Country: USA / Chile
Movie Review: Chilean actor-director Sebastian Silva, who charmed the indie fans with a couple movies to be treasured such like “The Maid” and “Crystal Fairy and the Magical Cactus”, returns with a let-down right after the disappointing “Magic Magic” dated from two years ago. In his latest Chilean-American production, “Nasty Baby”, he plays Freddy, a homosexual artist, residing in New York, who wants to have a baby with his partner, Mo (Tunde Adebimpe). The vehicle for their intentions is Freddy’s best friend, Polly (Kristen Wiig), a nurse who agrees to function as a surrogate womb and shows to be as much excited as the couple. Despite the efforts, which lasted for six months with multiple artificial inseminations, Polly can’t get pregnant due to Freddy’s low sperm count. The solution for this problem is obviously Mo who would become the sperm donor, a serious call that he responds affirmatively with the advice of his beloved mother. This first part of the film is inconsistent and often drags with boredom. Despite the naturalistic performances, in which the sensational Wiig stands out, the drama’s expressiveness feels somehow parched both in depth and enthusiasm. Nevertheless, Mr. Silva’s screenplay manages to raise the levels of excitement when, in its second act, depicts the couple’s disputes with a crazy neighbor known as The Bishop (Reg E. Cathey), a situation that aggravates more and more, ending up in a sad tragedy and subsequent questionable behaviors. Throughout the film, we’re given the opportunity to observe Freddy’s witless artistic performance entitled ‘nasty baby’, which he’s trying to take into the gallery of a weird friend, Marcus (Neal Huff), who uses an oracle in his office to help him decide about the art. Visually unimpressive, “Nasty Baby” becomes a much stronger film when turns into a crime thriller, but even though, and despite how much genuine the scenes might look, its conclusion is not so complete or stirring as its creator definitely intended it to be. To put it clearer: the two distinct story fragments in the basis of this disjointed tale have trouble to stand by their own, making “Nasty Baby” nastier than it was supposed to, and consequently, materializing in a combination that collapses into forgettable.
