Directed by: Gillian Robespierre
Writer: Gillian Robespierre, Karen Maine, Elisabeth Holm, Anna.
My very dear friend Lisa Rudin insisted that I watch OBVIOUS CHILD. She kept saying that the main character reminded her of me… It was unclear whether this was a good or a bad thing, but I trust Lisa’s taste in film like I trust Sandy Kenyon’s.
Prior to watching OBVIOUS CHILD, I shamefully admit that I was completely uneducated as to who Jenny Slate was. [FYI, she is the actress who plays the main character, Donna Stern].
On screen, she is a total cutie and she’s fucking hilarious. Her comedic timing and delivery remain on point for the duration of the film. These cues allowed for the character to be entirely relatable… at least to me.
OBVIOUS CHILD starts with Donna, late 20s Jewish girl on stage, performing her comedy stand up routine. She jokes with the audience that she is a product of a menorah fucking Natalie Imbruglia. Location wise, we are in Brooklyn.
She satirically makes fun of her relationship. She jokes that her boyfriend Ryan has a “working dick” and refers to her underwear looking like cream cheese at the end of a long day. Ryan, placed centrally in the audience is mortified. He’s also the only one that’s not laughing. About five minutes later, he dumps Donna in the bathroom and tells her that he’s leaving her for her best friend.
#ouch
So, ladies (and gents), what kind of self-destructive behaviors do we (well most of us…) practice when something catastrophic happens in our lives? We go home (alone), open a bottle of vino, drink until we are at least 10 sheets to the wind and make decisions that we immediately regret.
Donna leaves Ryan message after message. She’s drunk, emotional and out of sorts.
Can we now discuss the art of stalking? Is anyone familiar with that particular tactic? Sometimes we stalk an ex, or a person we like… ? Facebook, Instagram, drive-bys, prank calls?
Donna actually inspires me with a new trick. She hides outside Ryan’s house in the freezing cold, telling herself she will leave after two more sips of coffee… the sip number increases until she sees him. She see’s him walking with her ex-best friend and a brand new dog; nothing like pouring fresh salt in the wound.
The writing in OBVIOUS CHILD is so fucking fantastic. I actually want to take some of the phrases and insert them right into my very own vocabulary.
Please see some lines and quotes below:
- Break up = “dumped up with”
- Kill= murder suicide or murder “sui”
- What you say about someone you hate: She’s one of those fucking girls with a thread count (Donna says this about her ex best friend who is now dating her ex boyfriend)
- What you say about happy people who have hurt your feelings: We die a slow death and watch their happiness bloom
- Eyes= Pee Pee Missals
- Liquid Courage = Doctor’s orders (see example below)
- Forgetting to use a condom during intercourse =
- Eating a burrito= mouth fucking a burrito
While the narrative continues to its second act, Donna meets a nice Catholic boy (MAX) at the bar. Max appears to be the perfect rebound dude.
Donna and Max leave the bar together. They’re both wasted. So urinating in a public alley strikes them as a “good idea”. As Donna is squatting and Max is peeing, he accidently farts on her. It’s belly laugh hysterical with a pinch of witt. Later on, Max is nick named “pee fart.
As we dive into Donna’s struggles and in respect to her being a young emerging female, we feel for her and are granted permission to relate to her problems. Just like me, she’s a millennial gal fighting her way through a life crisis. Sometimes when I am upset, humor is my only curing medicine. I think the hilarity in OBVIOUS CHILD is strategically implanted by occupationally, making Donna a stand up comedian.
Donna has a moment in the movie that hits close to home and makes me reflect on the relationship I have with my very own mother.
Donna, feeling lost and scared, crawls into her mom’s her bed. She cries and confesses to her mom that she’s pregnant. In turn, her mother’s response involved neither anger nor disappointment, simply compassion and love.
I have a very similar relationship with my mother. She’s my best friend, but is always on my case about my job, my lack of boyfriend, etc… I am in a constant state of developing set boundaries, which draw a fine line between her being my mother and my best friend.