The first objective of any anthology is to find a common thread while avoiding becoming mired in the inconsistencies that often ensnare this type of storytelling. In her feature debut drama, Sunfish (& Other Stories on Green Lake), Sierra Falconer confidently sidesteps this common faux pas and casts the impression that there was never a moment of doubt in her mind.
There’s joy in experiencing an anthology film like Sunfish (& Other Stories on Green Lake), as the four stories brim with self-confidence, albeit with a gentle energy that echoes the quiet and scenic setting. Look closely enough at this collection of stories about a group of residents of a small American town on Green Lake, and there’s the semblance of a conversation between narrative and setting.
“Sunfish” centers on 14-year-old Lu (Maren Heary), who learns to sail after her mother gets hitched on the spur of the moment and drops her off at her grandparents. In “Summer Camp”, Jun (Jim Kaplan) feels the weight of his mother’s expectations that he’ll one day be the principal and first chair of the Chicago Symphony.
“Two Hearted” follows fisherman Finn (Dominic Bogart) on an unexpected adventure with single mother Annie (Karsen Liotta), who helps him go after the catch of his life. In “Resident Bird”, two sisters, Robin (Emily Hall) and Blue (Tenley Kellogg), have a Hollywood producer turn up at their quaint bed and breakfast, accompanied by his shy teenage son and cantankerous wife.
“Sunfish” carries a specific feeling that is difficult to express matter-of-factly. I daresay it is like the gentle breeze that grazes our skin, ruffles our hair or the curtains by the open window, or the warmth of a summer’s day. Falconer clings to innocence even as Lou is abandoned by her mother and Jun is pressured by his mother to look to the future, while Finn and Annie become Green Lake’s Bonnie and Clyde when they steal a harpoon. “Sunfish” nevertheless remains young and hopeful at heart.
These swells of anxiety or insecurity gravitate for dramatic purposes to the clichéd tradition of exploring the underlying blemishes of the quaint or picturesque. In “Sunfish”, these afflictions are gentler and more innocent than Alfred Hitchcock and David Lynch films, cynically peeking beneath the surface of the small and inconspicuous Californian town as in Shadow of a Doubt (1943), or beyond the suburban white picket fences and roses in Blue Velvet (1986).
It’s strange to draw this comparison because Falconer’s film is far removed from these darker cinematic renderings of human nature. However, even “Sunfish” must reckon with the reality that life can be harsh and disappointing.
We must surrender ourselves to Sunfish (& Other Stories on Green Lake) because Falconer doesn’t entertain grand or complicated thematic overtures. It’s an example of workmanlike storytelling — the graft of honing precise themes and ideas that give each story purpose. The film is, first and foremost, an emotional experience from which the themes and ideas emerge. Falconer’s focus, however, is to put the characters front and center so the stories emerge naturally from them rather than the characters arduously working to deliver a thematic message.
In “Two Hearted”, Falconer begins to turn “Sunfish” into a more conversational drama. Finn desires to be remembered and for his life to have meant something. Annie tells Finn that Green Lake is where no one has any dreams and describes it as a black hole that her three-year-old has already outgrown. Together, they talk about their regrets and dreams, communicating the story’s deeper themes amid the physical dramedy of their adventure.
This approach comes to fruition in the heavily dialogue-driven “Resident Bird”, which portrays the relationship between Robin and Blue and the latter’s anxiety about her sister leaving for college. This is striking because in “Sunfish” and “Summer Camp”, there’s a communicative void between the adolescents and their mothers, and both stories are built around the audience watching instead of listening.
It’s necessary to watch Jun rigorously practice playing the violin, his interactions with the other students, and how he manages the stress. Only then can we begin to piece together the deeper themes and ideas Falconer is entertaining here. Likewise, in Lu’s story, Falconer plays with metaphor to create layers within the story that reveal the thematic intentions.
This playfulness with metaphor is something Falconer carries throughout the anthology film by having different stories thematically mirror one another. Jun experiences the cost of daring to dream, while Annie, who was meant to go to college, says she thought there would be more to life. She sees chasing one’s dreams through rose-tinted glasses, while Jun experiences the harsh reality.
On the flip side, Robin represents the hopeful and romanticized narrative of aspiring. Unlike Jun, her dreams are her own and no one else’s. Lu and Jun’s stories are centered on the resiliency to survive in spite of their parents. However, the most noticeable act of mirroring revolves around the theme of connection.
American academic Brené Brown has spoken about how human beings are driven by connection and how we are hardwired to find it. Each of the four stories in Sunfish (& Other Stories on Green Lake) sensitively reflects this and incorporates the theme of letting go of our expectations, whether it be Lu letting go of the expectations she has of her mother or Blue realizing that Robin has her own life to live.
Falconer perfectly threads together these stories and bookends them with characters coming and going. It’s as if the camera is passed on from one character to another, or between “Two Hearted” and “Resident Bird”, the camera is self-aware that it’s time to depart. This gives Sunfish (& Other Stories on Green Lake) a natural flow and honors that storytelling should sometimes be like people-watching. The object of our interest disappears from our view, but the story doesn’t end.
In the same way, Falconer’s characters disappear from our view, but their lives and stories continue. This is suggested in “Resident Bird”‘s final shot.
Sunfish (& Other Stories on Green Lake) premiered in the US Dramatic Competition of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.