Marvelous and the Black Hole is a 2021 American bildungsroman comedy drama written and directed by Kate Tsang. The plot focuses on Sammy Ko (played by Miya Cech), a rebellious teenager reeling from the death of her mother, who befriends and is comforted by a surly magician (played by Rhea Perlman). The movie also stars Leonardo Nam, Beth Hall, Keith Powell, Lucy DeVito and Jonathan Slavin.
The film premiered on February 2, 2021 at the Sundance Film Festival and premiered in theaters on April 22, 2022.
Contents
Cast
Rhea Perlman as Margot the Marvelous, an orphaned magician
Miya Cech as Sammy Ko the Black Hole, a rebellious thirteen-year-old who gets expelled from school
Leonardo Nam as Angus Ko, Sammy's widower father who is busy with work
Kannon Omachi as Patricia Ko, Sammy's elder sister who likes to play a video game called Kingdom Cog
Paulina Lule as Marianne, Angus' fiance trying to warm up to her daughters
Lauren Knutti as Claire
Aris Alvarado as Vega
Raymond McAnally as Dave
Keith Powell as Leo
Lucy DeVito as Annabelle
Jae Suh Park as Sue
Jonathan Slavin as Puck
Production
Marvelous and the Black Hole received the Tribeca Festival's 2019 Untold Stories grant presented by AT&T. Production on the film, Tsang's debut feature, began later that year, with a goal of premiering at the 2020 Tribeca Festival, but its premiere was delayed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In November 2021, FilmRise acquired North American distribution rights to the film.
Broadcast
Yes TV aired the film in May 2025 with an 8+ PG (Adult Situation) rating.
Reception
Critical reception
The film primarily received praise from critics, with a 84% "freshness" rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, as of May 2023. Katie Rife, writing for RogerEbert.com said, "This is obviously a low-budget effort, and possibly a personal one for writer/director Kate Tsang. That heartfelt element translates into the benevolence of the adults in this film." Concepción de León, writing for The New York Times, praised Cech's performance, but found the film to be one-noted with "too few moments of redemption or connection."
Awards and nominations
The film was nominated for best American independent film in the 2021 Cleveland International Film Festival and an audience award for best narrative feature in the 2021 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. Tsang was nominate for an emerging filmmaker award for the movie in the 2021 Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Film Festival. The film won an audience award for best feature film in 2021 Sun Valley Film Festival.