REEL | Dakota Fanning Gets Over 'The Sun Never Sets'

"I like you as a boat girl."

Independent Film Company / Mongrel Media

Micro-budget auteur Joe Swanberg is back with his latest indie romantic dramedy, The Sun Never Sets, starring Dakota Fanning as a thirty-something woman reflecting on her life and age-gap relationship. After spending the summer apart from her divorced but loving, long-term boyfriend (a shockingly clean-shaven Jake Johnson) with a family of his own, she runs into her toxic ex (Cory Michael Smith), and some predictable but hilarious romantic complications ensue.

Shot and set in Anchorage, Alaska, Swanberg continues his penchant for keen casting and directing naturalistic performances, including from Debby Ryan as Fanning's pregnant bestie and Anna Konkle as Johnson's supportive ex-wife. It's a refreshingly identifiable premise that Fanning's Wendy feels conflicted over possibly leaving a committed partnership because of Johnson's Jack's disinterest in getting married again or having any more kids.

Filmed beautifully on 35mm, The Sun Never Sets is an Alaskan slice-of-life, contemporary romance about everyday relationships with the familiar throughline of a complex love triangle. Swanberg's improvisation style and intimate framing lend to the warm feeling of real people struggling to decide what they want in the moment. Based on his own experiences dating post-divorce, the film has a clear sheen of realistic naturalism that only enhances Fanning's career-best (adult) performance.

It's a shockingly honest portrait of dating, romance, and second acts in life at any age—imagine a softer version of The Invite. The Sun Never Sets screens at the VIFF Centre starting September 18th.


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