Williams opts for a human-scale narrative in his debut feature The Sweet East, with a zany, offbeat vision of Americans that escapes judgment but not sarcasm. An LSD-free bad trip into territories mingled with conspiracies (Pizzagate), fantasies and prejudices (neo-Nazi rallies), filmed through the adulescent eyes of Lillian(Talia Ryder).
During a school trip, the young high-school student runs away from home and travels along the East Coast of the United States, from Delaware (SPW's home state) to Vermont and New York. In the course of her encounters, she discovers the mental, social and political fractures of the United States, filmed in the manner of a fairy tale or a variation on Alice in Wonderland - the actress revealing herself, from the very first scenes, with a song facing the mirror, ready to join Alice on the other side.
Imbued with freedom, the actress radiates in every scene, with this vibrant character of a young girl full of wonder, never disillusioned. So much so that she goes beyond the edges of the frame, ready to taste everything life has to offer. Previously known as the Safdie brothers' cinematographer, Sean Price Williams brilliantly succeeds in depicting a country in the throes of a crisis of madness, where young punks on the go, a sentimental neo-Nazi who is surprisingly respectful and endearing, and electro-dancing Islamists mingle; all the while filming his lead actress with great gentleness.
An initiatory, hallucinatory journey for the deceptively naive young Lillian, and for the viewer who discovers the face of an unknown, forgotten America, filmed through the eye of a director who makes his incredible visual poetry available. Navigating between a quasi-documentary vision, albeit aestheticized, and genuinely funny moments that arrive out of sequence (lunch on the grass on the arm of a Rohmerian neo-Nazi), The Sweet East is a cinematic gesture with a panache as flamboyant as that of its heroine.
March 2024 cinema releases: list of films in cinemas and opening times near you
Fellow cinema-goers, we look forward to seeing you at the cinema in March 2024 to discover a whole new range of films! Not sure what to see? We've got the perfect selection for you! [Read more]
Not sure which film to see today? Well, we've got plenty of films to show near you. [Read more]
March 2024 cinema releases: list of films in cinemas and opening times near you
Cinema: which film to see today, this Friday May 3rd, 2024?
