While the awards season machine is aligning for Naomi Watts around “Diana,” maybe “Sunlight Jr.” should’ve been the card that was played? With the biopic receiving some rather vile early notices, this little indie perhaps better showcases the range and talent we’ve long come to appreciate from the actress.
Co-starring Matt Dillon, “Sunlight Jr.” follows Melissa (Watts) and the disabled Ray (Dillon), a permanently down-on-their-luck couple, struggling to make ends meet and pay the bill for the motel room they live in. But good news arrives when Melissa finds out she’s pregnant, but that’s soon obscured by the fact that caring for this new arrival might be beyond the reach of both them. Playing the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year, we called the picture “soulful, humanistic and an authentic portrait of the distressed” (yep, we’re quoted in the spot), but also “unrelentingly bleak.”
But you can let the light shine in from the latest from “Sherrybaby” director Laurie Collyer on November 15th. Watch below. [The Film Stage]