Identity and Inheritance Collide Over Sunday Dinner

Read Time:4 Minute, 56 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
Sunday Sauce
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Genre: Comedy, Drama, Family
Year Released: 2025
Runtime: 14m
Director(s): Matt Campanella
Writer(s): Matt Campanella
Cast: Cathy Moriarty, Matthew Risch, Matt Campanella, Nicole Ehinger, Maria Carrozza, Vincenza Campanella
Where to Watch: shown at the 2025 HollyShorts Film Festival

RAVING REVIEW: Family dinners are rarely as peaceful as the movies make them out to be. SUNDAY SAUCE leans into that chaos, delivering a bold, biting, and unexpectedly moving portrait of identity and inheritance—all packed into a brisk 14 minutes. Writer-director Matt Campanella’s short, fresh off its selection at the Oscar-qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival, proves that he has a knack for finding the emotional fault lines hidden beneath familiar rituals.

The story unfolds over a single Sunday dinner in Morris Park, New York. What begins as a matchmaking attempt quickly spirals into something more volatile, as old tensions and buried truths bubble to the surface. At the center is Gino (Matthew Risch), a middle-aged man juggling his family’s expectations, his own hidden desires, and the suffocating weight of tradition. Campanella’s script cleverly uses the dinner table as both a literal and metaphorical battleground, where Catholic guilt and unspoken truths warp the evening into something darkly funny and deeply resonant.

What makes SUNDAY SAUCE stand out is its genre-bending ambition. The film blends humor with moments of surreal, almost body-horror-like imagery as Gino’s internal struggle takes on strange and unsettling forms. It’s a risky choice, but Campanella pulls it off with confidence. His voice as a filmmaker is distinct—unafraid to explore identity and repression in ways that feel both specific and universal.

At the heart of the film is an unforgettable performance from Academy Award nominee Cathy Moriarty. As Nancy, the family’s matriarch, Moriarty brings a magnetic presence that oscillates between biting comedy and genuine vulnerability. She anchors the film with a performance that reminds viewers why she’s a screen legend, while also showing that she still has new shades to offer.

The ensemble surrounding her is just as compelling. Matthew Risch brings depth to Gino, making his emotional reckoning feel raw and lived-in. Nicole Ehinger, Maria Carrozza, and Matt Campanella himself add texture to the chaotic family dynamic. Perhaps most memorable is Vincenza Campanella, the director’s real-life grandmother, making her screen debut as Antonella, the sharp-tongued Nonna whose unfiltered comments provide some of the film’s biggest laughs.

Cinematographer Stefan Nachmann gives the cramped family dinner setting an almost operatic intensity, shifting fluidly between warm intimacy and oppressive claustrophobia. The editing by John Rafanelli ensures that the pivots feel jarring but in a natural way. Cat Gubernick’s production design subtly enhances the film’s surreal flourishes without tipping into gimmickry. The entire production reflects the ambition behind the project, serving not only as a short film but also as a proof of concept for a feature-length version already in development.

SUNDAY SAUCE resonates because it taps into something deeply human. While it specifically explores queer identity within the context of an Italian-American Catholic family, its themes—fear of being truly seen, the burden of tradition, and the reckoning that comes with transformation—are universal. It’s a love letter to families and the complexities of truth, one that asks what happens when we stop hiding and start living authentically.

As a short, it does exactly what it sets out to do: spark conversation and leave viewers eager for more. Given that Campanella is already developing a feature adaptation, SUNDAY SAUCE feels less like an endpoint and more like a tantalizing first course.

Ultimately, SUNDAY SAUCE succeeds on multiple levels—as a character-driven drama, a biting family comedy, and an exploration of identity wrapped in the heavy embrace of tradition. It’s rare to find a short film that can juggle so much and still feel cohesive, but Campanella and his team manage it with grace. With Moriarty’s performance and a script that doesn’t shy away from the discomfort of family truths, it’s a film that lingers well beyond its 14-minute runtime.

For anyone who has ever felt out of place at their own family table, SUNDAY SAUCE will hit close to home. And like the best family dinners, it’s equal parts messy, heartfelt, and unforgettable. I debated long and hard about whether to bring up the elephant in the room, and while I won’t go into detail, the film offers one of the most impactful, uncomfortable, and intense scenes I can remember seeing. It’s something you just have to experience!

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[photo courtesy of C4MP FILMS]

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