Eva Victor Archives – CULTURE MIX

Review: ‘Sorry, Baby’ (2025), starring Eva Victor, Naomi Ackie, Lucas Hedges, John Carroll Lynch, Louis Cancelmi and Kelly McCormack

June 27, 2025

by Carla Hay

Eva Victor in “Sorry, Baby” (Photo courtesy of A24)

“Sorry, Baby” (2025)

Directed by Eva Victor

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed Massachusetts city, the comedy/drama film “Sorry, Baby” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few black people) who representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: Over a five-year period, a young woman copes with the aftermath of being sexually assaulted by someone she used to trust.

Culture Audience: “Sorry, Baby” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and comedy/dramas with quirky protagonists.

Naomi Ackie and Eva Victor in “Sorry, Baby” (Photo courtesy of A24)

“Sorry, Baby” is a unique comedy/drama about coping with sexual trauma, from the perspective of an intelligent and quirky woman. Some viewers might be bored by the slow pacing, but this movie has enough wit and authenticity to keep most viewers interested. “Sorry, Baby” is the type of movie where you know within the first 15 minutes whether or not you will care to know more about the protagonist.

Written and directed by Eva Victor, “Sorry, Baby” is Victor’s feature-film directorial debut. The movie had its world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, where “Sorry, Baby” won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. “Sorry, Baby” takes place in an unnamed city in Massachusetts, where the movie was filmed on location in various Massachusetts cities. The story is told non-chronologically in five chapters, with each chapter reflecting the life of the protagonist, from the ages of 27 to 32.

“Sorry, Baby” begins with a chapter titled “The Year With the Baby,” which is also the title of the last chapter in the movie. The opening scene is a joyous reunion of two best friends: introverted Agnes (played by Victor) and extroverted Lydie (played by Naomi Ackie), who were roommates and attended the same grad school, where they studied English literature. Agnes and Lydie now live in different states.

Agnes, who is 31 years old in this chapter, lives in a house by herself in a rural part of Massachusetts. Lydie, who has come to visit Agnes, lives with Lydie’s spouse in New York. Agnes has an isolated existence where her closest neighbor is several yards away, and she doesn’t have any close friends except for Lydie. Nothing is told about Agnes’ biological family.

As the two friends reconnect, they start off with small talk. They both say that they miss the ability to see each other in person on a regular basis. They both say that they wished that they lived closer together. And then, Lydie breaks some joyous news to Agnes: Lydie is about 10 weeks pregnant.

Agnes is very happy for Lydie, who seems a little worried about Agnes. Agnes says that everything is fine. She also shares some good news of her own: She’s been promoted from being a part-time professor to a full-time professor at the same college where she and Lydie went to grad school.

During Lydie’s visit, Agnes nearest neighbor randomly shows up unannounced. His name is Gavin (played by Lucas Hedges), who’s about the same age as Agnes. Gavin is socially awkward and has an obvious crush on Agnes. The movie implies that Gavin might have some learning disabilities because Agnes reminds Gavin where he lives and politely tells him to go back home.

Later, Lydie and Agnes both have a reunion dinner with three people who were in their same study group in grad school: Devin (played by Cody Reiss), Logan (played by Jordan Mendoza) and Natasha (played by Kelly McCormack), who has an obsessive jealousy of Agnes. Natasha works at the same college and has always considered Agnes to be her biggest rival.

Natasha is hosting this dinner party, which quickly becomes tense when Natasha is rude to Agnes. When Agnes excuses herself to use the restroom, Lydie verbally cuts into image-conscious Natasha in a passive-aggressive way: Lydie complains to Natasha that there’s a bone in the fish that Lydie was served. Lydie admonishes Natasha for not being careful enough in checking for bones in the fish served to Natasha’s dinner guests.

The chapter titled “The Year With the Bad Thing” is the most pivotal chapter in the story. It’s a flashback to when Agnes was 27 years old and living with Lydie while they were both in grad school. Agnes, Lydie, Natasha, Devin and Logan were in a small study group that had a professor named Preston Decker (played by Louis Cancelmi) as their advisor.

Preston, who is a divorced father in his mid-to-late 40s, treats Agnes as if he thinks she’s his best student. Natasha, who wants to be “teacher’s pet,” believes that Preston gives special treatment to Agnes. Natasha pathetically tries to get praise from Preston, who is casually dismissive of Natasha.

