SPOILERS FOLLOW:
The ads and info for this movie promise a comedy. Do not be fooled. Some Advertising people must have been too scared by the plot to expect the movie to even make it on the art theater circuit without promises of laughs.
The film is actually a tale of a dysfunctional family and how the dysfunction finally hits the surface of daily life. The father is an ucaring, uninterested lout who is traveling all the time. The mother has compromised her dreams to have a child. The child (now a college student) is on his way to a promising future when he is called home to care for his injured mother.
While at home, his mother slowly drags him into her web of control, apparently in an effort to get a release for her many emotional and physical needs.
The camera angles and various two-person shot set-ups owe everything to The Graduate. I suspect the director was making a comment on the underlying Oedipal themes in that film. After much build-up in Spanking the Monkey, the Oedipal complex is no longer subconscious, but hits full awaken action.
After consummating the plot, the son must deal with his feelings as best he can. Unfortunately, he has no outlet and no hope for change.
The resolution of the film offered a a slight relief to the doom and gloom of the story.
Worth watching if you like intense, well written films or if you are the least bit interested in psychology. Avoid at all costs if you want a fun, fluff movie.
The ads and info for this movie promise a comedy. Do not be fooled. Some Advertising people must have been too scared by the plot to expect the movie to even make it on the art theater circuit without promises of laughs.
The film is actually a tale of a dysfunctional family and how the dysfunction finally hits the surface of daily life. The father is an ucaring, uninterested lout who is traveling all the time. The mother has compromised her dreams to have a child. The child (now a college student) is on his way to a promising future when he is called home to care for his injured mother.
While at home, his mother slowly drags him into her web of control, apparently in an effort to get a release for her many emotional and physical needs.
The camera angles and various two-person shot set-ups owe everything to The Graduate. I suspect the director was making a comment on the underlying Oedipal themes in that film. After much build-up in Spanking the Monkey, the Oedipal complex is no longer subconscious, but hits full awaken action.
After consummating the plot, the son must deal with his feelings as best he can. Unfortunately, he has no outlet and no hope for change.
The resolution of the film offered a a slight relief to the doom and gloom of the story.
Worth watching if you like intense, well written films or if you are the least bit interested in psychology. Avoid at all costs if you want a fun, fluff movie.