Sparrows Dance

Released Aug 23, 2013

1h 21m

Comedy

Drama

Romance

List

93%

14 Reviews

Tomatometer

76%

100+ Ratings

Audience Score

An agoraphobic woman (Marin Ireland) unexpectedly connects with the plumber (Paul Sparks) who enters her apartment to make a repair.

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James A

This awesome film is not a comedy. It's a triumph. Two lost puzzled souls connect. The Jersey girl, stuck inside, has given up on human connection. She even smokes when she eats takeout. The New York sax player comes to clean her pipes. Pays his bills moonlighting with a dayjob plumbing (great Queens accent). At first, he talks too much, she talks too little, but as she is charmed by his anecdotes, she opens up to him in a way she hasn't opened up in a long time. She becomes more accessible to intrusion quickly. She needs it and so does he. She breaks her fear of leaving her apartment, and he finds someone that listens to him. He is your worst nightmare if all you want is a plumber, but he's the most authentic artisan you'll ever meet. She is everybody's worst night-terror, and she is also the most giving soul a lost puzzled piece can find. LOVE THIS LITTLE PICTURE (I will look out for these two actors).

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/31/23

Full Review

Tim O

This movie starts off with the main character on the toilet. It never got better from that point. This is one of the few movies I had to stop because it was so slow and boring just like the main character's life. When people make movies for film festivals they make them for art and not viewability. If you like dry content and boring movies then this is your movie. Everyone else, skip it

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

09/10/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I don't know why I am just finding this movie in 2021. What a fantastic treasure to discover. This off-center romance was well acted, well written, and well paced. The music and set design could be considered another character. Incredibly, we never learn the name of the female main character, but her fear of living outside her well managed world is deftly and delicately portrayed. It is clear she wants more from the world, and in Wes, I hope she finds it. The intimate conversations edged close to being uncomfortable, as they should, but the love story effortlessly rebounds the discomfort, and makes it okay to squirm a little with them on their journey. Although only one of them has relegated themselves to a life in the bunker, they both seem to yearn for the same thing. I can say definitively, this movie left me wanting to know more about them, but it is quite alright that I don't.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/23/23

Full Review

Audience Member

An astonishingly beautiful and touching love story with just two characters delivering understated and realistic performances, particularly Marin Ireland with her convincing performance of someone with a severe anxiety disorder. Writing and direction are first rate and an example of how a excellent film can be made on what must have been a tiny budget. It's a must see for anyone who cares about reality and emotion.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/19/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Was I the only one who got Mitch hedberg vibes from the plumber? Save me a glass for tomorrow haha 2.7

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

06/14/20

Full Review

Audience Member

I love the scenery, the story. It's midway between a movie and a play.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/29/23

Full Review

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Noah Buschel

Director

Marin Ireland

Woman in Apartment

Paul Sparks

Wes

Anthony Arkin

Cory the Delivery Man

Zoran Radanovich

Franz

Niesha Butler

Steph

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Farran Smith Nehme

New York Post

Given that the opening shot shows the heroine on the toilet, what a nice surprise to find that this is a pure love story, told with elegance and simplicity on a low budget.

Rated: 3/4

Aug 23, 2013

Full Review

Ronnie Scheib

Variety

Sparks' oddball, self-deprecatory charm and Ireland's uncertainties play off each other nicely as their eclectic tastes mesh; both characters are thrilled at finding someone who accepts and even welcomes the other's peculiarities.

Aug 22, 2013

Full Review

Nick Schager

The Dissolve

A mannered, occasionally mesmerizing romance that frequently cops to its own artificiality.

Rated: 3/5

Aug 22, 2013

Full Review

Mat Bradley-Tschirgi

Battleship Pretension

Sparrows Dance is a unique romantic comedy in that it's asking the viewer to follow around the romantic apartment bound exploits of a pair of withdrawn loners.

Dec 8, 2020

Full Review

Stephen Saito

Moveable Fest

The real beauty of "Sparrows Dance" is seeing all the artifice of its movie trappings fall away, a construction that Buschel asks the audience to confront directly in a slow dance scene

Dec 17, 2018

Full Review

Jared Mobarak

The Film Stage

Sparrows Dance unfolds like a play with its emotion projected through cadence, carefully written words, and an excitingly raw series of expressive body language.

Rated: B+

Jun 28, 2016

Full Review

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Synopsis

An agoraphobic woman (Marin Ireland) unexpectedly connects with the plumber (Paul Sparks) who enters her apartment to make a repair.

Director: Noah Buschel
Producer: Michaela Conlin
Screenwriter: Noah Buschel
Distributor: Tribeca Film
Production Co: OneZero Productions
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 23, 2013, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 21, 2014
Runtime: 1h 21m

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