Sundance 2020

[Chris Knipp]

Swoony nostalgia.


TESSA THOMPSON, NNAMDI ASOMUGHA IN SYLVIE'S LOVE

SYLVIE'S LOVE (Eugene Ashe) is another rave (four stars) from GUARDIAN'S Benjamin Lee, which he calls a "heartfelt period romance" that's 'a thrilling throwback." Set in New York in the summer of 1957, it's about the romance of a woman working in her father's record store with a saxophone player who wanders in looking for a Thelonius Monk record and winds up working there too. This is a "tribute to the glossy studio romances of the 50s and 60s" with black lead characters - and from former musician Ashe, a lot of smart period music, chiefly jazz. Leslie Felperin in HOLLYWOOD REPORTER says this "will send grandparents and fans of Golden Age cinema swooning with nostalgia." Fifties production values are scrupulously recaptured. The story background is softened and made "anodyne," she says, but if you put that aside, you're "in for a treat."