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Now streaming; IF THAT MOCKINGBIRD DON'T SING (2025)
Should acting be defined by sincerity, the raw honesty of this fleeting moment constitutes the most powerful performance we're apt to encounter this year.
Sydnie's (Aitana Doyle) older sister Iris (Ava Bodner): love her advice, but never heed it!
IF THAT MOCKINGBIRD DON'T SING (2025) / Written & Directed by Sadie Bones / Cinematographer: Briana Man (1.85:1) / Design: Lee Clayton & Deana Sidney / Editor: Frank Reynolds / Composer: Josh Landau / Acted by: Aitana Doyle, Braxton Fannin, Ava Bodner, David Krumholtz, Nadia Dajani, Catherine Curtin, Natalie Carter, Connor Jones, Kevin Corrigan, Michael Buscemi, and Bella Kouds / USA / Distributor: Tribeca Films / Not Rated / Length: 95 min.
As the titular ditty implies, whether it's a mute mockingbird, a diamond ring, a dog named Rover et al, Mama's gonna provide for her baby come what may — even if that entails putting the child up for adoption. First-time writer-director Sadie Bones breaks her bones movingly (and with laughs to spare) in this high-spirited, recklessly insightful glimpse into a Future Mother of America in the making.
Senior prom, that sacred night of raging teenage hormones. The lustful tale that greets us could have been scraped together from the outtakes reel of an R-rated (for teen smoking and intoxication) adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks melodrama. Drinking and driving after the dance leads to the consummation a brief relationship: sex on the beach, which is paid for by an unwanted pregnancy.
The sun rises over a diner as our young couple's relationship sinks over breakfast. The one behavior that best expresses Lucas' (Braxton Fannin) character: he eats cold pizza and washes it down with milk straight from the carton. To call him stupid is an insult to imbecility. Sydnie (Aitana Doyle) would be a prize catch were it not for her lousy taste in lunkheads. To his credit, the boy is just dumb enough to speak his truth. He plans on attending college out of state, and can’t wait to junk what would then be a long-distance romance even before the first digit is dialed — a conviction he broadcasts loud and clear to his fellow diners.
Video:
Trailer: IF THAT MOCKINGBIRD DON'T SING
What he’s not smart enough to recognize is what remains blatantly obvious to viewers: the woman in his arms is as good a person as a swamp-brained loser like himself will ever get. So smitten is Sydnie that, as long as she can pack a book in her purse, she’ll gladly attend frat parties thrown by loverboy’s equally boorish friends. Anything to be near him.
We meet her just as she is entering the first stage of her own particular grieving process: drawing a picture of her ex's head severed from its body, blood still oozing from the neck. In terms of the movie, it's a pleasant surprise, because so much of the comedy arising from Sydnie’s interactions with men is so forced and readily anticipated. An attempt at Uber delivery goes belly up when our preggo driver upchucks on the slippers of the guy waiting impatiently for his food. A rehearsal for a career on OnyFans is mercifully (and awkwardly) cut short. And there must be a better way for us to get a better sense of the tension between Sydnie and her father (David Krumholtz) than an ad-libbed tussle over a bag of potato chips.
Things go better with Sydnie and the women (the casting of whom is nothing short of inspired). If you could nab a no-nonsense mother and sister like Sydnie’s — both of whom stand capable of tossing sagacious wisecracks at the blink of an eye — chances are you would disown the ones you've got now. Though beautician sis Iris, played with razor-sharp satirical indifference by Ava Bodner, is the last person you'd consult on the subject of childbirth. “Babies are useless,” she prioritizes. “If it were up to me, you'd be able to kill your child up until age three.” Every word that bolts from out her gnarled intellect is to be savored.
But it's Mother Liz’s (Nadia Dajani) large-voiced personality that dwarfs all who share her space — particularly her husband, with whom she exchanges barbed-wire love taps. She supports her daughters’ bodily emancipation and choices, regardless of her own expectations. These women are defenders to the bone, providing a lopsided support system that somehow manages to keep their family whole.
