Sweet Thing

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Sweet Thing

2021

1h 31m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

93%

Tomatometer

29 Reviews

46%

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

The story revolves around the two siblings and their struggle to find solid ground in the homes of Adam, their alcoholic father, and Eve, their negligent mother. The children ultimately run away and find a temporary life for themselves around the town of New Bedford, MA. What begins as a disturbing family drama becomes a rousing childhood adventure that, though tragic, is a deeply moving and hopeful testament to the poetry of adventure and the imagination of childhood.

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Critics Consensus

Often heartbreaking yet ultimately uplifting, Sweet Thing captures the wonder and horror of childhood with a deft and tender hand.

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Leigh Singer

Sight & Sound

May 13, 2026

The film’s real musical guardian angel is Van Morrison, whose lilting track from Astral Weeks inspired its title. The way the song is resung and its meaning reconfigured throughout the film shows how attuned Rockwell is to his material.

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Leslie Felperin

Guardian

Sep 7, 2021

4/5

This small, delicate, late-blooming film is quite lovely, and a throwback to the 1990s/2000s craze for semi-improvised, rough and ready indie film-making.

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Peter Rainer

FilmWeek (LAist)

Jun 22, 2021

The connection between the two children was really strong, moving, and rang true.

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Ben Flanagan

Vague Visages

Sep 23, 2023

Sweet Thing is creatively shot and bursting with energy, but Rockwell’s biggest ambition is seemingly to replicate a bunch of ideas from other films, to put visuals to his favorite songs and to showcase his talented family.

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Kevin Wight

The Wee Review

Nov 17, 2021

3

It's rare for a film dealing with such subjects to fall on the side of optimism, naively misty-eyed or not.

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Ann Lee

Radio Times

Sep 14, 2021

3/5

Even though it paints a bruising picture of dysfunctional family life, Sweet Thing charms with its touching message about childhood resilience.

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isla s

@RT89656869 Nov 5, 2022

I was going to give this film a lower rate, only it did pick up after about an hour. It's quite depressing for the first hour. Filmed in black and white, a warts all depiction of youngish kids living in a dysfunctional, neglectful domestic setting. I'd wrongly assumed the kids would somehow run away earlier in the film than they do (apologies for a potential spoiler there). It became somewhat poignant and even hopeful towards the end. It has the feel of 'The Florida Project' I suppose. A sobering watch, with some nice pieces of music used at key moments, this is ok, possibly worth a watch, yeah.

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Steve S

@RT32687682 Feb 22, 2022

A super-independent film made from the heart. This is really what can be done on a shoe string budget. Shot in black and white, the story follows a group of kids as they make their way in a poor part of town. Their home life is consists of a drunk father and abusive step-father. Their adventures take them on some tragic and dangerous sojourns. The film doesn't aim to be more than it is, and that is refreshing. The young performances are good and endearing. Will Patton as the alcoholic father is heartbreaking. There isn't new territory here but its heart is in the right place.

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Jun 20, 2021

Wait until you see Karyn Parsons' performance.,. She was unrecognizable as a negligent mother! Beautiful film! And it is streaming online at https://watch.laemmle.com/videos/sweetthing21491/60a6bfcad61b2c000131c097/

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Synopsis

The story revolves around the two siblings and their struggle to find solid ground in the homes of Adam, their alcoholic father, and Eve, their negligent mother. The children ultimately run away and find a temporary life for themselves around the town of New Bedford, MA. What begins as a disturbing family drama becomes a rousing childhood adventure that, though tragic, is a deeply moving and hopeful testament to the poetry of adventure and the imagination of childhood.

Director: Alexandre Rockwell
Producer: Louis Anania, Haley Elizabeth Anderson, Kenan Baysal, Jennifer Beals, Sam Rockwell, R.D. Dobson
Screenwriter: Alexandre Rockwell
Distributor: Film Movement
Production Co: Black Horse Productions, Twisted Holdings
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 18, 2021, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 24, 2021
Runtime: 1h 31m

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