Bohemian Cinema By Jonathan Pacheco

“Gravida” (2007)

Directed by Lucas McNelly

Satisfaction:Thrilled Tags: Short, Uber-indie, McNelly, Drama

A single, pregnant woman goes about her days alone. Time goes by slowly as she frequently checks the clock, only to see that it’s not nearly as late as she hoped it would be (I now know I’m not the only one who does that). Her life is quiet, and, essentially, life-less, and it seems she’d do anything to not feel this way.

gravida is not the film I expected it to be, and part of that may be due to the fact that I didn’t know what the term “gravida” meant until after I saw the short. Lucas McNelly’s movie is a way to look at a lonely women and ask, “Why?” I’ve always had that impression, but it goes about it differently than I would have thought.

The performances in the film are both solid (there are only two of them), and though Rachel Shaw’s acting wavers a bit, I really enjoyed the male lead, Adam Kukic. He seems more relaxed, more natural with his dialogue, and except for a rough spot or two, he was definitely a pleasure to watch. Either way, I felt there was at least some chemistry between the actors which makes for a much more pleasant experience.

I enjoyed the dialogue very much, and that’s a big compliment; dialogue tends to be one of the weaker elements in a lot of uber-indie films. What’s different about the dialogue in gravida is that it’s not as polished or contrived as in a typical film conversation, but it’s not as awkward or “pure” as improvised, mumblecore-style dialogue either; it’s somewhere in the middle, at a weird median. It’s not improvised, but the words that are written are better than what a lot of films want you to believe is “real, awkward dialogue.” Basically, where a typical film would stop the conversation, McNelly puts in the extra line or two that show me he’s listening. For example, after her date gives her a compliment, Kristin replies by saying, “That’s charming.” But then her date adds a mumbled “I try,” to which she adds an even more awkward “Well, well done.” It’s very small but it’s the sort of thing you don’t see in most films, but that you do see (and do) in real life.

That conversation is one of my favorite parts of the film, so I was let down to see that the next portion of the film, the dinner portion of the date, contained no dialogue, just images and music (I guess that’s technically a montage). It worked fine, but after a great conversation, I was craving more! I’m making assumptions here, but I get the sense that McNelly isn’t as confident in his dialogue-writing skills as he should be; there’s a lot that he does right when he writes conversations, and what doesn’t always work can easily be fixed with practice and polish.

Let me also say this: thank you, Lucas, for having your characters set a time and place for their date. A pet peeve of mine is when characters in films set up dates, but never set up a time, never discuss who will pick up who and where…. So anyway, I was glad to see it nailed down in this movie.

Now, there’s a concept that sits underneath gravida which I really liked, and that’s the idea that this woman feels so alone, and the reason she’s so alone is because she’s not alone. I like that idea. She’s devastated because she’s so lonely, when in reality, she’s got someone by her side (or stomach) 24 hours a day, and I think that might be what she realized at the end of the film (or perhaps she only had to remind herself). She cries her eyes out because this stupid thing inside her is scaring everyone away, but in the end, she rubs it, knowing that there’s at least one person who’s not taking off.

I also found myself wondering about why Kristin is lonely; is it something she herself could solve? She’s not a total victim here, and the film knows it. She’s the one who tries to seduce this guy, purposefully neglecting to inform him that during their date, she was eating for two. Yeah, the guy freaks out and bolts, but did she really expect him to stay after she deceived him? Sure, maybe if he had known beforehand he still would have left, but my point is that Kristin is not helping her situation. As I mentioned before, she feels lonely when she’s actually not alone at all, and when she does get other company, she goes about things the wrong way. Does she want to be lonely? I don’t ask this in a mean-spirited or condescending way, because it’s an honest question. I know people (including myself) who have found themselves in situations where the easiest thing to do is to feel bad for themselves, and they eventually crave the notion of being lonely. It makes you “tragic.” It puts the blame on others. Your situation feels more “epic” than it really is.

All this could possibly be true about Kristin. After all, the film’s subtitle is “A study in loneliness” not “A study in pregnancy.” The pregnancy is merely Kristin’s current source of loneliness, or so she tells herself. But that’s why the ending of the film is important: she stops crying, and what I see is that she’s telling herself that she’s not really alone, and that she’s capable of doing something about how she’s feeling. It’ll take time and work, but she’s capable.