Run Sweetheart Run movie review (2022)

Curiously, “Run Sweetheart Run” had a special set-up when it premiered at Sundance approach again in January 2020. On the time, single mom Cherie (Balinska) had chosen so far once more, arrange by her boss (Clark Gregg) on a blind date. Issues have shifted barely however I believe importantly in that Cherie is now compelled to go to dinner with Ethan (Pilou Asbæk) as a result of he’s a shopper and her boss had double-booked with the gentleman and his spouse (Betsy Brandt) for his or her anniversary. It provides one other stage of manipulation to what occurs to her—she was simply attempting to do her job. And it comes on the heels of a gap scene wherein Cherie studies sexual harassment at work, hinting at the concept that what follows is company repercussion for talking out.

“Run Sweetheart Run” could be enjoyable to point out to somebody with completely no consciousness of its style as a result of it nearly performs like a rom-com at first. Cherie and Ethan flirt, go to a elaborate dinner, and have what looks like fairly robust chemistry whilst they determine to go from a pleasant dinner to curler skating—considered one of a number of weird cuts within the movie that play extra like surreal camp than realism. He convinces her to come back into his place for yet one more drink, after which, in my favourite shot of the movie, Asbæk truly retains the digital camera from following them by the entrance door, placing his hand up as a cease signal. It’s a type of little self-aware touches that makes Feste’s strategy extra attention-grabbing than it will have been in additional generic fingers. And it has thematic depth that may very well be unpacked if one thinks about how typically Hollywood exhibits the romance however not the fact.

After which Cherie bursts from that door, a gaping wound on her head. What follows is a chase by the Los Angeles night time, and Feste’s movie actually embraces its setting, utilizing the cruel, commercialized lighting of the Metropolis of Angels together with a pulsing rating that typically sounds prefer it’s attempting to copy one thing like Tangerine Dream (courtesy of a French musician named solely Rob). Cherie seems to be for assist in all places—the cops, her boss, her ex, and so forth.—nevertheless it all ends disastrously as Feste’s movie will get increasingly more surreal. By the point that “Run Sweetheart Run” explains why Ethan appears to all the time be capable of discover Cherie, the film has gone off the rails of realism and Balinska’s actually stable efficiency will get misplaced within the chaos.

“Run Sweetheart Run” additionally has a behavior of spelling out its metaphors with daring ink. When it’s actually splashing the phrase “RUN!” throughout the display, the bluntness of the second will be enjoyable, however the film begins to get weighed down by its personal concepts and I want Feste didn’t sacrifice potential for precise pressure as typically she does. The reality is that it’s laborious to run while you’re carrying a lot thematic baggage.

On Prime Video right this moment.