Mommas Man

Cautionary Tale for Us Parents
A whimsical, but painfully true film about a young man whose parents have unintentionally made life so comfortable for him that it impedes his ability to leave home and be a functioning adult. Mikey comes home to NY from California (where he has a wife and baby) on a business trip and stays in his parents' wonderfully eccentric and bohemian loft. He sleeps in his old bed and pulls out his childhood toys and comic books. He invents excuse after excuse not to leave creating a web of lies and eventually becomes so agoraphobic that he can't leave the loft. His mom, a first-class enabler (the name of the film is so true) constantly asks "Is everything OK?" while simultaneously offering him coffee, tea, oatmeal, soup and home-cooked meals as she psychologically undermines him. His shrewd dad is caught in the middle; he doesn't wan't to upset his wife, but in going along with her and Mikey, he marginalizes himself. Mikey has a childhood friend who also seems to be overstaying his welcome...

And New York looks gorgeous!
Like Andrew Wagner's The Talent Given Us and Lena Dunham's Tiny Furniture, real-life parents of filmmakers play themselves as family dynamics play out with humor, discomfort, agony, joy, and a moving emotional reality we can all embrace (or not).

A Diamond in the Rough
I'm so glad I occasioned this movie on Reel 13. I really felt it captured the conflict and reality of becoming an adult for the 30-40's generation (my generation). I loved the regression of the main character, it was slow, methodical and accurate. It seemed to be my self, my time, my toys, my conflict - yes I was totally drawn into this well crafted story (and I'm a woman!). Thanks Azazel Jacobs.

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