Eliza is an unassuming and beloved member of a small fishing community in Newfoundland who sees all of her relationships put in jeopardy after her secret social media persona is exposed.
In director Melanie Oates’ second feature, people in a bucolic coastal town turn quickly on their own when the status quo is inadvertently challenged.
Attending church, baking bread, and marrying high school sweethearts are the standard in a small fishing town in Newfoundland, and despite not having checked the last two of those boxes, Eliza (Michaela Kurimsky) is beloved by all those around her.
After a church service, she parts ways with her mom and grandmother and heads into the nearby woods, with a purpose that nobody in her life is aware of: taking self-portraits in a bikini and ski mask to post to her super-popular anonymous social media account, which is filled with many more suggestive photos of Eliza.
Nobody from the town knows about another secret of hers: that in private quarters, she has a relationship with Toni (Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, TIFF ’22’s Stellar). An outsider to the town and an out lesbian, Toni is begrudgingly welcomed.
A questionable meet-up with a married man unravels all of Eliza’s secrets and forces her to re-examine her morals, her identity, and her place in the community, in a spectacular fashion. She can’t run away from the repercussions of her choices and, ultimately, is surprised by those who continue to stand with her.
Sweet Angel Baby is a beautiful and heartbreaking look inside small-town identity politics, masterfully deploying themes of conformity, queerness, and sexuality.
KELLY BOUTSALIS
Content advisory: themes of sexual violence; sexual content
Screenings
Scotiabank 12
TIFF Lightbox 4
Scotiabank 6
Scotiabank 6
Scotiabank 6