A Mother Day A4

8/3/2019 A Mother Day A4

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I f Mother s Day isn t the most adept and accompl ished mot ion p ic tu re ever re leased by L loyd Kaufman s exp lo i ta t ive Troma Enter ta inment , then I haven t seen the one tha t s be t te r . I ts low-budget may sh ine th rough now and aga inin one scene, a speck led-wi th -b lood character reacts and screams a t a behead ing tha t is s t i l l seconds away f rom tak ing p lacebut these l i t t le p roduct ion f laws on ly serve to add a b i t o f charm to the anyth ing-goes, guer i l la -s ty le f i lmmaking process.So much more than a common s lasher f i lm f rom the ear ly 80s,Mother s Day b lends un th inkab ly nasty hor ror e lements wi thperverse comedy, in t i mate drama, and outrageously on- ta rge t sa t i re wi thout miss ing a beat .

In the ten years s ince graduat ing f rom Wol fb rea th Co l lege, best f r iends Abbey (Nancy

Hendr ickson) , Jack ie (Deborah Luce) and Tr ina (T iana Pierce) have gone the i r separa te ways bu t vowed to meet fo r an annua l surpr ise ge taway vacat ion . Wi th Abbey tend ing to her overbear ing mother , Jack ie constan t ly used by a coke-sn i f f ing boyfr iend who doesn t apprec ia te her , and Tr ina o f f in Ho l lywood mesh ing wi th ther ich and famous, the t r io a re happyto ge t away f rom i t a l l fo r a week o f re laxa t ion and ca tch ing up .


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This year , Jack ie s cho ice in loca t ionNew Jersey s iso la ted Deep Baronsturns ou t to be the i r undo ing . At tacked and k idnapped in the mid

d le o f the n igh t , Abbey, Jack ie and Tr ina f ind themse lves a t the mercy o f Mother (Beatr ice Pons) and her be loved grown sons Ike (Freder ick Cof f in ) and Add ley (Michae l McCleery) , backwoods yoke ls who de l igh t

in systemat ic to r tu re and k i l l ing . Frequent ly mean-sp i r i ted bu t w i th a l te rna te ly comica l and earnest s lan ts , Mother s Day works on mul t ip le leve ls . As a sa t i r ica l comment on gross consumer ism, domest ic i ty , andthe un in tended e f fects o f se l f -he lp g roups, the f i lm is over f lowingwi th under ly ing themat ic in ten t .Open ing a t a mot iva t iona l seminar ca l led E.G.O. ( Ern ie s GrowthOppor tun i ty ) tha t Mother a t tends

in Manhat tan , the p ic tu re then segues to her g iv ing a l i f t to two o ther g roup members about to meet the i r maker . You l ive rea l ly fa r ou t , one o f them comments. Mother s response: I take what s good f rom the c i ty , and the rest you can keep. The in ten t iona l lud icrousness o f th is s ta tement iswicked ly funny, fo r the good tha t Mother has apparent ly taken f romthe c i ty is the ab i l i ty to rape, k idnap and murder innocent peop le .


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Meanwhi le , she l i ves in a housewhere the wa l ls a re spray-pa in ted wi th sexua l re fe rences, te lev is ions are tu rned on 24 /7 , name-brand junk foods are consumed as i f they were vegetab lesEat your cheese spread, Ike , i t s good fo r the l i ver , Mother says a t one po in tand a Sesame Stree t Big Bi rd a la rm c lock s i ts inches away f rom a ro t t ing corpse hang ing

in the c lose t . Suf f ice i t to say,Mother s Day is fu l l o f the k ind o f w ink ing b i te e i ther lost upon most o f todays c inema, o r no t pu l led o f f near ly as we l l .

On another leve las a dev ious ly v io len t and unspar ing hor ror e f fo r tthe f i lm is morose and po ignant , de ta i l ing a th reesome o f o ld f r iends whose happy-go- lucky vacat ion leads to one o f them dead and the o ther two f igh t ing back fo r vengeance and

surv iva l . Surpr is ing ly femin is t in na ture , d i rector Char les Kaufman se ts up pro tagon is tswho are no shr ink ing v io le ts .


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Forced in to a va l id t ransf ormat ion f rom wh imper ing v ic t ims to no- ho lds-bar red f igh ters , they s ign i fy the mode l o f a modernwoman who can take care o f herse l f and doesn t need to just be eye candy or a t rophy wi fe . Before th is can occur , however ,the movie must ge t th rough i ts most uncomfor tab le segmentthe bru ta l rap ing and phys ica l abuse o f one o f the ga ls . That th is goes down wi th in a ro le - p lay ing sex game tha t Mother a f fect ionate ly labe ls the Sh i r leyTemple , the v ic t im fo rced in to

the par t o f a schoo lbooks- car ry ing l i t t le g i r l accosted by a s t ranger h id ing beh ind a parkbench se t up in t he i r yard , s igna lstha t d i rector Kaufman s tongue is a t least p lan ted f i rmly in cheek.

When the f i lm wants to ge t down and d i r ty , i t knows howto . Vio lence and b loodshed are p len t i fu l ; when a rope Abbey is pu l l ing cu ts deep ly in to the pa lm o f her hand, the v iewer fee ls i t .Specia l e f fects used to pu l l o f f

the innumerab le bod i ly in ju r ies in f l i c ted are most ly p ro fess iona l i f occas iona l ly coarse .


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And the c l imax, in wh ich th reewel l -deserved comeuppancestake precedence, is invo lv ing and appropr ia te ly ru th less in i ts savagery. The s igh t o f Mother be ing su f foca ted by p last ic b low-up breasts speaks loud and c lear o f the sad ism she haschosen to sur round herse l f w i th .

Speaking o f Mother , Beatr ice Pons (a ve teran actress o f te lev is ion and the s tage who chose to be cred i ted under

the a l ias Rose Ross ) isun forget tab le in a one-o f-a - k ind per fo rmance tha t is s ick, funny and touch ing a l l a t once.

Her love fo r her sons and the normalcy-cum-squa lor tha t she has ra ised them in actua l ly g ives her a f lawed human touch.

She s a monster , fo r sure , bu t she s t i l l cares fo r her fami ly . As hero ines Abbey, Jack ie and Tr ina , Nancy Hendr ickson, Deborah Luce and T iana Pierce are un i fo rmly s t rong. None o f them went on to b ig act ing careers, and tha t s un for tunate ;the re la t ionsh ip be tween thethree o f them is endear ing ly deve lopedthere s even a sweet f lashback to the i r co l lege days scored to Tommy James and theShonde l ls I Th ink We re Alone

Nowand each one s l ides in to a character speci f ica l ly ind iv idua l f rom the o ther two.

Mother s Day is g r i t ty and g r imya bath may be in o rder a f te r watch ing i t but i t i s no t w i thout mer i t .

Whether v iewed as a s ta rk hor ror p ic , a wi ld ly o f fbeat comedy, a female-empowerment saga, o r a cu t t ing dep ic t ion o f consumer is t soc ie ty gone woefu l ly w rong, the f i lm has someth ing to o f fe r a l l bu t those wi th weak s tomachs.The socko surpr ise end inglet s just say i t invo lves Mother s deranged, fo rest -p rowl ing s is te r Queen ieis the per fect capper on a re l ic o f the 1980s s lasher craze tha t s t i l l , odd ly enough, fee ls awfu l ly re levant .


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A Mother Day A4