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SFFILM Festival

Obvious Child

Directed by Gillian Robespierre

USA | 85

3 May
Sat, May 3, 2014 at 12:20 pm PT

Description

Donna Stern is having a rough week. First, her cheating boyfriend dumps her, then she learns her bookstore job is doomed. Leaving a series of increasingly wine-soaked (and hilarious) voicemails for her ex is only briefly satisfying, and indulging in “some light stalking” just makes her feel worse, but her friends and family are supportive in their own eccentric ways and she has her stand-up comedy for therapy. Donna’s onstage routine is normally uncensored and bawdy, but one night she tanks with a drunk, self-pitying act. Enter Max, earnest, clean-cut and not at all Donna’s type. After a silly, boozy evening they end up at his apartment, dancing to Paul Simon songs—and you know where that can lead. Immediately ambivalent, Donna engages in a tortured tug-of-war with Max’s and a her own emotions. Jenny Slate is entirely likeable as Donna, funny, vulnerable and charming even when spewing fart jokes and peeing in public. And Jake Lacy’s Max turns out to be more than his button-down shirt. –Laura Henneman

Director Gillian Robespierre

A participant in the San Francisco Film Society’s Off the Page workshop in 2012, Gillian Robespierre first made Obvious Child as a short film in 2009. She took the feature-length version of the script to the 2011 IFP Emerging Narrative and Emerging Visions Labs, earned grants from Rooftop Films and the Tribeca Film Institute and ran a very successful Kickstarter campaign to fund the film. Born and raised in New York, Robespierre graduated from the School of Visual Arts’ Film & Video Program and made several short films before Obvious Child, her feature debut.

Film Details

Language English

Year 2013

Runtime 85

Country USA

Director Gillian Robespierre

Producer Elisabeth Holm

Writer Gillian Robespierre

Editor Casey Brooks

Cinematographer Chris Teague

Music Chris Bordeaux

Cast Jenny Slate, Jake Lacy, Gaby Hoffman, David Cross