Pretty Good

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

This "film" should've been called "First comes Love (for THE Me!)" as it is wrought with nothing but whining, self-indulgent, autobiographical footage, which at no time amounts to anything either compelling, interesting, or stimulating. At one point it seems like she wanted for this to be a token of what some bourgeois, privileged, middle-aged white women "have to" go through in our postmodern, angst-ridden age, but instead she just doubles down on meaningless & uninspired autobiographical trivialities. Another sign of how indulgent & narcissistic she is, the runtime of nearly 2 hours is decidedly excruciating to hear her whine about her First World problems, and how disappointing her pampered, kept life is. As an experiment in masochism, I watched it to the end, to see how consistently she remains committed to failing in this tortuous project, and she succeeds wonderfully in creating an endlessly long stream of pointless self-absorbed narratives about "this is my life." It doesn't even rise to the dreck of YouTube nonsense, as those peoples' channels have actual fans interested in the banalities of their personal lives. Nina Davenport doesn't even amount to that. Why she and HBO thought this could be of any interest to anyone is a mystery I wanted to unravel by disciplining myself to watch it all the way through. Even when she interacts with Jasper at the end, it's STILL all about her and how much of an inconvenience her new living hobby is for her listless lifestyle. Boo hoo. There are zero sympathetic characters of interest, and zero footage worth watching. At no time does this even get accidentally interesting. Hearing her tone of voice as she whines to people she points her camera at (like it's a shotgun), really brings alive how narcissistic the content is. What was the pitch like, "I'm going to whine to people about my insecurities and First World problems and whine to Daddy benefactor at how emotionally detached he was." This is a truly sad relic of the collapse of Western Civilization. That projects like this get green lit, when we've collapsed the ecosystem of the floating rock we all share is beyond crass, it's mind numbing.

The way that you portray "men"... or that there is no suitable father out there that can meet obviously what seem to be "unrealistic needs" is quite a harsh thing to say. The whole thing comes off very pretentious. Social inequality is the main factor for your somewhat twisted views. Your father was spot on. The man has it right. You really didn't put in the time or effort to look for him and nurture a relationship with him so that it would be what you wanted it to be. And if it is proximity, the world is a big place and you are a film maker. Travel.It seems like you just want a quick fix and the child is going to suffer for it because he or she deserves two loving parents and focal points to see what love is and that it takes "real work" to make a relationship happen. I've never posted an IMDb review before but this film completely repulsed me on it's presentation of stereotype and class bias. If you can't find a man on your social level then reach down and uplift a good a decent one who has fallen on hard times that is cute and has a nice ass and makes you smile... He will love you for it and put in the effort required to make it work. It really should not be that hard.If NYC is anything like Toronto it's probably a meat grinder and all the good decent men have a story behind them. Patience and bonding is part of love, your parents understood it, that's why you feel it, and your child might just be robbed of that because of your resentment of men.But then again, to each their own. In matters of opinion, there can be no dispute. Whatever makes you happy, and wish you well.

Hadn't checked the docs lineup on Netflix for a while (after getting burned by "Jiro Dreams of Sushi"!), but my wife thought this one sounded interesting. It is, and a lot more involving than some of the fiction films we've seen lately. Nina Davenport doesn't have the wit or the storytelling chops of a filmmaker like Ross McElwee, the pioneer of the video diary with voice-over format, but there's so much going on in her life as a single woman, "age 41½," who very much wants to have a baby that the material doesn't need much shaping, and she certainly seems to be putting it all out there. (One subject she's disappointingly reticent on is where the money for all this is coming from….)Judging by pro reviews and other comments, she does come across to some as needy and self-absorbed—someone who's willing to display her dilated cervix (spoiler alert??) on HBO might very well have some issues—but we were impressed by her honesty and bravery. Her stalwart "pregnancy partner" Amy and the friends and helpers she interviews about their experiences are especially thoughtful and articulate; only one (a guy, I'm sorry to say) seems to be playing to the camera. Her filmed conversations with her parents are pretty revealing as well—her late mother charming and empathetic, her father an affable dinosaur who just doesn't get why his videographer daughter didn't end up as a lawyer or a banker like her two brothers.

If the love to which Nina Davenport refers in First Comes Love is the narcissistic love of oneself, then she has picked the perfect title for her documentary, which follows her over the two years following her decision to be a single mom Don't get me wrong. Nina packs a mean camera. Since she does her filming herself, I have to give her kudos for her control of the camera as she films family conversations, the public humiliation of her father, and her own manipulation of her friends and family into doing the work while she sits back and experiences the day. Not everyone can pull it off. She does. The problem is that she pulls it off at the expense of so many around her.There is a need for these documentaries. Many women who are not in love relationships are desperate to have children, and time is not on their side, so the odds are never in their favor. Their experiences charting that difficult course are worth noticing. But I have to agree with Nina's dad. It's not fair for her to bring a child into the world. She is not self-sufficient, so how can she possibly take on the added burden (and joy) of a child. He was right. Six months after her fabulous son was born, she was at her father's house asking why, oh why, wouldn't he support her? Her, a Harvard grad who just wants to be a filmmaker and take years, years, and more years to make films that will not pay her bills. It's that sense of entitlement that comes from having grown up entitled.Her journey is one worth recording. Her version of her journey is so reminiscent a woman looking into a pond and admiring her own image that it's hard to stomach. She should try watching her own documentary as if she were any of the other people in it – from their perspective and she might see, just for a moment or two, why those around her don't find her all that easy to be around. That said, I wish her and her son all the best. And, a piece of advise from the mother of a twenty-seven year old. Give him a bedtime. We all need one.