A harrowing search for her real mother constitutes the story through line for Jon Erwin and Andrew Erwin’s October Baby, an otherwise dramatically messy and ill-structured film. With the noblest intentions in telling a heartfelt tale of a later teen searching for the truth about her parentage, the directors have fashioned a movie that frequently loses sight of its goals in order to wallow in mawkish emotions and artificially manipulated melodrama. Its aims are honest but its execution is muddled and unfocused.
October Baby (Blu-ray)
Directed by Jon Erwin, Andrew Erwin
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Year: 2011
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 1080p AVC codec
Running Time: 109 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 English
Subtitles: SDH, French
Region: A
MSRP: $ 29.99
Release Date: September 11, 2012
Review Date: September 12, 2012
The Film
2.5/5
Nineteen-year old Hannah (Rachel Hendrix) is afflicted with epilepsy and chronic asthma but manages to persevere through the love of her devoted parents, especially her father Jacob (John Schneider). But her latest seizure results in a hospital stay where she learns that the people who have raised her are not her birth parents. Terribly hurt and feeling betrayed, Hannah sets out with some school acquaintances heading to Mardi Gras on spring break including the concerned, amicable Jason (Jason Burkey) to be dropped off in Mobile where she can learn about her true parents. The truth comes from a retired nurse (Jasmine Guy) who tells Hannah more than she likely ever wanted to know about her near-fatal origins and leaves her feeling sicker and emptier than ever.
The script by co-director Jon Erwin and Theresa Preston piles on too many superfluous, deliberately oddball characters who often interrupt the important established storyline for useless improvisation especially early on when viewers are establishing rapport with the leading characters, and then later have their main characters indulge in saccharine dramatic scenes (heroine Hannah telling the sad story of her being adopted separately to a hotel clerk, a cop, and a priest in order to get her way, decided overkill) that deplete audience sympathy for their plight. The script also fails to really delve in the real reasons for the parents’ stubborn and selfish decision to keep the adoption information (and other surprising revelations) from Hannah for such a long period of time (dramatically, the film wouldn’t make sense if they didn’t do it, but realistically, it just doesn’t hold water.) The brothers Erwin shamelessly indulge in too many scenes of their main character walking or sitting alone lost in thought while woeful folk ballads wail up on the soundtrack extending the film’s running time past the point of endurance for so slender a story. Being a faith-based film which is obviously pro-life in conception and execution, the filmmakers are to be commended for not pushing their agenda down the audiences’ throats in a ham-fisted way even if their leading character does engage in an alarming amount of self pity losing sight of a beautiful home, loving parents, and true friends who care about her and all at the ready to help her through her crisis of faith and identity.
Rachel Hendrix gives to the film more than she gets from the simplistic script imbuing it with real heart and soul even if she does lose audience sympathy on occasion. (A couple of ridiculous episodes in a hotel room, one with her rival and one with a boy she’s fond of would test the patience of even the most forgiving audience.) Jason Burkey is the too-good-to-be-true boy friend whose waffling affections between Hannah and another girl played by Colleen Trusler is another weakly penned aspect of the script. John Schneider is commanding as the über-controlling father, but he’s another weakly written character whose motivations seem murky and absurd. Apart from Rachel Hendrix, the film’s best performance is by Jasmine Guy who has a truly mesmerizing scene as an abortion clinic nurse who holds the secrets to Hannah’s past and eventually gives them to her. James Austin Johnson is given his head to ad-lib to his heart’s content as black sheep of the clique Truman.
Video Quality
3/5
The movie was shot digitally and has been framed at 2.40:1 with the transfer registering at 1080p using the AVC codec. Sharpness, color consistency, and flesh tone accuracy are all over the map during the presentation resulting in a very irritating and unpredictable viewing experience. Sharpness can vary from shot to shot, and flesh tones can go from natural to hot pink in the blink of an eye (or the change of a camera set-up). At its best, the images are impressive, but the wildly varying nature of the camerawork makes for a very erratic transfer. The film has been divided into 24 chapters.
Audio Quality
3.5/5
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 sound mix is mostly frontcentric in nature. There are some occasional sounds in the rears, but they happen so seldom as to be practically nonexistent. With the film score relying heavily on soulful ballads, they’re spread across the fronts with only the slightest seepage into the rear soundstage. Dialogue is always discernable and has been placed in the center channel.
Special Features
3.5/5
The audio commentary is dominated by the brothers Erwin with assists from Rachel Hendrix and other members of the cast and crew. The project was an obvious labor of love which is well expressed during this commentary track from all concerned.
All of the bonus featurettes are presented in 1080p.
The blooper reel runs 5 minutes
There are ten deleted scenes combined into a montage that runs 15 ¾ minutes.
“Finding Hannah” features brothers Jon and Andy Erwin and their story of working with Rachel Hendrix on some of their music videos and deciding on her for their main character. Hendrix also comments in this brief piece along with co-stars John Schneider and Jason Burkey. It runs 4 ¾ minutes.
“Shari’s Story” relates the tale of Shari Rigby who plays the birth mother Cindy in the movie and who went through a similar abortion experience herself which she relates in this 5-minute vignette.
“Gianna Jessen: The Inspiration” introduces the viewer to Gianna Jessen who herself was an abortion survivor and whose story served as the inspiration of the film. Both directors speak of their love and admiration for her in this 5 ¼-minute piece.
“Singing the Praises of October Baby” is a 3 ½-minute bit of self-congratulation as several Christian-based musicians who contributed music to the soundtrack comment on their love for the film and its themes.
“Facebook Q & A” features Rachel Hendrix and Jason Burkey answering film-related and personal questions sent to them via Facebook. This runs 6 ½ minutes.
“Every Life Is Beautiful” offers seven faith-based testimonials about the preciousness of life from Jon Erwin, Andy Erwin, Gianna Jessen, Mark Hall, Pat Layton, Ken Bevel, and Dan Atchison. They can be watched individually or in one 14 ¼-minute grouping.
“Life Is Beautiful” music video is performed by The Afters and features clips from the film. It runs 4 ¼ minutes.
The disc contains promo trailers for Mirror, Mirror, Angels ‘n’ Cowboys, and Love’s Christmas Journey.
In Conclusion
3/5 (not an average)
The core story is fairly affecting in the Erwins’ October Baby, but the script and direction indulge in too many distracting indulgences for it to be as effective as it might otherwise have been. Those looking for a faith-based story of a family lost and found may find comfort with it, however.
Matt Hough
Charlotte, NC
