Sundance 2021: "Marvelous and The Black Hole" Review
We all have to deal with pain and grief at some point in our lives. While there may be books and manuals that address how we cope with grief, it effects us all differently. “Marvelous and The Black Hole” is a funny, poignant look at how one young woman deals with loss, while gaining lifelong wisdom along the way.
Sammy (Miya Cech) is a teenage delinquent by definition. She has a chip on her shoulder after losing her mother. It doesn’t help that her father has a new love interest, Marianne (Paulina Lule) who happens to have her toothbrush and clothes lying around the house. Her older sister is entrenched in gaming. So everywhere Sammy looks within her family, she feels like her mother is being forgotten. To try and turn his daughter’s attitude around after she gets into some trouble, Angus (Leonardo Nam) gives her an alternative of taking college courses or going to a camp for troubled youth. It’s like Bill and Ted consequences, except Sammy is a one woman show with enough personality to cover both.
While ditching the Intro To Small Business summer course to tattoo herself in the bathroom stall (her form of cutting), Sammy bumps into Margot (Rhea Perlman). Margot is a magician with a soft spot for Sammy; she sees herself in her. She can see through her angry exterior and soon a relationship emerges. In part, it is forced upon Sammy as her instructor says she must learn from Margot as a business mentor. As time moves forward, a clear appreciation for one another and the wonder that magic creates shines through.
Margot tells Sammy that “Magic is about making an audience feel something.” Even though we’ve seen this story before, writer/director Kate Tsang certainly makes her audience feel something as she slowly melts Sammy’s heart over the course of the film, which in turn melts ours. The quote is representative of so much within the movie and in life as Sammy tries to bury her feelings to not feel the pain of loss, but simultaneously tattoos herself to feel alive. Wisely, like the magicians in her film, Tsang unpacks all the anger Sammy harbors through a certain sleight of hand by telling a universal story, using comedy and giving us endearing characters.
Miya Cech delivers a sincere performance as Sammy. She displays Sammy’s inner turmoil without falling into the angsty teen stereotype. Rhea Perlman reminds us that a veteran actor can bring a certain magical touch to a character that infuses said magic throughout the film as a whole. The overall ensemble is solid, but Cech and Perlman are certainly the heart of the film.
On one hand you could simply say that “Marvelous and The Black Hole” is the story of a young girl who gets the Madea treatment- if Madea was a magician and the script and characterization was way better. Tsang gives us a heartfelt examination of mentorship, grief, and the bond of family you’re born into and the family you make. It’s a great reminder and a fun watch!
Rating: B+
