Short Film Review “Sorry Mom” A perfectly raucous, riotous, from the heart ode to the one who gave birth to us….and never let that be forgotten!
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First, the Recap:
Nag nag nag nag nag! I mean, can’t we ALL admit that being on the receiving end of this level of scrutiny is just LOADS of FUN?? Oh, well, maybe not really. Whether it is more something we might associate with our childhoods and the manners in which we tried our best to rebel against parental authority when it came to chores, shopping for clothes, or any other responsibility of life that wasn’t playtime, there often tended to be ONE primary source for the unwelcome badgering….MOM! Even when adults, do some things STILL never truly change??
For one now-adult son (Matt Nagin), his world has been altered by the recent passing of his beloved Mom (Bonnie Schneider). Recounting just how much he actually did appreciate her, sonny boy guides his way through memories that highlight this. However, the real portrait that comes into focus would appear to manifest a woman that was an overbearing nightmare, pestering her son about EVERY little aspect of his choices and driving him utterly insane with frustration and defiance. Even in death, can her presence, and needling, go away??
Next, my Mind:
Sometimes you don’t wish to try and muster the mental fortitude to absorb deep, evocative, slice-of-life themes when watching a film, but rather harbor a desire to simply sit back, relax, and hey, just LAUGH how about! Might it likewise be safe to assume we could all USE more things to laugh AT given the seemingly non-ceasing tumult that is our world today. BUT, you do still find that you don’t have a TON of time to spend on a feature, and therefore perhaps wish to entertain a short film instead. Well, look no further than this newest 6-minute indie effort from writer/director/producer Matt Nagin and associate producer Charles Ruddock that takes a beloved parental figure we ALL know and cherish and turns her passing into a hysterically over-the-top romp that both playfully pokes at AND beautifully proclaims the loving nature of that seer of seers….MOM! Actually, the “loving nature” part MAY be a little overstated here….but I digress! LOL
First off, it needs to be stated, by Nagin himself, that he “was inspired to create “Sorry Mom” after my mother passed away from ALS. This is a terrible condition that takes people from us too soon. Her death motivated me to create this short and fictionalize certain elements from my own life for comedic and dramatic effect.” This alone speaks deeply to, what I hope and feel, was Nagin’s actual adoration of his mother even while taking elements from their relationship to create this film’s HIGHLY comedic, bitingly satirical, and just plain silly portrait of an overtly STRAINED association between a son and his wildly off-the -chain, critical, constantly sharp-tongued mother through a very brief but quite fully satisfying and gaffaw-inducing rollercoaster of a narrative. The pacing is expectedly relentless, and the more “dramatic” instances ultimately few and far between amidst the intelligently delivered, absolutely intentional exaggerated chaos we witness.
What makes the film, in spite of the madness depicted, so unavoidably relatable is the manner in which thematic ventures into parental expectations and demands, being subject to blatant criticism and scrutiny for every life decision we make, not measuring up to the “standards” we are supposed to embody, encountering the aims for a parent to seem to want control over us rather than allowing us to be the adults we are (even WHEN making rather POOR choices!), hearing career “advice”, railing against what is perceived as an unworthy girlfriend and Mom’s “protection” of her son, arguments over religion, and being told we are putting our future in danger (or possibly that we HAVE NO future!) are addressed, ALL via just flat out ZANINESS. Yet, by the film’s finale, the REAL heart and soul of this effort IS all-encompassing APPRECIATION for mothers and all they do for us, even with the finale having an exceptionally rib-tickling atmosphere!
Nagin, whom I am personally most familiar with from his appearances in the web series “PN & Friends” where he plays one of the lead character’s off-the-wall sidekicks appropriately named, yep you guessed it, Nagin, once more flexes his comedy muscles through his role as the son, an adult man currently having to experience the loss of his beloved mother, whom he now chooses to recollect about with fondness and much……hilarious long-suffering. As he recounts his journey via memories we see as flashbacks, it certainly seems apparent that the son’s life choices overall have been less than stellar. Yet, he maintains the typical defiance of a mother whose radically harsh and overly castigatory comments ABOUT his decisions only serves to aggravate his every step, when all he is really attempting TO do is PLEASE her and make her proud.
As stated above, this is all deliberately inflated, excessively crazy, and all-around sidesplittingly ridiculous in the manner which it is portrayed. But, that’s the point, and Nagin’s wonderfully nutty, slacker-with-a-cause, rough-around-the-edges son is a total hoot to watch and laugh at for the majority of the film. But, there ARE some moments of abbreviated seriousness in it all as well, and Nagin navigates it all with a wholly tongue-in-cheek attitude that befits his character to a “T”. THEN we have Schneider, who gets the complete honor and (I just HAVE to believe!) hugely relished privilege of playing the son’s Mom, a woman who, needless to say, is NOT remotely afraid to let her “grown up” child know PRECISELY how she feels about everything and anything he is trying to share with her as what he considers his “success” in life.
Finding fault, or at least SOME reason to complain and rant on about, in all her son is trying to present to her, it is such a comically accurate representation, even in a more metaphorical sense, of how we might have seen or felt about our mothers when hearing nothing but nagging or, perhaps more sadly, ridicule against all we believed we were accomplishing and/or happy because of. The volatility, body language, facial expressions, and overall delivery of the dialogue that Schneider brings to the table here is undeniably comedy magic, utilizing every chance to BE calculatedly frenetic and emotionally all over the map in each and every scene she’s in. Even when things APPEAR to finally reach a point of actual contentment with her son, she manages to find a way to upend even the most placid of moods, which is also so freakin’ FUNNY! To be frank, Schneider tends to steal the spotlight with gleefully ardent energy and fervor throughout her screen time.
The only supporting turn arrives from Lucy Dou as Zhi, the son’s rather…..eccentric……no…….totally questionable…….girlfriend whom Mom just LOVES so much! LOL And while it may be a shortened time she appears in the film, Dou one hundred percent milks every second with that same degree of joy in playing such an unbridled character. A total stitch to watch! So, in total, “Sorry Mom” really IS a tribute to mothers, ideally all loving (though sometimes perhaps just a LITTLE loathing as well) and having planted the seeds within us to become better men and women for all she’s ended up teaching us, supporting us through, and encouraging us in. THANK YOU, Mom. You truly are awesome. We love you. And, for those we’ve already lost, we MISS you.
STAR RATING (out of 5):
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
