Post by StevePulaski on Aug 29, 2016 0:10:55 GMT -5
Mother (1996)
Directed by: Albert Brooks
Directed by: Albert Brooks
Debbie Reynolds and Albert Brooks.
Rating: ★★★
Albert Brooks makes films about a (hopefully) fictionalized version of himself that makes several attempts to succeed in spite of himself. In Modern Romance, his character tried desperately to get over his girlfriend after she broke up with him because of his neurotic tendencies and overbearing nature, and while trying to prove to her that he loves her, he can't help but be both neurotic and overbearing. He shoots himself in the foot whenever he tries to make a situation better; like a more depressing version of Larry David on Curb Your Enthusiasm. If nothing else, Brooks has made compelling films about how the state of neurosis and questionable mental instability can be detrimental, even lethal, to a person's social life and prowess.
In Mother, his fifth directorial feature, he plays John Henderson, a fairly successful science-fiction writer on his way to writing his second book after finalizing the divorce with his second wife. "If you two were as cooperative as you were through this process, you would've had a happy marriage," the couple's divorce lawyer boldly states. While happy and free from his marital woes, John is still nonetheless perplexed on why he cannot maintain a long-term relationship with a woman. When introspection and colleagues' opinions fail him, he decides to move back in with his mother Beatrice (Debbie Reynolds), moving into the same bedroom as part of what he calls an "experiment" to see if his relationship with his mother has any effect on his relationships with women.
John and his mother have been distant for a long-time and it takes the audience about two minutes to realize why. Beatrice is anal and meticulous, unwilling to spend more than she needs to on groceries, settling for store-brand cheese and peanut butter while her son doesn't mind shelling out several extra dollars for something nice simply because he's "able to afford it." Beatrice's mild-mannered but obsessive nature regarding picky details angers a perpetually relaxed and easygoing John, despite the fact that he can't take "just because" as an answer for why his mother won't purchase $10 jam.
The two wind up in an "Odd Couple" sort of relationship at home, with John trying to write his book in addition to find some realizations as to why his luck with women has never been strong. This makes Mother a bit of a slowburn comedy-drama if I've ever seen one; the film is concerned with smaller details that gradually work themselves to add up to bigger explanations. Before John comes to his own consensus when defining the relationship between him and his mother, the audience has had enough time and has been provided with ample evidence to come to their own conclusion.
The divisions between both John and his mother are a product of the closeted disappointment his mother holds for him. Beatrice looks at her son and sees everything she's not and everything she gave up to have John and his brother. Now, in the present time, she sees him stepping backwards rather than moving forwards; regressing in a way that could lead to him not pursuing the promising path he could continue to take, which she subconsciously doesn't want to see happen to him, though it seems otherwise.
Brooks, yet again, does such a wonderful and spirited rendition of the neurotic middle-aged man who desperately wants to hear that his mother loves and is proud of him. Meanwhile, Reynolds gives a charismatic performance in addition, offsetting Brooks' perfunctory nervousness with a great deal of firm-but-fair warmth and humor that gives her role a strong and succinct feeling. Mother marks itself as a strong achievement in being a mannered comedy-drama about a mother and son relationship instead of what could've been an obligatory retread through tired, sitcom-level material. Therein lies Brooks' genius and his crafty, commendable ability to tread waters ever-so delicately.
Starring: Albert Brooks and Debbie Reynolds. Directed by: Albert Brooks.