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Directed by Clark Gregg
In true indie style, writer/director Clark Gregg shot this film in 25 days. Locations included an abandoned mental hospital, a preserved colonial village and a zoo. Based on another book by maverick author of The Fight Club (Chuck Palahniuk), this film takes you on a fun-filled ride as we share the lives of some reasonably dysfunctional people who are attempting to fool people into loving them. Victor (Sam Rockwell) works at an historical theme park. He is a sex addict and con-artist who specialises in choking himself in crowded restaurants, but he is also dedicated to visiting his demented mother Ida (Anjelica Huston). Victor is desperate to find out the identity of his father, and enlists the help of his friend and fellow sex-addict Denny (Brad Henke) and his mother’s doctor Paige (Kelly Macdonald).
Like its self-asphyxiating main character, the film is about people getting stuck and then suddenly dislodging themselves from the patterns of their pasts. It confronts one taboo after another as the characters shock us with their addictions, fantasies and blockages … and it is also a redemptive love story. Gregg, who made his screenwriting debut with What Lies Beneath, doesn’t miss a beat as one outrageous incident follows another. But he still feels that the film is actually very hopeful and romantic “in its own perverse, post-modern way”.
Anjelica Huston nearly steals to film as the insane revolutionary mother with no parenting skills who has now retreated into a haze of dementia. But Sam Rockwell’s exceptional performance brings to life a person who is full of self-loathing and reaching out for acknowledgement in the most dramatic ways. Kelly Macdonald’s character grows as her relationship with Victor intensifies and her dark secret is revealed, and the audience comes to care about these really twisted people.
Lezley Herbert
