Overview

• At its world premiere in TIFF’s Discovery section, the film drew sustained laughs, attentive silence and cheering during the Q&A, according to on-the-ground reports.
• Early wrote, directed and stars as a food influencer concealing an eating disorder, emphasizing that the intent is an earnest ingénue performance rather than a comment on gender identity.
• The movie blends high-style melodrama and satire, invoking John Waters, Douglas Sirk and ’80s–’90s TV telepics, with critics noting its soft-focus look and genre pastiche.
• It was produced independently, shot in Los Angeles over an aggressively fast schedule of about four weeks, and written “in a fury,” as Early describes his deliberate, unselfconscious process.
• The ensemble features Kate Berlant, Conner O’Malley, Claudia O’Doherty, Eric Rahill, Kristen Johnston, Vanessa Bayer and Leah Hennessey, and the film is still seeking distribution.