If you're in the mood (and then some) for a wander off the beaten path, then look no further than The Sweet East. In this road movie, you never know what's going to happen next.
An absolute winner of a performance sees Talia Ryder star as Lillian, a high school student from South Carolina who goes missing on a class tour to Washington DC. With no money, no phone, and no change of clothes, Lillian bounces from one (mis)adventure to another as she lives the Alice in Wonderland quote: "It's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then."
Those who are devoted to David Lynch and who love Richard Linklater's Slacker will find this surreal state-to-state odyssey a trip worth taking - maybe more than once. There are laughs, scares, and WTF moments while Lillian is "just kind of doing my own thing", but first-time director Sean Price Williams and writer Nick Pinkerton also have important things to say about the US once their hero heads down the rabbit role.
Strangely, for such a scattergun movie, The Sweet East is pacy and moves far better than many a mainstream offering! You'll wonder what you've just watched - while also acknowledging that it's a joy to see the spirit of 80s and 90s American indie cinema floating around the highways and byways in 2024. A bonkers film, but also one of the year's coolest.
The Sweet East is showing at the Light House Cinema in Dublin and Pálás Cinema Galway.
