Film

User reviews of this film

• Zbigniew Ambroziak-Zibi said...

  Posted on May 27 2009 22:28 Mamma`s man by Azazel Jacob
  The allure for any grown man of crawling back into the womb isn’t an obvious gift for cinema. No one can imagine a more personal thing to make, than to produce a movie about one’s own adulthood, casting his own parents as the parents of the main character. How much of an exhibitionist must he be!
  Mamma`s man by Azazel Jacob (The GoodTimesKid) is a kind of comedy, a kind of drama but does not really follow any of these genre formula. Ninety nine minutes were hard to digest. Director Jacob wanted to reach the emotional child of the audience, but for me he failed and did not even put me in a nostalgic mood. Mikey (Matt Boren), the main character, in his mid thirties, a busy businessman, married and father of a newborn baby, has stopped at his parents flat in New York for a couple days. When he explains his overstaying in a naïve way, his parents suspect that something is going wrong with their son. No one questioned him, until his father saw him canceling the phone message from his wife, trying to contact him from Los Angeles. What surprised me most was the limited dialog between characters. The lack of any communicative conversation distinguish this movie from others. This is a clever way of showing the death of communication between two generations. Mikey`s father (Ken Jacobs) is a typical father figure from Samuel Freud psychoanalyst books. The mother (Flo Jacobs) was annoying with her mothering, constantly asking him if he wants some coffee, tea or cereal. Mikey makes time to hide himself up in the loft, the place of his childhood. He surrounds himself with old toys, scrap books, reads comics and plays stupid songs which he wrote when he was teenager. All stuff triggered off stored- up memories. For me at that point the story line almost ended. Not much happens. Mikey tries to catch up with his old friend from his neighborhood (Piero Arcilesi ), even this visit convinced me that he is passive and conformist. For the whole movie we don’t really know what is going on with him. Is he sinking into a deep depression or does he want to escape from father duties waiting for him in Los Angeles.
  Mikey makes me angry, even more, annoyed. More or less, I think, maybe it is because of lack of skilful directing. For instance when Mikey`s leg is hovering above the top of stairs, when he wants escape from parent`s hovel, this scene is so full of kitsch. I do not think that director Azalel Jacob is a good psychologist or filmmaker. His aim was to depict somebody emotions, recalling memories and allow the character dive into childhood but for me did not work.
  Again when Mikey ventured to meet his high-school girlfriend (Eleanor Hutching), the conversation was incoherent and full of awkwardness but then he suddenly became melancholic by looking at the photograph of his newborn baby. Will he return to Los Angeles?
  This movie drags at times, and watching Boren take Mikey further and further into a state of absolute immobility is difficult to watch but his performance is so spot. The balance between directing and acting was uneven. You are emotionally attached more to the character rather than following the story with interest.
  Cramped and cluttered the flat of his parents becomes the perfect location to give away the impression of old bohemia and an erstwhile atmosphere of intellectual verve. A thoughtful soundtrack composed by Mandy Hoffman perfectly integrates with the whole movie and draws all viewers into a mood of stupor. Filmed in grainy 16 mm by cinematographer Tobias Datum, the movie captures, in vivid detail, one of the last stretches of ungentrified New York and the lives of the artists and intellectuals who dwell there. Despite of all painstaking endeavor the final result is disappointing. Long shots make you drowsy. Limited conversation makes you want to talk to your partner next to your seat in the cinema. What more can I say! It was only a fiver for the ticket

  Report as inappropriate

• ian said...

  Posted on May 14 2009 12:00 no, no, no. how you can big up this film is a mystery. I went because I am a big fan of Ken Jacob's work. And it is fascinating to see his bohemian loft, crammed to bursting point with a lifetime's curiosity. But the film is a gawky, awkward first timer's effort which embarrassingly uses his parents as actors and their flat as location. I wouldn't mind that if it was in any way challenging or intriguing, but it is an unconvincing account of a rather irritating and unsympathetic character who is suffering an angst filled crisis where he wants to go back to his childhood. Like a student who never grew up. Except he has a new born baby he apparently can't be bothered with. and a wife. Really you just want to shake him, and tell him not to be so utterly pathetic and snivellingly mean to his admirable parents. The epitome of 'indie' in the bad sense of the word. And no, it is not 'beautifully shot' either.

  Report as inappropriate