Nuclear Family; HBO Max Based on: the life of Sandra Russo and Robin Young

Nuclear Family; HBO Max
Based on: the life of Sandra Russo and Robin Young

Ry Russo-Young’s poignant three-episode docuseries (streaming on HBO Max) is an adaptation of a life, if you will. (Also known as a memoir. [Ed note: A stretch, but we’ll allow it.]) In the early 90s, the Russo-Youngs’ story was part of the national conversation about queer parenthood, then a novel—and highly contested—concept. Ry’s moms, Russo and Robin, were part of the first wave of lesbian couples who created their own nuclear families via directed sperm donation (i.e. sans sperm bank), so they’re left to figure out the logistics alone, including how involved the sperm donors will be in their kids’ lives. Fast forward a decade, and nine-year-old Ry’s donor, a prominent civil rights lawyer in San Francisco and by now a close friend of the family, sues for custody, setting off a legal trial and interpersonal shockwaves that last for 30 years.

The series’ visuals are incredible, especially the shots from the 70s and 80s; it’s as if every home video ever taped was leading up to this project, and there were many—Ry started her filmmaking career as a teenager, though it really began with their household productions of fairy tales (bless those DIY VHS days). The footage is accompanied by intimate and sometimes painful conversations about the meaning and makeup of families—who counts and why, who gets to decide and who has to live with it—and the final episode doubles as a master in class in memoir, as Ry recounts the many attempts she’s made to tell this story and why she’s felt compelled to do so, and as she justifies her pursuit to others who might be ready to put the whole thing to bed. If you’re into documentaries/docuseries like Dick Johnson Is Dead and How to with John Wilson, this one should definitely be on your list.  –Eliza Smith, Audience Development Editor