In a private conversation at home, Lydie mentions to Agnes that Preston seems attracted to Agnes. Lydie asks Agnes if Agnes is interested in hooking up with Preston. A slightly mortified Agnes says no because she’s not interested in Preston and because Agnes knows it would be ethically wrong on many levels to have a sexual relationship with a faculty member who will influence her academic grades. Meanwhile, Lydie openly talks about her sex life to Agnes and drops a hint about Lydie’s true sexuality that is confirmed later in the story.

During a crucial period of time in the students’ academic careers, Preston wants to give in-depth feedback to Agnes about her dissertation and invites her over to his house for this discussion, to make up for cutting short their previous meeting in his office. The movie shows Agnes leaving Preston’s house several hours after she arrived. What happened during this house meeting is not shown but is described in detail by Agnes to Lydie after Agnes goes back to their home.

The trailer for “Sorry, Baby” already hints that the “something bad” that happens to Agnes is a sexual assault that prompted her to get a medical check-up, with Lydie accompanying her as comfort. In one of the movie’s most uncomfortable scenes, the unnamed doctor (played by Marc Carver) who examines Agnes is uncaring and glib when he finds out why Agnes wants this medical exam. Later, Agnes comes across a disheartening roadblock when she reports what happened to her and she attempts to get justice.

The chapter titled “The Year With the Questions” (the movie’s shortest chapter) shows Agnes in a jury duty situation. “The Year With the Good Sandwich” chapter has its best scene when Agnes has a panic attack while driving in her car, and she is helped by a kind stranger named Pete (played by John Carroll Lynch), who sees Agnes when she drives into a convenience store parking lot during this panic attack. “Sorry, Baby” is at its best when Agnes copes with indignities and reminders that she can’t escape her trauma by trying to forget that it happened.

“Sorry, Baby” also has a subplot about Agnes finding some comfort with Gavin, but it’s not the type of comfort that’s about people falling in love. It’s the type of comfort where she knows she will never fall in love with Gavin (even though he wants it to happen), but she wants to have a “friends with benefits” situation. Is she using Gavin for her own selfish needs? Yes, but Gavin is a consenting partner, even if his feelings for Agnes aren’t mutual.

Ackie gives a vibrant performance as outspoken Lydie, but Lydie is not in most of the movie. Agnes is front and center in this story. Where “Sorry, Baby” falls short is in telling more about who Agnes is outside of her career, her limited social interactions, and how she deals with her trauma. Shortly after her sexual assault, Agnes adopts a stray kitten (whom she names Olga), who becomes Agnes’ constant companion after Lydie moves away.

There is nothing revealed about Agnes’ family and nothing revealed about what she likes to do in her spare time besides reading. There’s a brief scene of Agnes in her classroom and another brief scene of Agnes getting positive feedback in the evaluation that leads to her job promotion. Agnes’ choice to have her students read Vladimir Nabokov’s 1955 novel “Lolita” (about a literature professor who sexually abuses his 12-year-old stepdaughter) is shown in “Sorry, Baby” as an example of how people can react differently to sexual controversy. But there are many unanswered questions about Agnes that make her depiction in the movie somewhat shallow at different times.

Still, Victor’s portrayal of Agnes has many meaningful insights into Agnes’ personality in other ways. Agnes is the type of person who doesn’t use her physical attractiveness to “get ahead” in her career. She’s eccentric but not mentally unstable. She’s an unapologetic literature nerd who’s not standoffish, but she has a hard time meeting anyone (other than Lydie) who’s on the same wavelength as she is.

These insights into Agnes’ life bring vitality to the story and will make interested viewers curious to see what will happen to Agnes. Because of Victor’s capable writing, directing and acting, “Sorry, Baby” brings some dark comedy to the disrespectful ways that people can degrade each other and emotional resonance to the compassionate ways that people can uplift each other. Most of all, “Sorry, Baby” isn’t about finding out if Agnes gets “closure” for her trauma, because it’s a story that takes a worthwhile glimpse at part of her bumpy journey along the way.

A24 released “Sorry, Baby” in select U.S. cinemas on June 27, 2025, with an expansion to more U.S. cinemas on July 25, 2025. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on August 5, 2025.

