A film where reproductive rights, reproductive scheduling, and reproductive philosophy become comic battlegrounds, would naturally open at a fertility clinic. Savarna Sikand (played by Nazanin Mandi) gets along just fine with some help from her constantly wisecracking co-worker Jackson (Matt Richards)--until her traditional-minded Indian-American family announces that she's got to have a child, pronto, to assure the continuance of the family line.
Problem number one: Savarna doesn't want to have children until she's good and ready. Problem number two: Savarna hasn't yet introduced her longtime lover Charley Burnell (Callie Schuttera) to her parents...or even told them that she's gay.
Sharp-eyed and long-running film fanatics might spot a resemblance to this plotline and 1999's Chutney Popcorn from director Nisha Ganatra, especially when Savarna's sister Chitra (Veena Bidasha) and her Anglo husband Mike Nolan (JoshGeorge) get into the act. Presiding over this film's action, the parents, Davidia and Mira (Marshall Manesh and Veena Bishada) try to keep everyone on an even keel.
They could easily become the villains in this piece, but this story is ultimately about family and love trumping all obstacles, so they thankfully come alive as people, with worthy perspectives and great personal warmth—especially from Manesh, who can raise a smile no matter how deep the familial doo-doo.
Adapted from the novel by Gabriel Constans and helmed for Poison PIctures by Gabriela Ledesma (Schuttera's wife), the film is quite honest about how awkward and messy family life can become.
Sure, some of the drama is manufactured for effect, and the dialogue can become clunky in places. (The big twist at the end, which I won't spoil, just about made me groan into my laptop.) But it finds its strength in the family, in illuminating ordinary moments and pivotal breakthroughs alike.
We need more pictures like this to start conversations, and to recognize common ground. Recommended.