Adopting Audrey will be available on Digital Download from 13th March.
Adopting Audrey is directed by M. Cahill. The film stars Jena Malone, Robert Hunger-Bühler and Emily Kuroda.
Love has forever been a concept explored in films, but rarely do we get such a deep dive into family love. Rom-coms we have in abundance, films which explore the idea of love between family and the strain these relationships can have on our mental health and overall lives, not so much.
Love is not something we can see on the surface, and it is not something we can know if people have it for us. With Adopting Audrey, we get shown from different characters’ perspectives how love can look and show that love can be there even when it doesn’t appear. Based on a true story, the film tells the tale of Audrey (Jena Malone), an adult woman who puts herself up for adoption. Desperately searching for meaning, love and a sense of belonging, she forms a bond with Otto (Robert Hunger-Bühler), the misanthropic patriarch of her adoptive family.
In the film, Audrey gets painted as a nomad who doesn’t stay in one location long enough to gain an emotional attachment to places and people, and in a way, the film mirrors the protagonist. We get introduced to many characters and relationships, but their appearances are so fleeting that we need to be provided with more information to feel anything for their plights truly. In addition, their relationships with their parents need more light or backstory to affect the viewer’s perception of Audrey’s relationships.
The premise is intriguing, but the script needs to do more to build on it. It doesn’t give enough to care for Audrey and Otto’s situations, which ultimately both feel self-inflicted. Jena Malone and Robert Hunger-Bühler do as much as possible with the limited resources; both are brilliant in their roles. They are, without a doubt, the best part of Adopting Audrey, and it is nice to see Malone in a leading role because I think she is a superb actress. However, I wish the film would have spent more time character-building instead of showing clips of Audrey watching trending videos on YouTube.
Adopting Audrey has an interesting premise and two brilliant lead performances but is eventually let down by a sub-par script.
