Synopsis
Quickie-mart employee Melissa and paraplegic Richie are very much in love. Supported only by Melissa’s small hourly wage, they are nevertheless thrilled to learn that Melissa is pregnant. Then their situation deteriorates, and their tenuous financial situation threatens to bring their happy life crashing down.
Votre Filmothèque
Cast
- Naomi WattsMelissa
- Matt DillonRichie
- Norman ReedusJustin
- Tess HarperKathleen
- Antoni CoroneEdwin
- William HazeActor
- Yvonne GougeletKristi
- Leyla LawrenceNurse
Recommandations
- 90
The Hollywood Reporter
Naomi Watts and Matt Dillon bring impressive emotional and physical heat to Sunlight Jr., director/screenwriter Laurie Collyer’s beautifully observed character study of an unmarried couple living on the economic margins. - 80
Variety
Incandescent performances by Naomi Watts and Matt Dillon and an unerring grasp of strip-mall-dominated Florida distinguish Sunlight Jr. - 70
Village Voice
Collyer has a keen eye for underrepresented populations, but she'd be better served in the future to scale back on the overstatement. - 67
The Playlist
Unflinchingly honest and grim, Sunlight Jr. is a valuable piece of work from a filmmaker who has a distinctive voice and concerns. - 63
Slant Magazine
An admirable refusal to adhere to any overexposed poverty-porn templates, however, is taken a little too far in the opposite direction, to the point that the film feels self-consciously shapeless. - 63
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
Try as she might, Collyer cannot help but judge these people, a not-quite-fatal flaw in a movie about the down and out. - 60
The Dissolve
As Collyer risks caricature—if a caricature of Florida is even possible at this point—Watts and Dillon ease Sunlight Jr. back to more grounded, fundamental truths. - 58
The A.V. Club
Sunlight Jr. is one no-hope bummer after another, and it’s just not psychologically or sociologically acute enough to make the experience worthwhile. Watching anyone over 30 working for minimum wage would achieve the same goal in about 15 minutes.
