Off and Running (2009)

You guys are probably sick to death of me only reviewing documentaries.  Sometimes though, in order not to give in and quit this project, I need something short to make sure I can squeeze in a movie a day!! This has been in my queue for some time, and as usual, I have no idea how it ended up there.  Its a documentary about a young African-American teenager, who was adopted and raised in a very mixed family, with Jewish lesbian parents, an older Puerto Rican brother, and a younger Korean brother.  The movie basically takes us through a year or two in her life as she makes the decision to try to get in contact with her birth mother, and the sort of downward spiral that her life turns into when that doesn't go quite the way she was either expecting, or hoping for. It was a very interesting movie, a bit slow at times, but overall it really kept my interest.  It was almost too painful a few times as she makes some interesting decisions. Note to anyone who might be offended by teen pregnancy and the options that may or may not be chosen. (without giving any spoiler away)  As someone who always intended (and never say never) on adopting at some point, some of this was a little painful and difficult to understand....why a girl raised with a clearly very loving family, would feel the need to find out about and risk being rejected again by her birth mother.  Then again, this movie helped me see that it really has nothing to do with the adoptive parents, at least in this case.   It had everything to do with this girl feeling the need to somehow identify with the family she never knew.  Wondering where she came from biologically.  The one thing I hate about documentaries like this, is at the end, not all the questions are answered and sometimes you want more information about the family!  This was well worth the time I spent watching it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1083853/