Baby Steps

Actor Geoffrey Nauffts makes a sharp and assured directorial debut with this moving short film about a gay schoolteacher applying to adopt a child. Kathy Bates is excellent as the head of the adoption agency whose own family has a surprise element, and Nauffts is sweetly nervous as the teacher who is eager to adopt a child. The camerawork is smooth and unobtrusive but keeps the static setting from becoming oppressive. Worthwhile for the performances and the promise shown by an actor stretching his wings.

This is a short (25 minutes) film about a gay guy wanting to adopt a baby. It's quite simple - it's his meeting with the woman at the adopting agency and what follows after she realizes he is gay. It's a short one about re-discovering what is important in life and how frustrating things can be in a society that doesn't accept gay men as eligible parents. While straight people are not required to show that they are fit parents, totally fit parent that like other parents of the same sex are denied that basic right.

The actor-director Geoffrey Nauffts does very well on both counts and Kathy Bates is a strong person to act along side. What's interesting is that not all things are made obvious and some smaller issues are left undiscussed, without making it look anything but sensible that in every day life we don't have answers to all questions.

Great.