“Jane Campion's films are a big inspiration to me. I especially love her early movies, her art-school shorts, An Angel at My Table, and my favourite of all, Sweetie. When I first saw Sweetie, it blew my mind with its odd-pop art direction and camera, music juxtapositions and tender-audacious comic touch. It's personal and compelling moviemaking that takes the audience on surprising and challenging turns. Creativity bursts in every frame by a filmmaking team that was a community of friends, exploring, taking risks and having fun together. What I so appreciate about Sweetie is Jane Campion's singular and authentic voice, her determination to bring all of her characters to life with humanity.”
– Sook-Yin Lee
Jane Campion won international acclaim for her first theatrical feature, a strikingly original and darkly comic work of emotional resonance that centres on a dysfunctional pair of contrasting sisters.
Awkward and superstitious Kay (Karen Colston) begins dating an engaged man on the basis of a tea-leaf reading but is too timid to express her growing fears and anxieties, leading the relationship to stagnate. Dawn, (Geneviève Lemon) nicknamed Sweetie, is brash and outgoing, but off her medication she is childishly attention seeking and willing to throw tantrums to get what she wants. Kay needs Sweetie out of her life, but cutting the ties that bind them isn't easy.
Using unusual colour, framing, angles and perspectives, Campion and cinematographer Sally Bongers craft a visually intriguing, engaging film that shifts between quirky comedy and emotionally raw moments. With its wonderfully idiosyncratic characters and refusal to romanticize or sanitize mental illness, Sweetie is unique, intelligent, off-kilter and rewarding cinema.
Allen Braude
Sook-Yin Lee was born in Vancouver. She worked as a VJ for MuchMusic, and is currently the host of
Definitely Not the Opera on CBC Radio. In 2006, she starred in John Cameron Mitchell's
Shortbus. Her short films include
Girl Cleans Sink (04),
Unlocked (05) and a segment of the omnibus film
Toronto Stories (08), all of which screened at the Festival.
Year of the Carnivore (09), her feature-directing debut, is playing in this year's Festival.