Review: ‘As of Yet,’ starring Taylor Garron

June 23, 2021

by Carla Hay

“As of Yet”

Directed by Taylor Garron and Chanel James

Culture Representation: Taking place over two days in June 2020, mainly in New York City, as as well as in Florida, Los Angeles, and the United Kingdom, the comedy/drama film “As of Yet” (or “as of yet,” as the movie’s title is sometimes styled) features a predominantly African American cast of characters (with two white people and one Asian), representing the middle-class.

Culture Clash: During her COVID-19 pandemic quarantine, a woman in her 20s has dilemmas about two people in her life: her overly possessive roommate (who’s been her best friend since college) and a potential new love interest, who would be the first in-person date she’s had since the quarantine began.

Culture Audience: “As of Yet” will appeal mainly to people who are interested in watching a realistic and minimalist quarantine comedy/drama that explores issues related to dating, friendships and family.

There have been several scripted movies that take place during the COVID-19 pandemic that have attempted to depict authentic quarantine experiences. The comedy/drama “As of Yet” is one of the few that gets it right. It’s a witty, warm and relatable film that doesn’t try to scare people into thinking that someone is going to die at any moment in the movie. Instead, the only fear that’s portrayed in the movie is the fear of letting go of a co-dependent but toxic best friend, as well as how dating a potential new love interest might affect the friendship. It’s a movie that’s filled with various conversations held over Zoom and FaceTime, but the story will connect on a deeper level with audiences who understand that’s it’s really about reflecting on life priorities.

Taylor Garron is the star, writer, co-director and one of the producers of “As of Yet,” which is the feature-film directorial debut of Garron, who co-directed with Chanel James. “As of Yet” is an impressive directorial debut, even if it didn’t have a COVID-19 pandemic setting. Garron’s writing is emotionally intelligent and appealing to anyone who wants to see people in scripted movies act and talk like how college-educated people in the real world talk. The fact that most of the cast members are black is a bonus for the film. “As of Yet” had its world premiere at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. Garron and James won the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival’s Nora Ephron Award, a prize given to emerging female filmmakers.

“As of Yet” admirably and skillfully shows a very real and vibrant part of black culture that rarely gets showcased in movies and doesn’t fall into the same, over-used negative sterotypes that movies have of black people. Nowhere in this movie is anyone portrayed as a criminal, poor or a struggling single parent. Portraying black people as second-class citizens is too often the narrative for a movie where the central character is black and living in a big city, even though most black people in America are not criminals, poor or struggling single parents. A movie starring a black woman usually centers the story on either pain or anger, but Garron refuses to go down that road that often leads to exploitation.

Instead, Garron’s Naomi Parson character (the movie’s protagonist, who’s in her mid-20s) is a relatively happy person who’s got a pretty great life, all things considered. She’s an actress who has loving and supportive family members and friends. She’s healthy. She’s college-educated. And she lives in a comfortable apartment in a quiet, tree-lined street in New York City’s Brooklyn borough. She’s staying safe in the middle of a deadly pandemic, but don’t expect this movie to kill her off or for her to get bad medical news—two other over-used negative tropes for black people with prominent roles in movies.

“As of Yet,” which takes place over two days and two nights, begins on Day 83 of Naomi’s quarantine. There are two types of videos in the movie: Naomi’s private video diaries and the video conversations that she has on Zoom and FaceTime. Naomi is an actress on an unnamed TV series that is currently on hiatus due to the pandemic. She’s been receiving unemployment benefits in the meantime. And she’s proud to have a reached a milestone in her finances: She now has about $10,000 in personal savings.

The movie doesn’t mention what college Naomi went to, but it’s mentioned that it was a four-year university in Amherst, Massachusetts. It’s where she met her white best friend/roommate Sara (played by Eva Victor), who is currently and temporarily staying with Sara’s parents in Florida. The movie never mentions what Sara does for a living, but she’s very spoiled, and she talks in that snotty tone of voice that sounds like she watches too much of “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” and “The Real Housewives.” In fact, after watching Sara and her manipulations in this movie, Sara seems like someone who would fit right in on a reality show about self-centered, catty women.

The first 10 minutes of “As of Yet” could be a little bit of turnoff to viewers who might think this is a movie that looks like any of the millions of social media video conversations made by young people who babble on about potential love interests or what their party plans are. But the movie gets much better as it goes along. It becomes a riveting character study of a woman finding her way through her post-college identity.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a big conversation topic in “As of Yet,” but it’s not the movie’s only focus. Many of the issues brought forth are issues that were going on in Naomi’s life before the pandemic. The pandemic is often used as a reason for certain people’s words and actions. But the pandemic can also force people to evaluate certain things in their lives.

