#reborningny

Emily Bett Rickards as Kelly in Reborning

Modern psychology dictates five stages through which one passes coping with grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.  Many people are neither so neat nor as lucky.

Kelly (Emily Bett Rickards) is the proprietor of Little Angels Nursery. The thirty-something artist makes lifelike baby dolls based on photos of real children. One recent commission is intended to remind an adult who he was on the occasion of a birthday, others go into collections, some are meant to console for actual loss.

The contrast between what seems a sympathetic profession and its often drunk, stoned, punk-looking purveyor is startling. Even with a rather unique handicap, however, Kelly is meticulous about her craft. She shares her home/work space and, intriguingly, related skills, with boyfriend Daizy (Paul Piaskowski) who creates detailed silicone models of men’s penises.

Though finding her field serendipitously, Kelly has a calling, while sweet- natured partner Paul is merely bemused by his business. He sees marriage and a family in their future. For unsettling reasons we learn later, she’s adamantly against having children.

We meet when Kelly’s upper middle class, businesswoman client Emily (Lori Triolo) appears to check on progress of baby Eva.  In awe of the artist’s skill, Emily is nonetheless exacting in her demands. The infant is declared too perfect. “I guess some people want them more Gerbery (as in Gerber baby food), I want her to be more realistic, nothing fancy or cleaned up.” (Though we never get a full close up of the doll, her only obvious flaw is too much hair.)

Emily has brought along a video tape…as source of inspiration. Though she’s told images will be too grainy to be useful, Kelly accepts it to be kind. The tape suggests baby Eva died some twenty years ago, yet her surviving mother is raw.

Visits and requests unusually continue. Emily shows up with baby booties and a birth certificate. Kelly is attentive, while increasingly frustrated and determined. The women grow oddly closer. Her client is about the age Kelly’s mother would’ve been.

Suddenly there’s a shift. The doll’s importance skyrockets. Emily is shut out. Other commissions languish as Kelly becomes seriously obsessed. Daizy is understandably concerned.