ReelBob: ‘Sunday Girl’ ★★

By Bob Bloom

“Sunday Girl” is a story about relationships and loneliness, but it is told in a fractured manner that distracts from its themes.

The film centers on Natasha (Dasha Nekrasova) as she goes through a day breaking up with a series of boyfriends she has acquired over the previous couple of months.

At the outset, you view Natasha as self-absorbed. She is a passive-aggressive woman who refuses to make choices. She wants everyone else to make decisions for her — including about her relationships.

Natasha is a podcaster artist who takes pictures with her phone.

The movie is one of those low-budget, indie rom-coms that flood the festival circuit looking for a distributor.

Unfortunately, by the time “Sunday Girl” actually kicks into high gear, it is too late.

Even at an 80-minute running time, the movie tests your patience. It feels repetitious as Natasha goes from house to house dumping her boyfriends — whose reactions vary from over-dramatic to anger to apathy.

The movie also is marred by a series of jarring flashbacks, but really do not help in fleshing out Natasha’s personality as to why she is the way she is.

Writer-director Peter Ambrosio is trying to say something about emotional connections in the age of social media, but his point is unclear. Is it that people are so wedded to their phones that they have forgotten how to communicate with each other? Or is it that technology has made people more self-centered?

Whatever the message, “Sunday Girl” simply drags on and on, until the inevitable big reveal, which centers around Valentine’s Day.

Nekrasova’s performance, at first, is rather grating. She is insolent and self-insulated. Frankly, you fail to see the attraction.

But as the film unfolds, Nekrasova slowly unpeels the protective layer in which she lives. She exposes her vulnerability and solitude. She does yearn for warmth and love.

Unfortunately, the man she wants is her mirror image, and cannot reciprocate her feelings, which devastates Natasha.

“Never fall in love. Never let your guard down,” George (Brandon Stacy), the guy she really wants to be with, tells her.

“Sunday Girl” is a move about how the capacity for love has been dulled by our self-obsession.

And it would have been a much better film if Ambrosio had made his premise stronger. Instead, it feels diluted as if he was not confident of where he wanted to take the film.

“Sunday Girl” is just another rom com that fails to stand out from the pack. It adds nothing new to the genre and its message is one that has been spread before.

I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My reviews appear at ReelBob (reelbob.com) and Rottentomatoes (www.rottentomatoes.com). I also review Blu-rays and DVDs. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com or on Twitter @ReelBobBloom. Links to my reviews can be found on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

SUNDAY GIRL
2 stars out of 4
Not rated, language