Not Coming to a Theater Near You

Momma’s Man / U.S. / 2008

There is something about a comforting embrace from your mother that offers an emotional sanctuary quite impossible to replicate. Azazel Jacobs, the writer and director of Momma’s Man, makes just such a mother’s embrace – his own mother’s, mind you – the dramatic climax of his new film and one of quietly bracing devastation.

It is hard to imagine a more personal creative endeavor than Momma’s Man. Jacobs cast his actual parents, Ken and Flo Jacobs, as the father and mother of his lead, Mikey, the thirty-something husband and father having what to outsiders would seem like a premature and unnecessary mid-life crisis, but to him is so real it’s suffocating. Jacobs also uses his parents’ New York apartment as the backdrop for nearly all of the film’s action. In watching Mikey navigate the apartment’s narrow corridors and tip toe across the aching hardwood floors, you get the feeling the Jacobs’ home hasn’t significantly changed in many a year, and that is exactly the impression intended by the film’s director. It is this familiarity, this suffocating nostalgia that is at first a burden on Mikey, but eventually induces a type of paralysis.

Mikey’s tipping point is a solo sojourn from his current home in L.A. to his parents’ apartment in N.Y. When he is supposed to fly home, Mikey begins inventing any number of excuses – some innocent and others quite insidious – to stay a few more days with his folks. After a day or two of rehashing comics and hilariously vengeful songs he wrote on his guitar in high school, visiting old friends and reconnecting with his past, the friendly confines of the nest stricken Mikey with agoraphobia of sorts—he eventually seems physically unable to leave and face the life and problems he left behind. What finally provides his capacity for flight is not the continuous offers from his mother of selfless servitude, but simply her genuine embrace that makes all else seem irrelevant. For Mikey, and the audience, it’s an unforgettable moment. Often very funny and eventually heartbreaking, Momma’s Man is a welcomed discovery and a rare achievement.

by Chet Mellema | Source: 35mm Film
28 Apr 2008 10:12 PM | Submit Comment