"Birthmarked"

Since the study of human behavior began, the topic of Nature verses Nurture has been a debatable topic. Are we prone to behaving according to the code in our DNA or if in the right environment could we prove to contradict or chromosomes?

Ben and Catherine (Matthew Goode and Toni Collette) both are intelligent scientists and come from a long line of great minds. In 1977 under the assistance of their eccentric Professor Gertz (Michael Smiley) they propose the idea that nurture can overcome nature in the right environment and set out to do so with three children. Their own biological son Luke (Jordan Poole) they will nurture to be an artist rather than continue the family tradition of science, Maya, (Megan O'Kelly) an adopted newborn girl from "feebleminded" parents they will raise to be intelligent and Maurice, (Anton Gills-Adelman) another adopted child who comes from temperamental parents to be raised a passivist.

With the aid of a Russian who specializes in childcare Samsonov (Andreas Apergis) they set out to an isolated country cabin and over the next twelve years the children are unaware of the experiment and go through daily routines to ensure the experiment is a success. Yet when Gertz questions their experiment when he is not seeing remarkable results, the stress takes its toll on Ben and Catherine and in turn the conflict in how best to handle the situation causes a rebellion in the children and creates unforeseen results to their experiment.

A bizarre take to one of life's great debates. This documentary-like piece of this loving, but dysfunctional family will leave you grateful they're not your family and at times will make you wish they were. Goode and Collete's dynamic with each other show that you can be the smartest person in the world and still come out looking stupid when it comes to marriage and parenthood. Like most families, this film isn't perfect but comes close with a four and a half G.M.Star performance.

⭐⭐⭐⭐½