One thing I love about film festivals is taking chances on smaller movies. As crowds get in line up to two hours early for the big premiers, I like to dedicate spaces in my schedule to the underdogs and quite often, I love to go in blindly. This was the case with Bunny, the feature length debut from co-writer and director Ben Jacobson. It was a single image that sold this movie to me. Its lead actor Mo Stark standing on a New York City Street in the summertime donning a Basketball Diaries jersey, looking on at something in the distance that is nothing more than a mystery to potential viewers.
I went in blindly and I came out discovering not only my favorite film from the festival, but one of my favorite films of 2025 so far.
Bunny (Mo Stark) is a New York City hustler (the movie’s slang for gigolo) who gets himself into a pickle on his birthday. Having thwarted an assault and left a man dead in an act of self defense, he is in desperate need of help to dispose of the body. He finds it in the best place he can, through the assistance of tenants and visitors in his crowded apartment building, including a no-nonsense landlady who has some excellent moments throughout the feature.
On paper, this seems like a dark premise and dark humor is certainly not absent from the film, but it is all brought out in a heartfelt nature through themes of community and friendship, all the while refusing to abandon an aesthetic of comic chaos.
Bunny is made special by how much it appreciates its cinematic influences. Imagine the Safdie Brothers meet Sean Baker with undertones of Harmony Korine, but without the icky feeling one might get after watching one of the latter’s movies. Filmmaker Ben Jacobson clearly appreciates gritty and grimy 90s indies, but its appreciation for the decade is not just limited to its clear influences within the narrative. There’s a multitude of fun references within its props and costumes, dialogue, and even supporting cast members, from protagonist Mo Stark wearing a Basketball Diaries jersey (the product of one of the film’s funniest gags) to audible references calling back to 90s crime films like Donnie Brasco. Two noted screenwriters even have small, but memorable supporting roles in the film. Richard Price and Eric Roth actually play roommates and contribute quite a lot to the narrative.
Price had a string of great scripts in the 80s and 90s including Spike Lee’s Clockers, Martin Scorsese’s The Color of Money, Harold Becker’s Sea of Love, and Ron Howard’s Ransom, all of which are films directed by individuals whose work has a clear appreciation for the Big Apple. Roth has crafted a string of award circuit titans including Robert Zemmeckis’ Forrest Gump, David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Michael Mann’s The Insider, Steven Spielberg’s Munich, and Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon. These are two men with a lot of traction in their trade and their presence in the film not only reflects their acknowledgment of how good Bunny’s script is, but also writer/director Ben Jacobson paying homage to the writers who influenced him.
But the cherry on the sundae is a hat featuring the title of the third installment in a classic series of action movies, Die Hard: With a Vengeance. It serves to compliment one of the film’s funniest plot devices, it was absolutely welcomed, and it left me with a big smile on my face.
Final Thoughts
We live in a time where the industry is dominated by IP and franchise features. They dominate multiplexes and take over multiple screens. Even SXSW saw a big presence of streaming movies (many of which were disappointing) and it seems the streaming era has really taken over society’s viewing habits due to the convenience of pressing play on a new movie from the comfort of your living room couch. Bunny is proof that great films with an independent spirit exist. Riding on the heels of Anora winning big at the Oscars and its filmmaker championing more indie cinema being accessible to a wide audience, now is a great time to put Bunny on your radar. As it currently seeks distribution, I am rooting for it to quickly get picked up and I have full hope in its journey as it deserves to go a long way.
4.5/5
For more SXSW 2025 Coverage, click here. To check out more of our reviews, click here. If you have suggestions for movies we should check out, email [email protected]!
Adam Khromachou has been a lifelong film watcher. It all began in 1989 at the age of 6
when his mom took him to see Tim Burton’s Batman. From then on, he knew cinema
was his passion. By the age of 8, he was learning about actors, directors, and even
began exploring the history of cinema. At the age of 12, a big turning point occurred
when he watched Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. It was the moment he really started
diving deep into films outside of the action and comedy genre and looked to explore
more classic cinema through breaking down the film’s notable influences. He obtained a
Bachelor's and Master's degree from Arizona State and in 2021, he launched his TikTok
channel Sunset Loner Cinema where he reviews and ranks films, as well as providing
in-depth cinematic retrospectives. His content can also be found on Instagram and
YouTube. He is also an avid user of Letterboxd and considers himself a cinema purist,
believing that films should be experienced in theaters without interruptions or
distractions. His favorite films include Pulp Fiction, GoodFellas, Cinema Paradiso, Jaws,
and The Big Lebsowski. He is also the co-host of the podcast Before We Were
Streaming.