They get a little additional help from Zoe (Suzanne DiDonna), a proud, professional foster mother who proves to be the most ferocious lioness to run with smugly labels reproducing as “the dumbest thing people ever do.” Despite that, her message to men is simple: “No ejaculating and evacuating. Claim your fatherhood.” And while she is otherwise a paragon of indignation, Zoe briefly lets her guard down to entrust Sydnie with this piece of sobering advice: “It's not about you anymore, it's about them.”
Her parents are in favor of their daughter getting an abortion. But even though we've known her for only an act or two, we know that it's never really on the table — though perhaps not for the reasons you might suspect. Faithful lover that she is, she decides she's going to keep it in hopes that somewhere down the line it'll bring the two of them together. It’s unclear exactly why Lucas comes around bearing flowers and an unconvincing apology to recite — though it probably had something to do with the guilt-packed clop upside the head mother Carrie (Catherine Curtin) bestowed upon him.
But never mind him: it's the well-defined backstories of the women in Sydnie’s life that provide the picture’s life blood, and none more than Carrie. She confides in her daughter-in-law, telling her the tale of a brief courtship with a jerk who sounds just like her son. Poignancy arrives in the front seat of a car: Carrie put her baby up for adoption, the child taken from her before she could even hear his heartbeat on her chest. Should acting be defined by sincerity, the raw honesty of this fleeting moment constitutes the most powerful performance we're apt to encounter this year.
A second love interest arrives on the scene in the form of Daniel (Andrew Michael Fama), a musician who Sydnie meets at band practice. His irresistible come on — he writes a song dedicated to her overnight — is enough to kindle a brief romance, but in the end, the choices Syndie makes are her own. ****
Now streaming all over the internets.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Now streaming; IF THAT MOCKINGBIRD DON'T SING (2025)
Should acting be defined by sincerity, the raw honesty of this fleeting moment constitutes the most powerful performance we're apt to encounter this year.
Now streaming; IF THAT MOCKINGBIRD DON'T SING (2025)
Should acting be defined by sincerity, the raw honesty of this fleeting moment constitutes the most powerful performance we're apt to encounter this year.
Sydnie's (Aitana Doyle) older sister Iris (Ava Bodner): love her advice, but never heed it!
IF THAT MOCKINGBIRD DON'T SING (2025) / Written & Directed by Sadie Bones / Cinematographer: Briana Man (1.85:1) / Design: Lee Clayton & Deana Sidney / Editor: Frank Reynolds / Composer: Josh Landau / Acted by: Aitana Doyle, Braxton Fannin, Ava Bodner, David Krumholtz, Nadia Dajani, Catherine Curtin, Natalie Carter, Connor Jones, Kevin Corrigan, Michael Buscemi, and Bella Kouds / USA / Distributor: Tribeca Films / Not Rated / Length: 95 min.
As the titular ditty implies, whether it's a mute mockingbird, a diamond ring, a dog named Rover et al, Mama's gonna provide for her baby come what may — even if that entails putting the child up for adoption. First-time writer-director Sadie Bones breaks her bones movingly (and with laughs to spare) in this high-spirited, recklessly insightful glimpse into a Future Mother of America in the making.
Senior prom, that sacred night of raging teenage hormones. The lustful tale that greets us could have been scraped together from the outtakes reel of an R-rated (for teen smoking and intoxication) adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks melodrama. Drinking and driving after the dance leads to the consummation a brief relationship: sex on the beach, which is paid for by an unwanted pregnancy.
