Film

The Surrogate

Name: The Surrogate
Genre: Drama
Released: 2021
Cast: Jasmine Batchelor, Chris Perfetti, Sullivan Jones, Brooke Bloom, Tonya Pinkins

Other titles called The Surrogate: the 2013 film.

Drama

A woman becomes a surrogate for her best friend's same-sex couple, and a prenatal complication forces all three into an impossible ethical choice. It's a chamber piece about love, loyalty, and where those two collide—measured, warm, and genuinely uncomfortable in the best way. For anyone who loves character-driven drama that respects its audience's intelligence.

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Moonlight2016

Three chapters of a Black man's life, exploring identity, desire, and the masks we wear. Tender, precise, and architecturally perfect. Like The Surrogate, it trusts quiet moments to do the heavy lifting.

But Deliberately paced and contemplative. If you need plot momentum, this will feel glacial.

First Reformed2018

Paul Schrader's moral inquiry into conscience and complicity, following a pastor wrestling with faith in the face of environmental collapse. Intimate and philosophically restless in the way The Surrogate is.

But Bleak and austere. The protagonist's despair doesn't lift, and neither does the camera's distance.

Passing2021

Two Black women navigate identity and friendship when one begins passing as white in 1920s Harlem. Gorgeous, claustrophobic, and fundamentally about the impossible loyalty between two people with irreconcilable needs.

But Shot in black and white and reliant on subtext. Some find the formality cold rather than moving.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Surrogate

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Tiny Furniture2010

Both are about the impossibility of making everyone happy—and the weight of realizing you have to choose.

Lena Dunham's debut follows a recent grad living with her parents in Manhattan, suffocating under expectation and privilege. It's funny and excruciating about how people we love can trap us with their hopes. The moral texture is similar: everyone is right and everyone is wrong.

But Shot on video in a claustrophobic apartment. Dunham's protagonist is unlikeable in ways some find tiresome rather than realistic.

Manchester by the Sea2016

A man is forced to return home to manage his nephew's care after his brother's death. Kenneth Lonergan's script finds grace in grief and messy affection. The emotional logic is airtight.

But The story deliberately withholds catharsis. Sadness lingers; nothing is resolved.

Never Rarely Sometimes Always2020

Two teenage girls travel to New York for an abortion. Eliza Hittman shoots with documentary restraint and enormous empathy. It sits with complexity rather than judging it.

But Meditative and quiet about a heavy subject. Zero sentimentality can feel cold to some viewers.

The Farewell2019

A Chinese-American woman returns home to say goodbye to her grandmother, who has asked her family not to tell the patient she's dying. Funny, tender, and genuinely wise about family contradiction.

But Tonal whiplash—it shifts between comedy and heartbreak without warning. Some see that as brilliant; others find it destabilizing.

Krisha2016

A non-professional cast, mostly Ari Aster's actual family, plays people recovering from addiction and homelessness. Raw, unsentimental, and deeply moral about second chances.

But No conventional narrative arc. It unfolds like life rather than like a story. Also, it's difficult watching people struggle.

Lean on Pete2018

A boy forms an attachment to a racehorse while his life falls apart. The Safdie brothers' camera finds tenderness in precarity. Intimate and lived-in.

But The boy's situation becomes darker. Some viewers find the bleakness punishing rather than moving.

A Serious Man2009

Both film a moral crisis with dry precision, asking what we owe each other when the universe doesn't owe us anything.

The Coens follow a Jewish professor as his life geometrically fractures, and every attempt to fix it makes things worse. It's funny and furious about the randomness of suffering and the human need to find meaning in it anyway.

But Darkly comic in a way that can feel cruel. The ending doesn't comfort or resolve; it doubles down on chaos.

Babette's Feast1987

Both center a gift that changes everything, and both ask: what do we sacrifice to give to the people we love?

A French chef cooks a lavish dinner for a strict Protestant community that has learned to deny pleasure. It's about generosity, grace, and how love speaks when words fail. Quietly transcendent.

But A slow, meditative film about restraint that itself is restrained. It's neither funny nor dramatic in obvious ways.