You don’t need to know any background information to enjoy The Sweet East.

It is the type of film that pulls you in regardless with its evocative sound design, unique characters, and unpredictable plot (unless, of course, you find cult action, modern-day Nazis, and guns in pizza stores predictable content). With that said, the more you learn about the context, the more nuanced and layered the story and presentation becomes.

Here’s the context you need to know to appreciate all that went into this film.

In this coming of age dramedy, lost and disaffected high school senior Lillian from South Carolina, played by promising up-and-coming actress Talia Ryder, abandons her class trip to Washington D.C., and instead kicks off a journey along the east coast. She encounters characters of different extremes at every leg of her journey, in what has been called an exploration of the “inner cults behind modern America”.

The main character was not relatable, nor was she meant to be. I spent most of the film internalling screaming for Lillian to run as she knowingly made dangerous choices. As her schoolmates sing karaoke at a pizza bar, Lillian wanders to the bathroom alone, and while there, she hears the shouts of a gun-wielding PizzaGate conspiracy theorist.

This plot point is based on the real life event of a man firing a rifle inside Washington’s Comet Ping Pong pizzeria in 2016. He claimed it was home to a Clintonian child sex trafficking ring after reading incorrect viral news online. A neo-punk young man enters Lillian’s bathroom stall and they flee together. She jumps in the van of the young anarchist, abandoning her school group, which starts a series of encounters with characters of extremes. “She falls in with a variety of strange factions, each living their own alternative realities in our present day,” says Samantha Bergeson of the Indie Wire.

I found the most evocative and most deeply explored relationship to be the one between Lillian and the white supremacist academic, Lawrence, who offers her shelter and gives her a bed with Swastika-covered sheets. Upon their first encounter, Lillian lies by saying her name is Annabel, one of the neo-punks from her previous adventure. Lawrence was enraptured by her name, and later privately recited a rambling from Edgar Allen Poe’s last poem, “Annabel Lee”. This poem was allegedly about Poe’s child bride, aged thirteen at the time of marriage. This poem later inspired Vladimir Nabokov’s 1950s book, Lolita.

With this context, along with the sound design that draws you to the edge of your seat, every look Lawrence casts young Lillian's way feels perverse. Other characters that represent the various extremes that live within our society include two New York indie filmmakers who decide Lilian is perfect for their next project, and a religious zealot brotherhood in the woods. This film was Sean Price Williams’ directorial debut, a name known prior for his success as a cinematographer.

The Sweet East follows Williams’ signature grainy, shaky aesthetic on 16mm, filled with pastels and close-ups. The cinematography makes each scene feel raw and timeless. After premiering at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival in the Directors’ Fortnight section on May 18 and being acquired by Utopia, The Sweet East is now scheduled to be released on December 1 at the IFC Center in New York, followed by a national rollout.

I was lucky enough to view The Sweet East at Soho House - a private members’ club and hotel located in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. Their 44-seat screening room was luxurious, with each viewer given use of a personal lamp, table, pillow and ottoman. An impressive 94% of Rotten Tomato critics have given The Sweet East a positive review, with the average rating reaching 7.8/10.

Article by Richelle Hodson, Contributor, PhotoBook Magazine
Tearsheets by Alexa Dyer, Graphic Designer, PhotoBook Magazine

Cults, Lolita, and PizzaGate: A Guide to The Sweet East