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Spanking the Monkey
Bright young student Raymond Aibelli is forced to sidetrack an important medical internship because his mother, Susan, is recovering from a broken leg. When he isn't tasked with the most mundane aspects of Susan's recuperation, Raymond finds distraction in a neighborhood girl, Toni Peck. But, as Susan begins relying on her son for both physical and emotional needs, Raymond starts developing disturbing and unwanted new yearnings.
Release : | 1994 |
Rating : | 6.3 |
Studio : | Fine Line Features, Swelter Films, Buckeye Films, |
Crew : | Production Design, Director of Photography, |
Cast : | Jeremy Davies Alberta Watson Benjamin Hendrickson Carla Gallo Zak Orth |
Genre : | Drama Comedy |
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Best movie of this year hands down!
I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
I love this movie so much
It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.
I first came across this movie while looking up for incestuous movies in a boring day, but it was nothing like a low taste erotica. The whole concept of immorality attached to incest because you can never underestimate the influence of a parent, and the damage it can cause by the abuse of it.We are quite familiar in fact, about the negligent father type as in the movie. What we don't usually see is the poison of love as the mother in the movie, that suffocates with all tenderness.We see a promising MIT medical student stuck in the house with a blue mother, who infiltrates every aspects of his life and denies him access to the outside world, in the name of love. The boy could not say no, because the one he loves has that power over him, the attraction of the motherly love allures him daily to go backwards and crawl back into the womb. It is common and applicable to all of us, the growing sexual tension is but a external presentation. Also, for the mother, the fear of a separate and independent identity growing inside her child will constantly and subconsciously make her try to stop the child from his development, which without the intervention of rationality, could be dangerous.I don't usually see this kind of parental pressure addressed in movie and this is a good one.
I decided to check out all the feature movies directed by David O'Russel after watching some random, mostly indie comedy drama movies, in search for some author oriented work.Spanking the Monkey serves as O'Russel's feature movie debut and it surely is a black comedy. It tales a story of Raymond and his crushing dream of becoming a doctor after his father tells him he should delay his medical internship in order to care for his mother who recently fractured the leg and his father can't do this because he works as a travelling salesman.Movie is really well written but with some undeveloped parts such as Raymond's misadventures with his "company". Many people will sympathize with the main protagonist and O'Russel masterly uses some metaphors to show in what paradoxical situation he is, for instance, when he wants to "spank the monkey" but he is always distracted by his dog. Absurdity of his situation is greatly increased as he feels sexual passion for his mother after being sexually rejected by an underage girl who she met while walking his dog.Movie is a must see for those interested in "indie" and "coming of age" pictures including a self reflective protagonist dealing with difficulties in the most sensitive part of his/her life.
Ray just wants to go to medical school. More than that, he has a great opportunity at hand: he's got a big chance with a paper he's writing to be selected as one of the ten interns for the Surgeon General in DC. But there's a hitch, an annoying and bib and personal one: his mother, a depressive, has broken her leg quite badly and is in bed and needs help to do basic things: go to the bathroom, take a shower, have meals, etc. So Ray's father, a traveling salesman (and a louse, which we see in snippets though sadly the rest of the family never quite knows about if suspects), tells Ray he has to do this, no one else can help, and it will be about a month. So much for the internship, right? Could he make it? But what about those showers? And lotioning the legs and the under-the-cast area? And those little touches of the forearm. Mom, you're trying to seduce me(?) Um... are you?Spanking the Monkey, a technically and writerly masterstroke (no pun intended) of a debut from director David O. Russell, is simply a sick twisted f*** of a movie made by a man who, at the time at least, was probably a sick twisted f*** as well. You wanna know what this is? Here's a pitch: Young Charles Manson (who Davies later played) does his Mom. There. Go see it. It delivers on that but it's so much more a psychological mind-bender, but told without too much flash and panache - this isn't Three Kings, for example, it's more low-key and low-budget, which adds to the disturbing elements being directed just like a regular indie film from the 90's. And it does try to add a little levity - or more of a typical quirky/awkward sub-plot where Ray may or may not get into a sexual relationship with a high-schooler (no, believe me, this is the more normal part of the movie, awkward kissing and juxtapositions with the dog as well).But be warned, sorta: this is billed as a 'comedy', and it is in the sense that I chuckled a few times. But the character interactions, Davies performance (and here, more than anything else I've seen him outside maybe Rescue Dawn) looks like he's about to explode or cry or both at any moment, and just how Russell takes a very direct approach to the psychological issues at hand, not sugar-coating how much he and his mother need help and we feel for both of them because it's so honest even in its absurdity, make it essential viewing for those looking for subversive American cinema from the 1990's, or ever really. It would be in Amos Vogel's book if it had been made in the 60's or 70's, you mark my words! That it was made for (relatively) so little and looks pretty polished is a further credit (this won the Audience Award at Sundance 94 - the year Clerks was there, to give perspective).
Raymond is a young pre-med student about to start a prestigious internship when he is forced to return home to look after his mother after she is immobilized with a broken leg. The physical contact required to care for his mother causes her and Raymond to become close to an uncomfortable degree and his relationship with the girl next door confuses him further.This is the most awkward film I've ever watched and I mean that in the best way possible. I was so uncomfortable – it was fantastic! I don't even know what to say about this film. It struck the right chords everywhere. It dealt with such a taboo and sensitive subject and managed to make it emotionally involving and funny at the same time (a very dark comedy).The performances were all great. Jeremy Davies in particular, he was instantly likable and sympathetic and expressed himself so well; subtly and loudly. Alberta Watson as the mother was great too. They had the strangest chemistry, there was never any sense of a typical mother/son relationship and that made it work extremely well.There were a couple of weak scenes, namely the scenes with his friends and the doctor scene also seemed to drag a little bit. But overall, it worked amazingly well, especially considering the topic. I read afterwards that it was made only on an $80,000 budget. I was seriously shocked, and I also sit in astonishment that this seems to be hardly seen and has such a low IMDb rating.This was an absolutely amazing film and the best film I've seen in a long time. Great performances, hilariously dark humour and yet very quietly emotional. Worth it just to be squirming in your chair whilst simultaneously having a fantastically good time.I never give films 10 after one viewing (and even then I've only given out 40 out of almost 3000 films I've seen), but this stuck with me for days (and even still, a month later) that I couldn't give it any other rating. A must-see film for those with an open mind.