Nasty Baby

Kristen Wiig plays a woman trying to start a family with a gay couple, in this biting black comedy set among a diverse Brooklyn community.

Polly (Kristen Wiig) is desperate for a child and happy to conceive with her gay friend and artist Freddy (played by director Sebastián Silva), whose complex relationship to prospective fatherhood he expresses through a bizarre performance-art piece. But Freddy’s low sperm count isn’t doing the business, so the pair strives to convince Freddy’s reluctant partner Mo (Tunde Adebimpe) to donate his sperm.

Chilean director Sebastián Silva’s first American-set feature offers a very 21st-century take on modern family planning, pairing a thirtysomething white woman with a Chilean immigrant and a gay black man. This mixed threesome are thoroughly at home in a Brooklyn community that’s so diverse it contains its fair share of weirdos. And it’s one of these unsavoury characters who provided a startling third-act change of direction that may leave some viewers astounded. But Silva’s deft handling of changes in tone, from laidback indie comedy to awkward social drama and dark thrills, ensures a thoroughly original indie ride.