Naomi faces that type of personal reckoning when it to comes to her friendship with Sara. The main dilemma that Naomi has is deciding if her friendship with Sara is worth keeping. It’s a very co-dependent, lopsided relationship where Naomi does a lot of the giving, and Sara does a lot of the taking.

As Naomi says in her video diary near the beginning of the movie: “I really miss Sara.” Sara’s quarantine with her parents is the longest that Naomi and Sara have been apart. This period of time apart has given Naomi some room to relax and some room to worry about what her life would be like without her best friend.

During a video chat, where Sara drones on mostly about herself, she comes up with the idea of hosting a “welcome back” dinner party for herself and Naomi when Sara comes back to New York. Sara describes the party as a way to “celebrate our friendship, but it’s also about me a little bit.” Sara mentions that she can steal some of her mother’s inferior wine and bring it to the party. She also laughs when she pictures her mother finding the wine missing and how it will be fun to think about how annoyed her mother would be if her mother knew what happened to the wine.

One of the ways that the movie shows how Sara and Naomi are very different from each other and incompatible is when they talk about the Black Lives Matter protests over the deaths of George Floyd and other black people who were victims of police brutality. Naomi has been participating in these protests on the streets of New York City. She mentions that she always wears masks when she’s out in public.

Sara has a slightly disgusted and annoyed expression on her face when the Black Lives Matter protests are brought up in the conversation. She asks Naomi if it’s scary to be part of the protests. Naomi says it’s not scary. But later, in another conversation with two of her black female friends who are protesters in Los Angeles, they candidly discuss witnessing police brutality at the protests.

Naomi and Sara talk about the difference between peaceful protesting and rioting. Sara is inclined to think that rioters are part of the protest movement, while Naomi says that most rioters are not part of Black Lives Matter and other activist movements. Naomi does concede that when it comes to activism, she thinks, “You have to be a little violent to get things done.” The awkward silence and expression on Sara’s face say a lot after Naomi makes that comment.

During Naomi and Sara’s conversation, they also talk about a man in hs 20s named Reed, whom Naomi has been talking to online for the past four months. Because of the quarantine, Naomi and Reed haven’t been able to meet in person for a date yet, but they hope to do so in the near future. It would be Naomi’s first in-person date since the pandemic lockdown began. Instead of being happy for Naomi and telling her to be safe, Sara acts as if Naomi is going to put Sara’s life in serious jeopardy by being in contact with someone who doesn’t live in their household.

Sara puts up such a fuss about it that it unnerves Naomi. The rest of the movie shows Naomi debating with herself and other people if she should meet Reed for a date in person and if she should tell Sara about it. It’s not a problem that’s as superficial as it sounds. Viewers will see that how Naomi handles this date dilemma is a manifestation of how she’s been handling a lot of the control issues going in her friendship with Sara and how Naomi feels about herself.

“As of Yet” has a very small number of people in its cast, which will make this movie very easy to follow. Besides Sara, the other people Naomi talk to about Sara and Reed are:

Reed (played by Amir Khan), a geeky, long-haired “nice guy” who works in some kind of computer tech job. Since the quarantine, he’s been working from home and rewatching “Survivor” reruns.
Sadie (played by Paula Akpan), Naomi’s British cousin who’s openly queer, very outspoken and someone who definitely doesn’t approve of Sara.
Naomi’s parents, who are unnamed in the movie but are played by Taylor Garron’s real-life parents Colleen Pina Garron and Christopher Garron. Naomi talks to her mother longer in their conversation (her dad briefly pops into the conversation), and Sara’s close and loving relationship with her parents is very evident.
Lyssa (played by Quinta Brunson) and Khadijah (played by Ayo Edebiri), two of Naomi’s friends in Los Angeles. They both don’t like Sara because they think she makes Naomi feel insecure and anxious. Khadijah is more blunt and forthcoming than Lyssa in giving advice to Naomi on what to do about Sara.
An unnamed neighbor (played by Anthony Allman), who Naomi talks to randomly when he pokes her head out of her apartment window and sees him walking down the street.

