''Sun Don't Shine'' is a 2012 American

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

written and directed by Amy Seimetz and starring

Kate Lyn Sheil Kate Lyn Sheil (born June 13, 1985) is an American actress. She has had roles in independent films like ''You're Next'', '' V/H/S'', '' The Color Wheel'', '' The Sacrament'', and ''House of Cards''. Early life Sheil was born and raised in Jers ...

and

Kentucker Audley Andrew Michael Nenninger (born November 13, 1981), known professionally as Kentucker Audley, is an American filmmaker and actor. He appeared on the 2007 ''Filmmaker Magazine'' list of 25 New Faces of Independent Film. He founded the independent ...

. It first premiered on March 10, 2012 at the

South by Southwest Film Festival South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has continued growing in both s ...

, where it won a Special Jury Award. The film was released in a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few cinemas across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

and through

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...

on April 26, 2013, by Factory25.

Plot

Crystal and Leo are a couple on the run after Crystal murdered her husband when he accused her of cheating on him with Leo. Leo tries to help the weak and needy Crystal by taking them to

St. Petersburg, Florida St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the List of municipalities in Florida, fifth-most populous city in Florida and the most populous city in the sta ...

where they hope to ditch the body and he hopes to get help from a friend that Crystal suspects is one of his ex-girlfriends. When they arrive, Leo leaves Crystal at a campsite and goes to spend the evening with his ex. Afraid of being alone, Crystal goes to the ex's house where she sees Leo kissing her and attacks them both, threatening them with a knife. Leo manages to get Crystal to drop the knife and the two leave. Leo drops Crystal off at Weeki Wachee Springs where she watches the mermaid show. In the meantime, he tries to rent a boat, however the owner of the boat rental asks him to leave after he glimpses the inside of the trunk which contains Crystal's husband. Leo enters Weeki Wachee Springs and retrieves Crystal before returning to the boat place where they go in the water and throw in the bodies of Crystal's husband and the boat man, whom Leo also killed to protect them. Leo angrily berates Crystal who flies into a rage and hits him with an oar. Believing she has killed him she gets out of the boat and wades to the shore where she sees that local police have arrived. Crystal runs off into the swampland. Meanwhile, Leo recovers from being knocked out and returns to shore where he turns himself in. Crystal wanders into someone's back garden. Seeing a pool she gets in and begins to swim. The owner of the property arrives and asks Crystal if she wants her to call the police. Crystal tells her "Not yet."

Cast

as Crystal * A. J. Bowen as Highway Angel *

as Leo * Kit Gwin as Terri * Mark Reeb as Boatman

Reception

Critical reception for ''Sun Don't Shine'' has been generally positive and the film holds a rating of 70 on ''

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

'' (based on 8 reviews) and 92% on ''

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

'' (based on 24 reviews). The ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' and ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...

'' both praised the film's acting and direction, and the reviewer for the ''New York Times'' remarked that the film "unspools like a

Françoise Sagan Françoise Sagan (; born Françoise Delphine Quoirez; 21 June 1935 – 24 September 2004) was a French playwright, novelist, and screenwriter. Sagan was known for works with strong romantic themes involving wealthy and disillusioned bourgeois ch ...

novel: purposefully, enigmatically and with a raw emotional purity that makes its volatile central couple appear even more defenseless than they really are."

Awards

*Chicken & Egg Emergent Narrative Woman Director Award,

South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

(2012, won) * Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award, Gotham Independent Film Awards (2013, nominated) *Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You, Gotham Independent Film Awards (2013, nominated)

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 2023714, Sun Don't Shine 2012 films 2012 independent films 2012 thriller films 2010s American films 2010s English-language films 2010s road movies American independent films American road movies American thriller films English-language independent films English-language thriller films Films scored by Ben Lovett Films set in St. Petersburg, Florida Films shot in Florida