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It seems like only yesterday that we were all ragging on the millennial cohort for youthful foibles like excess avocado consumption and crushing student debt accrual. But time, with its trademark humorlessness, has marched on and suddenly, the self-same kids who coined “adulting” to hashtag their Insta stories about that time they put up a shelf, are discovering how much less fun it is to be adult-ed — ready or not.

In the enjoyably salty-till-it-gets-too-sweet “Scrambled,” Nellie is definitely in the “not” category, but that doesn’t matter to her ovaries. At 34, they’re starting to slow down their egg production, forcing hard-partying, sexually adventurous Nellie, whose journey to date has been an exercise in life-decision-making avoidance, to consider her options. When exactly should you let go of the child inside you, in order to embrace the possibility of having a child inside you?

This is fertile territory into which McKendrick implants a zingy,...

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the trampy heroine of any modern female-slanted rom-com must make Bridget Jones look like Grace Kelly by comparison. And while Leah McKendrick’s feature debut offers more caustic com than rom, it leans hard into the legacy of Helen Fielding’s famously underachieving singleton. Since then, we’ve had Paul Feig’s Bridesmaids and Sophie Hyde’s Animals, and Scrambled certainly belongs in that more riotous subgenre of movies about women behaving badly.

McKendrick takes a different tack to most, though, and its subject matter — how do you prepare for motherhood when you’re not yet fit to be a mother? — is a tough sell, and often feels like raw material for an incredibly personal stand-up set from a comedian that likes to shock with overshare.

McKendrick — who writes and directs herself in her feature debut — plays small-time jewelry designer Nellie Robertson, who...

An Indian American mother lives her life tending to an abusive husband who constantly demeans her. One day she hears about a friend facing loss, this friend also being an old fling from her teenage days. In secret, the mother sets up a Facebook account to reconnect with her teenage sweetheart. An act, that if found out, is certain to incite the wraith of her petty husband.

“Halwa” review is part of the Submit Your Film Initiative

Often unspoken, there is a general understanding that the system of arranged marriage is not without some faults on the humane level. Ultimately, love is not always something that can be forced and to do so can result in problematic relationships, a sentiment which can be more tragic when considering sexual orientation is even less justified in the process. Gayatri Bajpai & Nirav Bhakta’s short film “Halwa” looks to explore this situation in...