Marvelous and the Black Hole
**Seen at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.
Kate Tsang has made a film here that is simply charming. There are issues of loss and moving on and accepting different permutations of family at work in this film, but ultimately, it’s just about entertaining its audience as Sammy Ko, played by Miya Cech, figures out her path after the death of her mother, and finds that she just needed a little magic in her life.
Is there a more dread-inducing set of words than “coming-of-age” film when it comes to movies about teenagers? “Marvelous and the Black Hole” fits into it in plenty of ways, but what makes it such a lovely treat for people are the performance by Cech and Rhea Perlman as Margot, a children’s magician she meets at her school one day, and they strike up a connection. Margot is one of those roles that just makes sense for an actress such as Perlman, who has a fun time with it, and reminds audiences who remember her for “Cheers,” among other things, why she was so important for that show. Her and Cech have good chemistry, and it takes the film far.
Even if the literal narrative is not the same as we’ve seen plenty of times before, the form is very familiar, all the way up to the end when reconciliation with her family, and better days ahead, are earned by the story, for everyone involved. What you’ll likely take away most from the film, however, is the chemistry between Cech and Perlman, and what the characters do for one another by the end. It’s a sweet, entertaining story.
