SXSW Short with Abe: Are We Good Parents?

I’m so excited to be attending the film festival at South by Southwest for the first time, and I’ll be posting reviews throughout the week as I see as many movies as possible!

Are We Good Parents?
Directed by Bola Ogun
Narrative Shorts Competition

This highly entertaining short runs just nine minutes but manages to cover a good deal of ground through frantic conversation as Lauren (Tracie Thoms) and Bill (Sean Maguire) grapple with the news that the daughter (Gabrielle Skye Goodman) they always thought was gay is going to prom with a boy. Their antics humorously cover the number of normative practices that they’ve modeled which hardly seem progressive in the modern age, displaying bearable notions of heteronormativity that they now believe have stifled their daughter’s ability to be who she wants to be. It’s both an analysis and a parody of the current age, with these parents hilariously criticizing themselves for being too happy and not focused enough on showing their daughter alternate ways of expressing herself. Showing as part of Shorts Program 3, this film is brief but immensely memorable, and a lot of fun.