Baby Bump

Polish writer-director Kuba Czekaj's movie is a coming-of-age story that in a typically syrupy genre opts instead for bizarre surrealism, with intriguing if also mixed results. Eleven-year old Mickey House (Kacper Olszewski) is perpetually bullied and friendless, apart from animated TV character Jerboa Mouse (voiced by Caryl Swift), who—like Mickey—has very large ears and offers pointed commentary on the kid's situation. Dressed in a rain slicker, Mickey pedals about on a bike and sells urine samples to fellow students so they can pass campus drug tests. He is also smothered by his single mother (Agnieszka Podsiadlik), who seems blind to the fact that the boy is growing increasingly aware of—and perplexed by—his sexuality. Baby Bump eschews conventional narrative, presenting a cascade of disconnected phantasmagoric episodes dealing with Mickey's home and school life, featuring characters that are alternately weird and frightening, as he tries to cope with various fears and feelings, often escaping into fantasy as a last resort. Throughout, Czekaj employs every cinematic trick available—split screens, graphic inserts, exaggerated close-ups, hyperkinetic editing, and animated segments—while also adding explicit sexual imagery and periodic bursts of comic violence. With appropriate caveats, this should be considered a strong optional purchase for adventurous collections. (F. Swietek)