The sun rises over a diner as our young couple's relationship sinks over breakfast. The one behavior that best expresses Lucas' (Braxton Fannin) character: he eats cold pizza and washes it down with milk straight from the carton. To call him stupid is an insult to imbecility. Sydnie (Aitana Doyle) would be a prize catch were it not for her lousy taste in lunkheads. To his credit, the boy is just dumb enough to speak his truth. He plans on attending college out of state, and can’t wait to junk what would then be a long-distance romance even before the first digit is dialed — a conviction he broadcasts loud and clear to his fellow diners.
Video:
Trailer: IF THAT MOCKINGBIRD DON'T SING
What he’s not smart enough to recognize is what remains blatantly obvious to viewers: the woman in his arms is as good a person as a swamp-brained loser like himself will ever get. So smitten is Sydnie that, as long as she can pack a book in her purse, she’ll gladly attend frat parties thrown by loverboy’s equally boorish friends. Anything to be near him.
We meet her just as she is entering the first stage of her own particular grieving process: drawing a picture of her ex's head severed from its body, blood still oozing from the neck. In terms of the movie, it's a pleasant surprise, because so much of the comedy arising from Sydnie’s interactions with men is so forced and readily anticipated. An attempt at Uber delivery goes belly up when our preggo driver upchucks on the slippers of the guy waiting impatiently for his food. A rehearsal for a career on OnyFans is mercifully (and awkwardly) cut short. And there must be a better way for us to get a better sense of the tension between Sydnie and her father (David Krumholtz) than an ad-libbed tussle over a bag of potato chips.
Things go better with Sydnie and the women (the casting of whom is nothing short of inspired). If you could nab a no-nonsense mother and sister like Sydnie’s — both of whom stand capable of tossing sagacious wisecracks at the blink of an eye — chances are you would disown the ones you've got now. Though beautician sis Iris, played with razor-sharp satirical indifference by Ava Bodner, is the last person you'd consult on the subject of childbirth. “Babies are useless,” she prioritizes. “If it were up to me, you'd be able to kill your child up until age three.” Every word that bolts from out her gnarled intellect is to be savored.
But it's Mother Liz’s (Nadia Dajani) large-voiced personality that dwarfs all who share her space — particularly her husband, with whom she exchanges barbed-wire love taps. She supports her daughters’ bodily emancipation and choices, regardless of her own expectations. These women are defenders to the bone, providing a lopsided support system that somehow manages to keep their family whole.
They get a little additional help from Zoe (Suzanne DiDonna), a proud, professional foster mother who proves to be the most ferocious lioness to run with smugly labels reproducing as “the dumbest thing people ever do.” Despite that, her message to men is simple: “No ejaculating and evacuating. Claim your fatherhood.” And while she is otherwise a paragon of indignation, Zoe briefly lets her guard down to entrust Sydnie with this piece of sobering advice: “It's not about you anymore, it's about them.”
Her parents are in favor of their daughter getting an abortion. But even though we've known her for only an act or two, we know that it's never really on the table — though perhaps not for the reasons you might suspect. Faithful lover that she is, she decides she's going to keep it in hopes that somewhere down the line it'll bring the two of them together. It’s unclear exactly why Lucas comes around bearing flowers and an unconvincing apology to recite — though it probably had something to do with the guilt-packed clop upside the head mother Carrie (Catherine Curtin) bestowed upon him.
But never mind him: it's the well-defined backstories of the women in Sydnie’s life that provide the picture’s life blood, and none more than Carrie. She confides in her daughter-in-law, telling her the tale of a brief courtship with a jerk who sounds just like her son. Poignancy arrives in the front seat of a car: Carrie put her baby up for adoption, the child taken from her before she could even hear his heartbeat on her chest. Should acting be defined by sincerity, the raw honesty of this fleeting moment constitutes the most powerful performance we're apt to encounter this year.
A second love interest arrives on the scene in the form of Daniel (Andrew Michael Fama), a musician who Sydnie meets at band practice. His irresistible come on — he writes a song dedicated to her overnight — is enough to kindle a brief romance, but in the end, the choices Syndie makes are her own. ****
Now streaming all over the internets.
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