Review:
"The Sun Never Sets"
Release Date: Sept. 4, 2026 Rating: R Running Time: 102 minutes “If you love someone, set them free,” Sting once sang. But what happens if you let them free but you want them back? This is the dilemma faced by Dakota Fanning in The Sun Never Sets, writer/director Joe Swanberg’s first full-length feature since his 2017 Netflix comedy Win It All and one of SXSW 2026’s more inquisitive films about love and the complications that come with it. Set in picturesque Anchorage, Fanning’s Wendy enjoys a warm and cozy relationship with divorced father-of-two Jack (Swanberg regular Jake Johnson). Wendy accepts that Jack does not want to remarry or have more children. But when Wendy’s best friend Lindsay (Debby Ryan) announces she is pregnant, Wendy contemplates what could be if she does not settled for what Jack wants. Believing himself to be an enlightened and considerate partner, Jack tells Wendy they should take a 6-month break so she can find herself and decide whether she would prefer to be with a man who wants a family with her. The dazed and confused Wendy reluctantly agrees to Jack’s proposal. But imagine Wendy’s surprise when she bumps into her old boyfriend Chuck (Saturday Night’s Cory Michael Smith) and her feelings for him bubble back to the surface. Of course, a jealous Jack makes overtures to force Wendy to come back to him. From this point onward, Swanberg places Wendy in the terrible difficult position of having to choose between two very different men. Wendy does not know how to navigate this ungovernable study in contrasts that she did not enter into with great willingness. And our worst fears are gradually realized as Wendy—unsure of how to handle things with care and consideration—starts to make mistakes that threaten to ruin her relationship with both men. “You’ve got to find the part of you that who you were before we started dating,” Jack tells Wendy when he first proposes their break. “You can’t just be my other half. That’s what you’ve become. All this is is to find that other part of you… I just want you to be a whole person of your own. And then we can fit back in.” But it is the two men Swanberg potentially asks Wendy to choose between that are less than whole, at least in what they have to offer Wendy. One is smart, mature, and a proven provider, but shares none of Wendy’s interests. The other is charming, spontaneous, and shares most of Wendy’s interests—but he also struggles to accept his adult responsibilities, which makes him a work in progress when it comes to being marriage material. Of course, there is no such thing as the perfect partner, and so Wendy is torn between what present Wendy has and is being asked to reconsider, what past Wendy had but rejected, and what future Wendy wants and needs. The Sun Never Sets never shies away from the challenges that comes from being placed in an impossible position by a partner who appears to be well-meaning but is really being self-serving. Fanning constantly externalizes the confusion and mixed emotions that grips Wendy—she is a prisoner of the so-called freedom Jack has given her. There’s never a moment when Fanning does not portray Wendy in a sympathetic light, even when she inadvertently hurts Chuck with her continuing interactions with Jack. Johnson doesn’t make Jack a villain in the traditional sense, even if Jack’s initial intentions are more about him and less about Wendy. He wants to ensure Wendy is in alignment with his future plans, which doesn’t necessarily mean he does not want what’s best for Wendy. But as jealousy rears its ugly head, Johnson leans hard into Jack’s unfair demands and emotional manipulation, which adds toxicity to the already awkward and confounding proceedings. Stuck in the middle is Chuck. It does not take much for Smith to articulate Chuck’s strong feelings for Wendy, but he channels them in sometimes positive, sometimes aimless direction that shows how much growing up this wayward spirit needs to do before he can fully commit himself to a long and healthy relationship. Chuck has potential as a partner, but Smith shows us from the get-go that Chuck needs to find himself more than Wendy does. The ugliness of Wendy’s quandary plays out against the natural beauty of Alaska, with Swanberg employing the state’s endless summer light to heighten the disorientating toll on Wendy’s state of mind. For Swanberg, The Sun Never Set is not really about a person choosing between two romantic partners. It’s about what a person needs to first endure before they can choose themselves. How Wendy arrives at this choice—if she indeed does—concerns Swanberg the most. Because until one finds themselves, they cannot truly find the one who makes the sun shine in their life all day, every day. Aired: Sept. 2, 2026. Web site: https://www.independentfilmco.com/films/the-sun-never-sets |
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