Marvelous and the Black Hole - SPOILER-FREE Review | Sundance 2021
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Directed by: Kate Tsang
Written by: Kate Tsang
Starring: Miya Cech, Rhea Perlman, Leonardo Nam, Kannon Omachi, Paulina Lule, Keith Powell
Runtime: 81 min
Synopsis: Thirteen-year-old Sammy (Miya Cech) is struggling to cope with the death of her mother. After she is caught vandalizing one of her school’s restrooms, her father, fed up with her wild behavior, enrolls her in a summer course - if she fails, she’ll be sent to a boot camp for delinquent youth. After storming out of her first class, Sammy meets Margot (Rhea Perlman), a surly magician. Margot forces Sammy to be her assistant for a performance, and although Sammy seems uninterested, she seeks Margot out after the show and asks to become Margot’s pupil. Margot agrees, and as their unlikely friendship grows, we learn that she and Sammy understand each other more than they expected.
It’s definitely my fault, but my Sundance schedule so far can mostly be characterized by incredibly ambiguous endings, extremely layered narratives, and emotionally heavy stories that left me utterly exhausted by the end of the day. After an overwhelming, devastating viewing of Mass, I seriously needed something to boost my spirit and recharge my energy for the rest of the day. Therefore, I’m super delighted that Marvelous and the Black Hole is such a wonderfully light, funny, uplifting film.
Miya Cech (Sammy) and Rhea Perlman (Margot) offer two heartfelt, amusing performances by portraying captivating characters who have more things in common than they imagine. With a beautifully written, nuanced screenplay and terrific direction, Kate Tsang delivers a lovely story about sensitive matters such as grief, anger, and the whole “moving on” theme, but also about following your passion without holding anything back. It was with genuine pleasure and joy that I closely followed the young protagonist throughout the entire runtime without looking away from the screen.
My biggest compliment has to go to Tsang’s writing. I can count so many apparently irrelevant little details that later pay off in such an emotionally resonant manner. I dropped a couple of tears in the last few minutes when Sammy gets to prove her worth, and part of that is also due to Miya’s display, an astonishing surprise for me. In addition to this, I love the little sketches spread across the movie, like the screen was Sammy’s notebook, demonstrating what she’s feeling in the moment. An innovative, entertaining way of developing a character further.
Final Thoughts
Marvelous and the Black Hole is a massive surprise, being one of my absolute favorites from Sundance so far. Kate Tsang’s feature directorial debut is a huge success that definitely places her as a filmmaker to pay close attention to in the following years. With a remarkably subtle, detailed screenplay, Miya Cech and Rhea Perlman spread their sparkling chemistry across the screen, delivering two of the most entertaining performances I’ve seen in the last few days. A heartwarming story that begins with the impact of the loss of a mother and finishes with an emotionally powerful, uplifting, magic(al) show that I’ll remember for quite a while. The young protagonist is so relatable that I couldn’t help but drop a couple of tears by the end.
