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Epoch Times
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Epoch Times
‘Sew Torn': A Seamstress So Torn Between Right and Wrong
R | 1h 40m | Crime, Thriller, Comedy | 2025 'Sew Torn,' directed by Freddy Macdonald, is an eccentric, whimsical crime thriller that's not a time-loop movie, but may appeal to those who enjoy choose-your-own-adventure novels. Barbara (Eve Connolly), a beautiful, introverted, and anxious American living in Switzerland, runs a sewing supply shop and a mobile seamstress business that her mother left her after she died. One day, Barbara, driving scenic Swiss mountain backroads, happens upon what initially looks like the aftermath of a drug deal gone terribly wrong—it's actually a crime in progress. Two motorcyclists have crashed. There's white powder strewn about, there's a bulky metal case we immediately surmise is chock full of cash, and the injured and bleeding men are crawling down the road. One is in hot (if snail-paced and agonized) pursuit of the other, with murderous intent. Which Scenario? Much like the 1999 German movie 'Run Lola Run,' three very different timelines are presented: 1) commit the perfect crime, 2) call the police, or 3) just drive away. Which do you fancy? (L–R) Beck (Thomas Douglas), Barbara (Eve Connolly), and Joshua (Calum Worthy) in "Sew Torn." Sunrise Films The film's main conceit and artifice (and fun) is the revelation that Barbara is a seamstress version of big wall rock climber. She's got fancy knots, she knows pulleys, anchoring, hauling, and grappling-iron techniques, but on a Lilliputian scale. And so, utilizing only the contents of her mobile sewing kit, she outwits, outsmarts, and outguns the bad guys with elaborate Rube Goldberg-esque contraptions. She can rig a makeshift blow gun, blow a threaded needle across a room, and set a booby-trap. Or reel in a pistol without getting fingerprints on it. Only instead of a 9.5mm climbing rope, carabiners, and ice axes, she uses thread and sewing needles. Most of Barbara's little contraptions aren't traced out in enough detail to be persuasive, but enough to be able to suspend disbelief, if only for the sake of comedy. Related Stories 5/2/2025 4/30/2025 The Bad Guys The drug dealer and drug buyer are Joshua (Calum Worthy) and Beck (Thomas Douglas), respectively. Sometimes they're Barbara's allies, sometimes they're antagonists, but in every timeline she has to deal with Hudson (John Lynch), the drug-dealing head honcho, who demeans and verbally abuses both her, and Joshua, his son. It's only when the last domino falls that you fully understand these elaborate, inventive, and unique ways of clobbering criminals with simple household objects. But in the same way all the thread-centric gizmos, contraptions, and strategies gloss over establishing realism and stretch credibility to the max, the entire blackly comedic and surprisingly violent yarn, er, thread, is kind of threadbare—lots of loose ends. Promotional poster for "Sew Torn." Sunrise Films Ultimately, not all will find this far-fetched concept agreeable. The film's main error is revealing the outcome of each particular story-thread in the film's opening moments. When it's evident each discrete section won't end well, it dulls the suspense, which is why talking about it here isn't really a spoiler. But 'Sew Torn' is more about the journey than the destination, and viewers who can appreciate the whimsy and idiosyncratic inventiveness will enjoy the ride. Also, there's a more profound theme at work here, whether intentional or not. In Norse mythology, the Norns—Urd, Veroandi, and Skuld—are the three goddesses who govern destiny. Living at the foot of Yggdrasil, the World Tree, the Norns tirelessly weave the tapestry of human fate, with each string representing a life, and the string's length representing brevity or longevity. Barbara (Eve Connolly) experiencing a bad outcome resulting from her deeds, in "Sew Torn." Sunrise Films Each of Barbara's life threads ends badly. Why? Could it be that because, regardless of the scenario, the overwhelming desire to abscond with that briefcase full of money, and the cold, calculated, lack of remorse behind her ruthless string-pulling—is the constant? Could it be that the karma emanating from those thoughts unswervingly leads her back to the same outcome, until such time when she divests herself of them via harsh life lessons? If that's intentionally what's going on here, that's pretty brilliant. 'Sew Torn' is on digital platforms from 31 March. Promotional poster for "Sew Torn." Sunrise Films 'Sew Torn' Director: Freddy Macdonald Starring: Eve Connolly, Calum Worthy, Thomas Douglas, John Lynch MPAA Rating: R Running Time: 1 hour, 40 minutes Release Date: April 25, 2025 Rating: 3 stars out of 5 Would you like to see other kinds of arts and culture articles? Please email us your story ideas or feedback at
Reuters
13-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Reuters
Berlin Film Festival opening film sends message that migrants welcome, says star
BERLIN, Feb 13 (Reuters) - The Berlin Film Festival's opening feature, dysfunctional family drama "The Light," sends the unequivocal message that migrants are welcome, said star Lars Eidinger, ahead of German elections characterised by debate over tougher migration rules. The film shows "that someone coming from the outside can also help and we can benefit from them and they don't want to take anything away from us," he told Reuters in an interview. "It's in fact the opposite, they can contribute," said Eidinger, who plays the film's sellout father, Tim Engels. Migration is a top concern for German voters ahead of national elections on Feb. 23, the last day of the festival, with the far-right, anti-Islam and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party polling second in most surveys. Politics threaten to overshadow this year's festival, despite organisers' hopes that conversation centres on cinema. "Run Lola Run" director Tom Tykwer's nearly three-hour opus follows the Engels family, who are so preoccupied with their own lives, whether video games, work or clubbing, that they barely notice when the housekeeper dies at their smart Berlin apartment. Tykwer, one of the creators of hit historical series "Babylon Berlin," told Reuters that while he sees shades of the Weimar Republic interwar period that saw the rise of the Nazis in the present day, people today are also notably different. "We're really not the same crowd that lived 90 years ago. Like, we're not like our grandparents, so who are we?" he said, adding he wanted to look at what "we are doing with this world that's in such turmoil". The family begins to bridge their disconnect after Farrah, a Syrian refugee played by Tala Al Deen, enters their lives as the new housekeeper, along with her unique light therapy device. In contrast to the Engels family, Farrah lives in a small block apartment with several other women, without her family. Nicolette Krebitz, who plays the mother, Milena Engels, said it was difficult to portray a character whose privilege and hypocrisy undergo such unflinching scrutiny in the film. "You don't want to see yourself being a white privileged person, being unhappy about things compared to what the other leading lady in the film (Farrah) is experiencing," Krebitz told Reuters.
