A modest, closely observed drama, “Unexpected” exudes a gentle, wistful tone we don’t often see on the big screen these days. While many movies fall squarely into the comedy or drama genre, this quiet indie refuses to stake an explicit claim on either, instead occupying a more ambiguous space that feels a lot more lived-in.
Cobie Smulders plays Sam, a Chicago high school teacher whose discovery that she’s pregnant doesn’t send her into paroxysms of delight. Instead, she goes into something of a panicked slump, unsure whether she’s ready to marry her live-in boyfriend (Anders Holm) and worrying that she won’t be able to find a good job. (Her current position will disappear at the end of the year, when the school permanently closes.) But when Sam discovers that one of her senior science students – an academic standout named Jasmine (Gail Bean) — is in the same position, the two embark on a wary, ultimately warm friendship, sharing feelings and fears that others can’t possibly understand.
Directed by Kris Swanberg from a script she wrote with Megan Mercier, “Unexpected” possesses the easy, unforced rhythms of a story that tacks closely to real life. As a portrait of maternal ambivalence, it may not be as hyperbolically dire as “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” but it’s grounded in the same candor and authority.
Smulders brings clear-eyed understatement to a character who isn’t always sympathetic: Her angst over missing out on a job at the Field Museum if she becomes a full-time mom makes her seem spoiled and clueless, especially compared to the foreshortened options of her newfound friend. But it’s Bean who steals the show here, in a compelling, supremely confident breakout performance that, with luck, heralds a busy, burgeoning career.
If “Unexpected” suffers from anything, it’s that it doesn’t delve nearly as intimately into Jasmine’s life as it does into Sam’s. Whereas we get plenty of scenes of Sam ruminating over her impending baby at home and with her mother (an impeccably cast Elizabeth McGovern), all we see of Jasmine’s home life is a visit with her grandmother to the benefits office and a few brief, dialogue-free vignettes.
The result is a film that, at least structurally, winds up perpetuating the same blinkered assumptions and privileged point of view that it tacitly critiques.
“Unexpected” would have been enriched by a more generous balance between the two characters’ worlds. But Swanberg shows a sure, sensitive hand in limning the upshots and downsides of life’s most blessed events. And Bean is, quite simply, a revelation. Rarely have we seen a more honest, low-key glimpse of coming to terms with coming to term.
“Unexpected” ??
Rating: R, for obscenity
Showing: Sundance Cinemas Seattle
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