During these conversations, viewers find out more things about Naomi. Her family has origins in Cape Verde. Her parents are passionate about social causes, and Naomi got her interest in being a civil rights activist from her parents. She’s a very loyal, funny and caring person. Her willingness to put the needs of others before her own needs is a virtue, but it can also be a fault because people like Sara have taken advantage of it. Naomi hints at past romances and heartbreaks because she made the mistake of trusting the wrong people.

Naomi loves to talk and has a very quick-witted, self-deprecating sense of humor. Reed is quieter and more laid-back. Reed and Naomi both like watching TV and they appreciate each other’s offbeat geekiness over TV shows. Naomi has an interesting quirk of having only watched one movie in her life: the 1995 comedy “Heavyweights,” starring Ben Stiller and Kenan Thompson, about a group of overweight teens sent to a weight-loss camp that’s run by a psycho fitness instructor.

Naomi and Reed’s conversations in the movie show that they have a comfortable rapport with each other, and they can make each other laugh. However, viewers will wonder how well Naomi really knows Reed. Have they had meaningful conversations that go deeper than joking around and talking about what TV shows they like to watch? Are they compatible, in terms of lifestyles and life goals? This movie offers no real answers to those questions, because it’s just a glimpse into Naomi’s life over a two-day period.

One of the most outstanding things about “As of Yet” is how all the conversations look authentic, almost like a documentary. It’s one thing for the screenplay to be well-written (and it is), but the cast members should also get credit for delivering the lines in a very naturalistic and convincing way. There isn’t one moment in this movie that looks overly staged and overly rehearsed.

And there are many details that add to the authenticity. Naomi isn’t afraid to be shown from some unflattering camera angles. At one point in the movie, her armpit hair is showing (but not during her conversations with Reed), and her mother reminds Naomi to shave her armpits before she meets Reed in person.

The movie also doesn’t shy away from the topic of race. When Naomi tells her family members and black friends about Reed, one of the first questions they ask is if Reed is black. Naomi talks about the Black Lives Matter protests in a different and more unguarded way with her black friends than she does with Sara. Naomi’s mother also tells her a great anecdote about her childhood experiences with the Black Panthers.

The movie’s one detail about race that might raise questions with viewers is why Naomi hasn’t asked Reed yet what race he is. (He’s American and his family’s ethnicity appears to be South Asian or possibly from the Middle East.) If you’ve been chatting with someone for several months and plan to go on a date with each other, it’s not unreasonable to ask that person what their racial/ethnic heritage is, as part of the “getting to know you” process.

Naomi says she hasn’t asked Reed because she thinks it would be rude to ask. But it kind of contradicts how Naomi keeps bragging to her loved ones about how she knows Reed well enough that she thinks he’s a good guy who would be safe to date. The fact that she’s afraid to ask Reed what race he is will make people wonder what other basic and reasonable questions Naomi hasn’t asked him.

It’s another layer to the story in “As of Yet,” which shows how in the early months of the pandemic, single people were trying to adjust to how dating was affected by the pandemic quarantine. Naomi has to grapple with these questions: What’s the proper etiquette of a first date, when it comes to mask wearing and social distancing? Is it really a good idea to date somene new during a lockdown quarantine?

How do you know who’s really safe and not infected, when COVID-19 test results are only valid for a very limited time? (And keep in mind, this movie takes place before any COVID-19 vaccines were available.) It’s a question that Naomi can’t really answer about Reed, but she makes several comments in her conversations that she’s sure that Reed is “safe,” just because he told her so.

Actually, she doesn’t know for sure if Reed has COVID-19 or not. Taking people’s word for it without proof is one of the main reasons why a lot of people got infected with COVID-19. And lot of people who infected others didn’t know they had COVID-19 because they didn’t show any symptoms at the time.

Naomi’s blind trust in Reed’s COVID-19 status is an example of her trusting nature, just like Sara’s overreaction to Naomi possibly dating someone new during the quarantine is an example of her jealous and controlling nature. Viewers will find out how much of a loathsome hypocrite Sara is when it comes to COVID-19 safety. (It’s slight spoiler information that won’t be revealed in this review.)

Because “As of Yet” is a movie that takes place mostly on computer screens in people’s middle-class homes, there’s no flashy cinematography, elaborate set designs or fancy costumes. “As of Yet,” which is more suspenseful than people might think it would be, excels mainly because of the screenwriting and how well the cast members bring their characters to life. The movie might not satisfy people who want a predictable conclusion, but “As of Yet” will keep viewers entertained with some lively conversations along the way.