The modern dating scene is a tough place. Especially for women, it’s hard to find even one potential partner—let alone multiple. Yet that’s exactly what Natasha (Dasha Nekrasova) has done in writer-director Peter Ambrosio’s new film, Sunday Girl. During a break with of-and-on boyfriend, George (Brandon Stacy), Natasha found no less than four other men. Determined to commit to George full time, she sets out to break up with the other men in a single day. It sounds like a nightmare scenario. Instead, Sunday Girl is a smart, surprising satire about the modern dating scene.
For much of its runtime, much of the joy in Sunday Girl comes from watching Natasha break-up with each boyfriend. Though women are often portrayed as hysterical or unpredictable in cinematic break-ups, there’s something refreshing here in that the more upset the men get, the less interested Natasha seems. Take the first break up, with Bilal Mir’s Victor. A poet by trade, Victor is already moody when Natasha first appears, but he goes full emo after she breaks the news. It’s a character that could easily become one-note, but Isaac Tetenbaum’s melodramatic score as Victor stares out the window or pricks his finger to stain a poem with his blood exposes just how absurd Victor is. He’s the brooding artist taken to the most extreme and absurd form and each of the men Natasha meets feels like a send-up of a different trope.
Where Jack (Dave Davis) is insecure and aggressive but ultimately harmless, Tom (Evan Holtzman) is an easygoing fuckbuddy who takes the break-up in stride. Where Winston (Morgan Roberts) is the sensitive dreamboat that Natasha should want, George is the emotionally withholding and manipulative bastard years of internalized misogyny have taught her to want. Each man is at once a joke and a biting portrayal and the movie would be successful even if it were just about the series of break-ups. Unfortunately, where Sunday Girl runs into trouble is in getting too realistic outside of the relationship satire.
Though the main thrust of the plot is about Natasha breaking up with each man in order to clear her life for George, the more the film goes on, the more we also learn about everything outside of her romantic entanglements. When it’s something like the scene where she meets two women named Carla from work in the park between break-ups, it works. Where one Carla (Angelena Swords) is bright and sunny in a parody of wealthy whiteness, the other (Amanda Caldwell) is a sullen goth girl who doesn’t bother to look up from her phone. It’s a clever send-up of casual professional acquaintances, but things start to unravel once Natasha goes to the gallery where she works to pick up her paycheck.
Based on everything we’ve seen of Natasha up to that point, it’s safe to assume that she’s equally as laconic and disinterested at work as she is in her personal life. So, it’s surprising to learn that not only is she apparently good at her job, but her boss, Anton (Anthony Marble) wants her to assist him on a trip to Europe. Given the way Anton brushes Natasha’s hair out of her face during their conversation, it’s perhaps easy to dismiss his offer as a veiled come-on, but there’s a certain dissonance in Natasha not having a slightly more menial job.
Still, while elements of Sunday Girl don’t always mesh, it’s hard to fault Ambrosio when his film is largely so surprising and sharp. Not everything Natasha does or experiences may quite make sense and it’s perhaps a little difficult to understand in the end what she wants or how the audience is supposed to interpret what happens, but like Natasha’s romantic relationships, Sunday Girl is fun while it lasts. Not everything has to change you, sometimes you just need a way to pass the time.
