The Kids Are All Right

This is the inaugural post of our new guest contributor, Chris K. I know Chris from my days as a professional journalist (read: the high school paper).  Back then, I was a tough, grizzled Editor-in-Chief, complete with cigar and suspenders, constantly trying to fit all the news that's fit to print into a predetermined space in which to fit said print. I met young, idealistic Christopher, who was brimming with youth and idealism (ideally and youthfully), and was in touch with the zeitgeist like no other high-school sophomore I knew.  Together we were like the Murtaugh and Riggs of our school newspaper, except that we were both like Riggs, and neither of us were like Murtaugh -- strike that -- We were like the high-school equivalent of the Woodward and Bernstein of pop culture (better?).  Anyway, with that overblown introduction, I welcome Chris to the gang, and he welcomes us with a lengthy and (dare I say) politically relevant review of The Kids Are All Right. Without further ado, the review:

I finally viewed Lisa Cholodenko’s stellar The Kids Are All Right in wide release just days after Federal Judge Vaughn Walker overturned California’s Prop 8, a major decision that certainly lends a further context to what is already a thoroughly engaging film.

Kids follows a married lesbian couple, physician Nic and landscaper Jules, their college-bound daughter Joni and athlete son Laser. Each woman birthed one child (Nic & Joni and Jules & Laser) using sperm from the same donor, Paul. Now Laser is curious to know about Paul, and pesters Joni to call the donor bank and contact him. Paul barely remembers ever making such a donation, but is intrigued to meet them.

Though at first the three must meet in secret to avoid upsetting the moms, soon enough Paul’s life is intertwined with the family’s, and the film examines each of their threads. Annette Bening performs a masterful job as Nic, the driven authority who wants to keep all aspects of her life in check, though her personal and professional lives naturally bleed into, and occasionally consume each other. With her taut expressions, controlled posture and insistent tones Bening’s Nic is highly concerned about Paul’s deleterious effects on the family she has spent so much time and energy in building and protecting. Moore’s Jules is a stark contrast, comfortably ambling along between jobs, trying to design gardens, though she characteristically buys a truck before she has any customers. Whether Jules is simply unable to articulate her thoughts and desires, or if she simply hasn’t formed an idea and is hoping one will appear, that the two met when Nic cared for Jules as a patient encapsulates their dynamic and indicates how their personalities have shaped their ten years of marriage. They are partners, though they are not always necessarily equals.

Joni (Mia Wasikowska) is a top student with a science scholarship who has done everything her moms have requested in order to prove that both she and their nontraditional family can succeed, and Laser (Josh Hutcherson) is a typical fifteen-year old who simply doesn’t work hard enough and is at the precarious point in a young man’s life where he could make some smart decisions or end up in an alley with his moron friends abusing dogs.

Mark Ruffalo’s Paul is an affable medium between the moms in that he quit school to do what he enjoys, but also owns and operates a successful local restaurant. He attempts to establish a relationship with each member of the family, working his crops with Joni, shooting baskets with Laser, hiring Jules to design his backyard and bonding with Nic over Joni Mitchell songs. And it goes from there.

While the story was first developed in 2004, in the current cultural climate it could still easily be perceived as forcing home the point that gay parents and their families are as good as any other. Some will say it’s a reality, others a fantasy. In this case, though, it just doesn’t matter. “Marriage is hard,” Jules acknowledges, continuing that it’s just two people going on for years trying to keep things together. That applies to any marriage, regardless of who is involved.

The debates for and against gay rights and marriage often utilize those involved as tools, not people. Cholodenko’s movie instead says, ‘this is how it is’. There are no political harangues or overwrought speeches. What are important are the lives of people in a given moment. The theme of preserving and nourishing life especially carries through in that Nic is a doctor, Paul stocks his restaurant with vegetables he grows and picks himself, and Jules is drawn to a natural world that is, above all, “fecund.” The gorgeous glowing cinematography further emphasizes the beauty in the world and in the lives the characters have established.

“Kids” represents the best in independent American cinema in that it is executed with confidence and care, and quietly presents each character and how they fit into their larger world. Anybody looking to prove or counter a particular line of reasoning will be disappointed, for this is fiction, not a documentary. The title is inspired by the song of the same name by The Who, and the film also calls to mind another band’s lyric that Mommy’s all right and Daddy’s all right, and they just seem a little weird. Everybody has their issues, but at least they’ve got everybody.

Grade: A