Momma’s Man
Wednesday, January 21, 2009 – 7:30 PM
USA 2008. Director: Azazel Jacobs
Cast: Matt Boren, Ken Jacobs, Flo Jacobs, Dana Varon, Richard Edson, Piero Arcilesi
The idea for Momma’s Man came to the director one morning on a visit to his parents. On waking to find coffee and cereal waiting for him, filmmaker Azazel Jacobs wondered then why he had ever moved out. In the film, which revolves around the childhood regression of Mikey (Matt Boren), a thirty-something computer programmer with a wife and baby, Jacobs has merged his life into fiction by casting his real parents, Ken Jacobs, the noted avant-garde filmmaker and artist Flo Jacobs, a painter, in the roles of Mikey’s parents. Furthermore, the film was shot almost entirely in the ancient and crammed-to-the-rafters Manhattan loft where Ken and Flo have lived for over 40 years. Momma’s Man opens with Mikey heading to the airport to return to his wife and child after a holiday visit with his parents. But he soon returns, citing a flight delay. The next day brings another excuse, and then another. His doting mother is more than happy to enable his procrastination, while his father is increasingly suspicious. Mutely, Mikey retreats to his old room, where he spends his days reading comic books, playing the guitar, and wandering about the loft in his long underwear like an overgrown toddler. “Momma’s Man sneaks up on you – small in scale, constructed from deeply personal material – you’d never guess how deeply it cuts into a universal experience: the terror of becoming an adult.” (David Ansen, Newsweek) “A beautiful, wise and poker-faced comedy of discombobulation.” (Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly) Colour, digibeta video, 94 mins.
Post-screening discussion with Dr. Endre Koritar, a psychiatrist, a training psychoanalyst and a Clinical Assistant Professor at the Dept of Psychiatry, UBC. Dr. Koritar is currently the President of the Western Branch of the Canadian Psychoanalytic Society. He has an active practice in the treatment of both “brain” and “mind” disorders.
Co-sponsored by The Western Branch of the Canadian Psychoanalytic Society.
Moderated by Dr. Harry Karlinsky, Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia.
“Wryly comic, sometimes heartbreaking and altogether original film.” – Variety
TIcketing and more information:
http://www.cinematheque.bc.ca/framesofmind/mommas-man