Sundance Review: "Sunfish (and Other Stories on Green Lake)" is an Anthology Whose Parts Don’t Quite Make a Whole

by Abe Friedtanzer

Anthologies can be very appealing, probing a number of shorter tales within the span of a feature film. There are no set rules for how they have to connect or whether they really need to, but one particular place is a frequent commonality. Sometimes, however, the uniting force just isn’t all that compelling on its own, and the stories told around it don’t do much to help. There’s nothing inherently wrong with Sundance entry Sunfish (and Other Stories on Green Lake), but none of its four separate segments make much of an impression…

Set in the area around Green Lake, Michigan, this film begins with the lackluster summer bestowed upon Lu (Maren Heary), who’s ditched by her mom as she runs off on a last-minute honeymoon and left with her grandparents, who prefer watching birds while she gives sailing a try on her own. At the music camp nearby, Jun (Jim Kaplan) practices with almost no breaks as his mother puts incredible pressure on him to fulfill her ambitious dreams for him. At a bar in town, hard-working local mother Holly (Michela Luci) takes a chance and decides to indulge her frequent customer Finn (Dominic Bogart) as he pursues a fish allegedly the size of a whale in the lake. And sisters Robin (Emily Hall) and Annie (Karsen Liotta) prepare for the latest guest at the bed and breakfast they operate.

Each of these four segments has almost nothing to do with any of the others, introduced with a brief reference to what audiences have already seen but nothing else. It’s unfortunate since some of these stories become more interesting by the time they’re almost over and then fade into oblivion without any hope of continuing once a new story begins. While the lake plays a critical framing part in each of the vignettes, there’s nothing that feels all that special about this particular body of water, which is certainly beautiful but not full of quite as much inspiration as this film seems to think. There are also a few expletives dropped that feel very out of place given the film’s overall docile and mostly family-friendly tone.  

This is the feature directorial debut from writer-director Sierra Falconer, and it’s important to note that this film, which is based on some of her own experiences, does show promise. Each of the four stories, if expanded into a feature of their own, might have felt more complete and compelling. This is a perfectly decent way an hour and a half, but audiences will likely feel as if there’s something missing. The title’s “and other stories” in parentheses best describes this anthology’s unfinished feel, full of intriguing characters who don’t get quite enough time to be three-dimensional. C+

Sunfish (and Other Stories on Green Lake) makes its world premiere in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.