Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Obvious Child (2014)

Director: Gillian Robespierre
Writer:    Gillian Robespierre
Cast:       Jenny Slate, Jake Lacy, Gaby Hoffmann



A twenty something comedienne's unplanned pregnancy forces her to confront the realities of independent womanhood for the first time. Film can be best described as an 'Abortion Rom-Com' and I don't think I have seen any other films belonging to this genre yet. In films like 'Knocked Up' and 'Juno', the unplanned pregnancy never leads to abortion, and in US the A-Word is a huge debate point even during Presidential elections. So it is good on Gillian Robespierre to tackle the subject in a matter of fact way with the decision itself being not even debated. 

The great thing about the film is that it doesn't act like an 'Issue' based one. The characters look like just ordinary people which is very good for the story and Abortion is dealt as if it is just something that is part of life for many of the independent women in developed world. I don't know whether the A-list stars in Hollywood would sign up for a story like this anyway, which is really sad when you think of all the liberal issues that they are ready to tackle. But not having any very well known stars works very well for this film. Couple in question seems like not made for each other but the film ends with a question of whether they will carry on regardless. The question for her was not whether to have abortion or not but whether to inform the other guy, who was a stranger to her, about it or not.

Overall it is a very good one time watch. Gillian Robespierre had earlier made a short film with the same name and this one marked her directorial debut for a feature length film. It was send to Sundance film festival through Kickstarter which paved the way for its theatrical release.

Rating: 3.5/5

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