SXSW 2020 Review: THE SURROGATE Is A Complex Drama About The Reality Of Moral Dilemmas
Writer/director Jeremy Hersh makes his feature film debut with The Surrogate, a complex and provocative drama that explores the harsh reality of moral dilemmas. With a focus on the difficult questions that all potential parents face, the film finds a universal foothold to probe into the various points of view and conversations (and emotions) these questions stir up.
Jess Harris (Jasmine Batchelor, "The Good Fight"), a 29 year old web designer for a nonprofit in Brooklyn, is ecstatic to be the surrogate and egg-donor for her best friend Josh (Chris Perfetti, "Looking") and his husband Aaron (Sullivan Jones, Slave Play). Twelve weeks into the pregnancy, a prenatal test comes back with unexpected results that pose a moral dilemma. As they all consider the best course of action, the relationship between the three friends is put to the test.
Essentially a filmic take on the morality play, The Surrogate assigns each of its characters an opposing ethical perspective, and in so doing, it creates personas that feel a bit more like abstractions than human beings. This may distance some viewers from the material, as it makes it more difficult to form an immediate emotional connection to the characters, but it’s vital to the film’s ability to ask a lot of important — albeit difficult and uncomfortable — questions, which are compelling in their own right but all the more engaging due to the multifaceted points of view.
The film’s central question is whether or not a child should be born after prenatal testing has confirmed, with a high degree of certainty, that it will be born with an extra chromosome. It’s a question that gives its characters (and audience) much to chew over, and it’s one that ultimately leads toward a lot of drama when characters don’t see eye to eye. The film’s main character, Jess, seems to operate under the disillusionment that things will be easy breezy; she takes no compensation for her surrogacy and pays no mind at all to the associated hardshings of pregnancy — distorted thinking that continues to spill into her perspective even after things have become infinitely more complex. Josh and Aaron, on the other hand, wrestle with their own ability to care for a special needs child when they may not have the time, money, or ability to properly care for a Down syndrome child. As different options and avenues are explored, the gap between ideals and practical reality must be bridged.
Hersh’s background as a New York playwright, while also evident in the screenplay, is obvious in his approach as a director. He takes a naturalistic, nearly one-take approach to scenes, which places emphasis on characters, their conversations — which feel both true to life and spontaneous — and the actors’ performances, eschewing typical cinematic techniques like score and editing to create a pretty convincing veneer of reality. At its best, it feels as though you’re a fly on the wall, watching this moral dilemma play out in real time. However, whenever this approach is abandoned for more traditional means, it has the tendency to pull the viewer out of things, and it makes Hersh’s vision feel more sloppy than cohesive. Still, the realism that Hersh strives for more often than not hits the mark, and his theater background has equipped him with an innate ability to draw the best out of his actors.
The performances are definitely the highlight of The Surrogate, and leading the charge is actress Jasmine Batchelor (who also served as Associate Producer on the project). She delivers a strong performance full of complexity. While her character’s idealistically distorted perspective becomes progressively harder to comprehend, Batchelor keeps Jess feeling real and emotional resonate. A bit further in the periphery than they probably should be are Chris Perfetti (Josh) and Sullivan Jones (Aaron), the latter of which gets the short end of the stick, lacking in both screen time and development. Perfetti gives Josh a lot of pathos, making the moral quandary more emotionally fraught. Brooke Bloom also gives a great performance as the weary-eyed mother worn to exhaustion by special-needs parenting.
The Surrogate’s theater-like leanings have the tendency to leave the viewer with the impression that it may’ve sizzled and lingered a bit more as a stage play. But, overall, the film’s thorough and thought-provoking exploration of the difficult moral and ethical parenting concerns proves to be an interesting — and occasionally frustrating — watch, which is further bolstered by the strength of its performances.
Recommendation: If you like thought-provoking dramas that probe into differing points of view and create conversations, give The Surrogate a chance.
Rating: 3 moral dilemmas outta 5.
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