Unexpected (2015)

Cobie Smulders (l.) and Gail Bean in "Unexpected."

Directed and co-written by Kris Swanberg, wife of indie filmmaker Joe Swanberg, “Unexpected” is a surprisingly deft and unassuming slice of life tale of two simultaneous, unplanned pregnancies involving a teacher and one of her students.

Filmed in Chicago, the movie stars the regal and appealing Cobie Smulders—establishing herself as a legitimate movie star after a long run on TVs “How I Met Your Mother”—as Sam Abbott, an ambitious and successful high school science teacher working at a public school located in West Englewood, one of the city’s impoverished, minority neighborhoods. Shortly after realizing she’s pregnant, Sam lets her students in on the secret by affiliating a classroom garbage can with an episode of morning sickness.

Meanwhile, one of Sam’s best students is a bright and promising senior named Jasmine (newcomer Gail Bean, in a wonderful and strikingly polished performance), who has also found herself dealing with an unanticipated baby bump. The timing is unfortunate; Jasmine has a stellar GPA and a chance to study at the University of Illinois, but she can’t afford to live off campus and the school can’t accommodate her needs.

The film is largely about how a deeper bond grows between Sam and Jasmine as they each confront difficult decisions and wholesale life changes. Their relationship begins as teacher and student and evolves into one between two mature, intelligent adults.

Having been a Chicago public school teacher herself before becoming a filmmaker, Swanberg—who studied film at Southern Illinois and earned a Master’s in education at DePaul—seems uniquely qualified to tell a story about a foundering inner city school, an idea no doubt inspired by the highly controversial, real-life account of 50 underperforming CPS schools being recently shuttered or consolidated as a cost cutting measure.

Swanson has collaborated with her husband on some prior projects, but this is one of her first solo efforts as a director. Though “Unexpected” deals with some complex, underlying socio-economical themes, Swanson confidently steers the film in a way that rarely feels heavy-handed or manipulative.

However, especially considering the film is so timely when it comes to its education headlines, the one glaring omission is some hint at the plague of gun violence that haunts the south side of the Windy City. It sounds cynical, but without a subtle allusion to this dark, dangerous reality—a shriek of distant bullets, the wail of an ambulance siren, a few slowly patrolling police cars—the film loses some verisimilitude.

But putting aside its inexplicably overblown idealism, the movie is brimming with honesty, warmth and life. There are also the fine performances, especially from Bean and the suddenly expressive and touching Smulders, who recovers nicely from a mean-spirited turn in “Results,” the lifeless would-be rom-com about fitness trainers also released this year.

True to its title, “Unexpected” is a refreshing surprise.