Robert Greene's 'Too Much Sugar' Hands the Camera to Its Subjects at Venice

Robert Greene's documentary "Too Much Sugar" premiered in the Orizzonti sidebar of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival on 3 September 2026, with Variety publishing its review the same day (Variety). Orizzonti is Venice's competition section devoted to more experimental or formally adventurous work, separate from the main competition. The film is distributed by UK-based DEPARTURES Film.

Greene's subject is Ryan "Holli-wood" Hollinger — a former amateur MMA fighter and sometime carpenter in small-town Missouri who styles himself a patriarch across six children by five women. The director first encountered Hollinger at a middle-school basketball game in Moberly, Missouri, and took an instant dislike to him. That changed when their sons ended up on the same basketball team and Greene got to know the family up close.

Hollinger's children in the film span a wide age range: 25-year-old pro fighter Tray, 23-year-old Gavin, teens Wayde and Hank, and 12-year-old Bonnie. Also in the frame is Ryan's best friend Michael, grieving the fatal shooting of his teenage son in a gang-related incident, and Michael's younger daughter Auveon. And there is Amanda — Ryan's on-off partner of 18 years who is biologically mother to none of his children — whom Variety's review identifies as the film's most vital and sympathetic character.

What sets "Too Much Sugar" apart is its method. Greene gives each participant the liberty to make a short film of their own choosing, then edits those pieces into a single family portrait. The result is not a documentary that observes from a safe distance. It hands the tools of storytelling to the people on screen and builds its portrait from what they choose to show.

Greene is a filmmaker long associated with the American nonfiction scene, known for work that blurs the line between documentary and performance. "Too Much Sugar" continues that instinct, but pushes it further by making his subjects collaborators rather than subjects alone — each person's self-authored short film becomes a thread in the larger weave.

The Venice premiere places the film on one of the festival circuit's most visible stages. Orizzonti selections often attract distribution interest from arthouse buyers; a UK distributor is already attached, and the festival run will determine where and how widely the film reaches theatrical screens in the months ahead.