Written and directed by leading actor Steven Martini, who based BitterSweet on his own experiences: “The film was born from a crisis that reshaped how I saw myself—as a man, a father, and someone learning, later in life, about his own neurodivergence. What I once thought were flaws or emotional volatility turned out to be undiagnosed ADHD and ASD. Years later, after watching my second son be diagnosed with autism, the pieces finally connected. BitterSweet is my attempt to process that realization—with honesty, humor, and heart.”
BitterSweet follows Sam, a new father with undiagnosed neurodivergence, who faces a bureaucratic nightmare after a mix-up leads to his arrest, separating him from his family. Also starring: Gabriela Kulaif, Terence Leclere, Andrew Leeds, Erik Marmo, Nic Novicki, Abbe Rowlins, Alyssa Rayomie Tibbs and William Baldwin.
It’s hard to imagine just how many people there are in the world who are struggling because of undiagnosed mental disorders, and that’s without even considering the past when they were practically never diagnosed at all. Which is exactly why it’s great to see filmmakers like Steven Martini attempting to address the issue in a way that captures the everyday difficulties, especially by channelling their own intimate knowledge of them. In particular Martini makes a sincere effort to show how quickly problems can snowball into derailing entire lives over basic miscommunication and a lack of patience and understanding from authorities.
The tone feels like old-school American humour, it brings in a lot of classic physicality and that kind of tumultuous, unpredictable atmosphere. Martini’s directorial style as a whole feels like it was influenced by romcoms of the 1980s and 1990s. With the exception of the score which can be heavy handed and silly, slightly undermining the sincerity. Regardless, Martini’s writing does an excellent job of capturing the frustrating nature of those misunderstandings and worsening problems, and how deeply unnecessary they are. Particularly when you’re dealing with government bodies or prejudiced police forces who have often showed little awareness or compassion for mental health and neurodivergence.
Although the only red herring is that there’s not enough explanation around Sam’s partner, Gigi’s (Gabriela Kulaif) behaviour and why she doesn’t do more to prevent further misunderstandings. There is the factor that English is not her first language and that barrier can cause things to be lost in translation, but it isn’t significant enough to explain why she doesn’t do more to help. It feels like they needed to let her get more involved or add moments to also explore her emotional state and struggle throughout the experience, to truly round things out.
That feels as though it reflects how Steven Martini is occasionally leaning on the comedy a touch too much. It’s a great choice to make the topic more engaging viewing but it can become farcical at times. There’s satire to be found but it feels very light, there was the potential to directly grapple with the issues of mental disorders, but it keeps things more open to focusing on the romantic and family side of things. Martini does dive in headfirst with exploring how toxic attitudes can exacerbate things, via William Baldwin’s quintessentially and loudly chauvinist lawyer. Overall, Martini goes for a very chaotic, comical style which has its advantages and disadvantages, it can be strange or unusual at times, but it also brings through a sweetness and there’s a strong vein of love to portray this very personal story.
A lot of BitterSweet hinges upon the performance from Martini and there’s nothing to worry about there as he’s excellent. He does a wonderful job of capturing the frenzied nature of Sam, how his actions occasionally take the wrong turn but that there is a big heart behind them. He also very charmingly portrays Sam’s love of his son, as well as his kindness, the patience he has to employ to go through that situation is more than most people have and yet his focus remains on reuniting with his family. There’s also a lot of moments where Martini gets to really sharpen the dialogue and bring a nicely fast patter to it. Especially when he’s opposite Alyssa Rayomie Tibbs, who’s a standout as she adds a good dose of sarcasm and dry wit. Andrew Leeds is similarly a great addition to add some variety to the tone, it’s somewhere between apathy and disillusionment yet surprisingly warm.
BitterSweet has a wonderful concept, there are far too many people who go day to day having to deal with problems stemming from both undiagnosed disorders and a general lack of understanding about neurodivergence. So, to explore that in an accessible and comedic fashion was a great idea. Steven Martini is charming as Sam, he’s wild-eyed but big-hearted, he might not be able to always make the right decisions but he’s a sweet man who loves his family. The direction feels very old-school American comedy, embracing chaos and calamity, while bringing through a wholesome side and a big theme of romance. Not everything works and it can occasionally veer towards being silly, not quite tapping into the poignancy of the issues. Although, while the style can feel a touch old-fashioned at times, the story feels very relevant and compassionate.
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