In her small Maritime community in Newfoundland, Eliza’s reputation and clean-cut persona is shattered in the eyes of her community when a secret online life is shown to her neighbours and her quiet relationship is made known. This comes at a time of rapid change for her community as her family’s church is being sold, making her the centre of a dramatic mood swing within her town.
Sweet Angel Baby immediately sets you into the small town feeling of it all. The prominent natural setting and large areas that swallow up smaller buildings place us right into this small town. The location choices also create that small town vibe. For example, this may appear like a community dinner but it is also one that is full of prejudice, showing that conflict is inevitable when Eliza’s online life comes into contact with the opinions of her small town relationships. The film uses every opening scene to set up these key elements, showing what relationships may become more intense in the wake of her social media being exposed and which may drift to avoid the pain. Angel does take a lot of time to build this reveal up, becoming our entrance into the third act instead of what feels like a first act ender or a midpoint twist. The scenes after this reveal justify the film’s runtime more than the ones before it, making it feel like a lesser set up that could have done the story a favour. Still, the film does make mostly every scene interesting, setting up character dynamics and moments that will come to haunt Eliza in the third act.
Sweet Angel Baby is shot with a simple, mostly documentary-style lighting approach, capturing the honesty of her photography on social media and the lighting of these simple spaces which often feel bolstered by the natural sunlight of the windows in each location. It feels very familiar, shot in a way where you feel like you’ve been there before, making the film even more inviting as a unique Canadian small town story.
Featuring very lively performances and boldness from every cast member the film feels like we are being brought into a community because of the attention that is paid to character interactions. You get the feeling that they already know each other and how long their histories are with each other. Michaela Kurminsky, as the lead Eliza, has to bring a solitary wildness to her time where she is truly being herself while communicating the way that her character acts as a normal member of the community for the others. The detail brought out by director Michaela Kurminsky is quite impressive. You see the way she corrects herself so she doesn’t reveal her relationship with Toni (impressively played by Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers) despite them often being in the same room and having a good time together.
Sweet Angel Baby is available in theatres on Friday, August 15th, 2025.
