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...
17 year old Jakob is a very shy teenager who lives with his father and his ailing grandfather. He starts working in the pig meat factory with his father and at nights he goes to these gay chat rooms to chat and watch porn and feel little bit alive. Jacob is struggling with an anxiety disorder that makes life increasingly difficult for him. One night, he meets 26-year old Kristian on gay chat and after a few times, they both decide to meet in person. The rest of the film is about the interactions between these 2 men, which I felt was an interesting take on reality v/s your imagination. Is Kristian real, is he part of Jakob's imagination, is there some link to Jakob's anxiety is what's tried to be shown but as an audience I didn't get any of those answers, sadly.
There is a very strong gay undercurrent. In his dreams Jakob runs through this beautiful woods, almost naked. Yes, he is also looking for sex or maybe feel of it in the virtual world, but I am still not sure what was the whole issue that he had since childhood. Whats this fear that keeps looming over him. Like I said above, the film was going interesting in the first half but post Kristian's entry and their interactions, it just goes into this weird zone. You know Jakob is detached but why? and why does Kristian excite him? Whats the connection between them? What was the whole childhood piece in the end. I am still not sure. Kristian was just an enigma, albeit a good looking one. But in absence of proper character development; its hard to say if the actors were good in their craft or not!
This film had no substance but had too much style. If you like punky, different, art house-ish cinema that keeps you thinking for rest of the week, go for it, otherwise avoid. (3/10)
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