Signis

Not Suitable for Children

(JPEG)

Australia, 2012 Ryan Kwanten, Sarah Snook, Ryan Corr, Bojana Novakovic, Directed by Peter Templeman,

Not a classification piece of advice - though it would serve as that as well. No, Jonah, an easygoing, party-hosting, rather hedonistic 35 year old, discovers that he has testicular cancer and the operation will make him unable to father children. So, both in his lifestyle and in his physical condition, he is not suitable for children.

But he does suddenly discover that he really would love to have children. But, to his surprise and dismay, his sperm are not suitable for donating and freezing. He then meets (auditions for) a number of women who could carry his child, especially raising the question with a lesbian couple - but they decide against the proposition. Could there be an opportunity with his former girlfriend (Bojana Novakovic) from whom he is having a six month separation? He is being helped with contacts by his flatmate, Stevie (played with verve by Sarah Snook, whom, many note, looks and acts like American star, Emma Stone) who thinks she has no maternal instinct at all.

Just how wrong we can be when we are self-selfish-focused and not alert to our deeper longings?

So, that’s the story, Jonah becoming more desperate as time is running out (which is aggravated by his devotion to his sister’s children). What happens? Not a miracle, but a rather more down-to-earth realistic ending.

True Blood star, Ryan Kwanten, plays Jonah in an ingenuously earnest way. His appearances in Australian films, Griff the Invisible and Red Hill indicate he has more versatility than he can show in True Blood.

The film offers a light touch preoccupation with deeper values about life and, especially, about being able to create and love children.

Peter Malone