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Paternal Instinct (Documentary)

By Golu
This documentary is nearly twenty years old now, and it follows a gay couple as they navigate the stressful and exciting journey of their first pregnancy through surrogacy. You get to see it all— the hope, the nerves, and the dramatic hurdles they have to clear along the way. Back in the day, this was probably a massive deal, but since I’ve known a few gay couples who’ve gone through this exact process, some parts felt a bit dated to me. I liked bits and pieces of it, but I also felt like the film stays pretty surface-level. It doesn't really dive into the deep, complicated reality of life after the baby actually arrives. If only raising a kid were actually as simple as this movie makes it look! Erik and Mark have been together in New York for ten years, and since they feel solid in their relationship, they decide they’re ready to raise a child. They start the hunt for a surrogate and eventually connect with Wen, a wife and mom from Maine who agrees to carry the baby for a standard...
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Petunia

By Golu
This film kept reminding me so much of one of my favorite films "The Family Stone" But in terms of what a nice film that was, this film fails to come close. At best I would call this film as poor man's "Family Stone". I think the filmmakers were quite confused on whether to make this film a drama or comedy. There were btw and pieces of both and it was becoming very hard for me to see if I should be taking things seriously and with a touch of humour.

The film is about Petunia family. Husband and wife going through their marital menopause, they have 3 kids: Michael, Adrian and Charlie. Cute but awkward Charlie is celibate by choice and has problems with intimacy. He wears a rubber band on his wrist to control sexual urges. He meets the cute George who he gets an instant liking for at his brother's Michael's wedding to Viviana. We slowly see that Michael and Vivi do not really love each other and they have all sort of issues. The third (middle) brother Adrian is a sex addict.  Charlie and George get along well and start hanging out, and Charlie soon falls head over heels in love with George only to get the chock of his life later. He finds out that George is married. Although George's wife is ok with open relationship and ready to do anything for George's happiness, her and Charlie become really close. At the other end we have Vivi getting pregnant and not knowing whose child it really is. Adrian is trying to fight and get over his sex turned love addiction. There is tension in family and everyone is dealing with their own issues and then magically a few months later everything falls in place and things are hunky dory.

Only if the makers had not tried to incorporate all ingredients from one of my fav film, I may actually have liked the film. They tried to foci on each and every person's problem thereby robbing the audience of satisfaction of connecting with any single member from the family. It kept moving all way too fast. The acting was pretty decent by principally everyone but there were so many things just taken for granted and not really answered. The whole thing between George and Charlie was totally unbelievable and non practical. Adrian meeting a plump girl to get over his addiction; my reaction was WTF! The production values were high and everything going in favor except the script.

I love dysfunctional family movies but this one was completely lost in what it actually wanted to be by the end of it. (5/10)
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