Natural Selection (2011)

Touches You

To me, this movie is perfection.

A Masterpiece!

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

with many levels. and masks. because, at first sigh, it can be version of Transamerica or an usual indie. in fact, it is a touching story. about love, dreams, search of yourself and price of dreams. and its remarkable charm source is an impressive acting. exploration of character nuances, drawing of state of soul, full of adorable innocence drops. road-movie and map of transformation of two people, it is seductive discuss about life sense. so, not an ordinary movie. only a precise definition of atmosphere and wise broke of rules. a film who respires freedom. and who inspires. not moralistic but ironic. not extraordinary but interesting. not brilliant. only smart.

An okay indie flick bolstered by a fantastic lead performance by comedienne Rachael Harris. Harris is probably best known for playing Ed Helms' wife in The Hangover, or perhaps for her appearances on The Daily Show or VH1's I Love the '70s/80s/whatever. One could never have predicted the depth she gives to her character here. She plays a sexless, Christian housewife whose husband (John Diehl) suffers from a stroke. It comes to light that, though he refuses to sleep with her, he frequents the local sperm bank. Harris feels betrayed, but her husband is at death's door, so she attempts to forgive him. He mutters, perhaps from delirium, that she needs to find a long lost son, and she sets out to find the young man. Matt O'Leary plays the drug addict she finds, and, attempting to escape the sheriff, he takes off with her on a road trip. O'Leary is quite good himself, but, again, it's Harris' movie. The film starts off a little snarky about the whole situation, but Harris takes her character's dilemma seriously and plays her as a woman in deep emotional turmoil. The film is a dramedy, and it's often very funny. But Harris' dramatic moments are the ones you're going to remember. She's a true revelation here, turning in one of the best performances of the year.

The only thing I didn't like was the ending. There is not at all one other thing unlikeable though about this film. It is amazing. I waited for over a year to see it and it is well worth the wait. Matt O'Leary is really an under-appreciated actor. When you see how talented he is you begin to wonder why he was in Sorority Row and not doing more films such as this or Frailty from when he was younger. He absolutely steals this film and Rachel Harris equally steals it back and forth throughout. The premise is that Linda is a religious but neglected wife. Her husband will not have sex with her and ignores her, so to give her life meaning when her husband is on the verge of death, she goes in search of who she believes is his son. The two develop an odd relationship that works. Unfortunately, Linda is being followed by her sisters husband who is obsessed with her and believes her to be in danger. Again, the ending left me unhappy but the acting and movie were so good that I cannot give this movie any less than a 10. It is so perfect, that even though the ending is flawed, it is still perfect. That is saying a lot. That is saying EVERYTHING.

Robbie Pickering had its World Premiere at SXSW where it was well-received and earned several awards. It is sort of an odd film about the struggles of damaged people. Natural Selection could be described as partially a critique of fundamentalist religion, part road trip film, and part human tragedy. It is the story of Linda who is trapped in a loveless marriage. She goes on a trip looking for one thing and discovers parts of herself that she didn't know existed. The script is well-written and the film is well-acted – especially considering this is the writer/director's first feature film. The film avoids easy answers or simple judgments to complex questions. The character development for the two main characters is nuanced and provocative. In the end, the audience may be left with more questions than answers. The film seeks intended as a critique of dogmatism, but offers the viewer little in the way of alternative answers to hang on to.