A24 A-to-Z: #9. "Obvious Child" (2014)

Scene from Obvious Child

In case you didn't know, A24 is one of the great purveyors of modern cinema. Since 2013, the studio has found a way to innovate independent cinema by turning each release into an event. As a result, A24 A-to-Z will be an ongoing series that looks at every release from the studio by analyzing its production history, release, criticisms, and any awards attention that it might've received. Join me on a quest to explore the modern heroes of cinema by exploring every hit and miss that comes with that magnificent logo. They may not all be great, but they more than make A24 what it is and what it will hopefully continue to be for ears to come.

Obvious Child

Released: June 6, 2014

Release Number: 9
Directed By: Gillian Robespierre

Written By: Gillian Robespierre (Screenplay), Karen Maine & Gillian Robespierre & Elisabeth Holm (Story), and Anna Bean & Karen Maine & Gillian Robespierre (Short Film)

Starring: Jenny Slate, Jake Lacy, Gaby Hoffman

Plot: A twenty-something comedienne's unplanned pregnancy forces her to confront the realities of independent womanhood for the first time.

With exception to Spring Breakers, A24's existence hadn't really featured too much controversy despite being a place for great filmmakers to tackle whatever stories they wanted. Sometimes that produced the ambitious Locke, while other times it presented the film that followed it. Director Gillian Robespierre's Obvious Child was more than a skewering of romantic comedies. It was a film that would receive infamy as "the abortion comedy," which was both true and overstated. However, it was evidence that the studio could still stimulate with provocative work which, as Robespierre would claim, was created to change audiences' perception on taboo issues. It was a film that could be provocative without being preachy, and it was thankfully just as funny and acclaimed as any stigma audiences carried when they went to see it.

The concept of the film could be rooted back to an odd trend from 2007: pregnancy comedies. In that year alone, there were three different films that depicted pregnancy in varying lights (Knocked Up, Waitress, and Juno). No matter how good they were, Robespierre felt inspired to make a short dedicated to changing the stigma around abortions. The referenced films treated the act in such confrontational and judgmental lights that she felt it was misrepresenting something far simpler. Robespierre claimed that the act of abortion wasn't a life changing event that would psychologically ruin the woman's life. Instead, she believed that sometimes it was merely an act of self-preservation for women not ready to have children. 

The result was a 2009 short called Obvious Child, which she released on Vimeo and was viewed by 40,000 people. With limited exception, the short shares a lot of similar DNA to the later film, including lead actress Jenny Slate, who was picked after Robespierre saw her do comedy. The short's success lead her to consider making the story into a full length narrative. While certain details would be changed, such as making Slate's profession stand-up comedy, Robespierre teamed with Karen Maine and Elisabeth Holm to write a screenplay that would "stick as close... as possible" to the original. They tried to write the Slate character around her style of humor, though Slate and co-star Gabe Liedman would eventually add final touches to get the persona just right. The script was written over 18 months before seeking finance. This started in November 2012 and would end up being financed by a variety of companies.

The film was shot in April 2013 in New York over 18 days. It was a small affair that featured a score by Robespierre's boyfriend Chris Bordeaux. The film would also be allowed to shoot at the Planned Parenthood New Rochelle clinic. Slate claims that part of her character was based off of the deconstruct the myth that romantic comedies are only good if the girl looks like a model who wears glasses and falls up stairs. While it wouldn't be the only thing that she was related with to detail abortion (she also appeared in the HBO series Girls), it was what the film would become known as. Even if part of the plot involved how anticlimactic the act was, it still was considered revolutionary that Slate's character's life changed in no significant way because of it. Once the film was completed, Robespierre created a Kickstarter campaign to get the film to play at Sundance 2014. The campaign would earn $37,214 by January 14, 2014, three days before its premiere. It was there that A24 bought the North American distribution rights. 

The film received general praise out of the festival for its frank depiction of abortion as nothing special. However, it was about to enter a new world where controversy would come from pro-lifers who opposed to the general idea of abortion. Considering that the film was sold as "the abortion comedy," it was hard to ignore despite Robespierre and Slate's initial belief that calling it that was misleading and suggested that they made fun of the act. Still, the word appeared on various posters, which pleased them because it helped to start the conversation. Likewise, the network NBC received controversy when they asked A24 to edit a trailer that references abortion. It was viewed as a heinous act of censorship. The film was also marketed with help from the abortion rights organization NARAL Pro-Choice America. Still, the pro-life camp couldn't help but protest the film's immoral subject matter. While some negative reviews focused on how they didn't find the comedy funny, the most protesting came from those who sometimes picketed in front of theaters for the film, hoping to sway audiences to see something less objectionable.

Nevertheless, the film persisted. The film was released on June 6 and would gross $3.1 million at the American box office. The film received general praise, earning 89% on critics aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes. A.O. Scott would claim that "It's both funny and serious without trying too hard to be either." Female critics such as Dana Stevens praised its take on abortion as being realistic and honest. Male critics tended to focus more on how that parlayed with the comedy and story. However, this wouldn't stop conservative critics like Mary Rose Somarriba from calling Obvious Child "obvious propaganda." Most people praised Slate's performance and believed that it was the breakout that the former Saturday Night Live actress needed. Speaking as A24 has had issues with female-lead movie groups before, the fact that Slate won Best Comedic Actress from Women Film Critics Circle Awards at least suggests the diversity of roles that A24 were representing women with. Slate would also win a similar award for Critic's Choice Movie Awards.

More than any film from the second year of A24 to this point, Obvious Child was the runaway success. It was a film that showed the complexity of women's issues without making them into traumatic events. It helped to launch Slate's film career, which has only grown in years since. Robespierre has done some director work on TV with Casual, but has returned to A24 with her sophomore movie Landline, which opened in 2017 and features another collaboration with Slate and Holm. Still, it's incredible that a film about abortion could be so light and optimistic, and Obvious Child showed that no territory was off limits for the studio. While this would  be a big buzz movie for them, the next one was yet another child star going serious with Robert Pattinson tackling a post-apocalyptic story in The Rover.


Up Next: The Rover (2014)