Lillian, a hot teenage girl, is on a boring school field trip to Washington, D.C. Her class goes to a random pizzeria, which ends up being Comet Ping Pong, the restaurant at the center of the Pizzagate conspiracy. (The short of it: John Podesta and Hillary Clinton are trafficking kids into a sex ring, discussing it secretly through email with pizza-related code words.) An incel comes in with a gun to “save” the kids locked in the basement. This lets Lillian run free. Written by the film critic Nick Pinkerton and directed by his buddy, the beloved cinematographer Sean Price Williams, the rest of the film sees Lillian floating around the Northeast, running into Antifa punks, an academic-slash-Nazi (played by Simon Rex), and hipster filmmakers (Ayo Edebiri and Jeremy O’Harris). The film is both funny and sincere, and its star, Talia Ryder, is a knockout. —Jensen Davis
The Arts Intel Report
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
The Sweet East
Talia Ryder as Lillian in The Sweet East.
When
Dec 1–31, 2023
Where
Etc
Photo: © Marathon Films