My hat is truly off to Darious for his courage telling this personal story, and one in which effected the relationship with his mother initially, as well as playing the lead role, Darious...I am in admiration for what you did and the fact your wanted to bring a piece of art like this and an awareness as to mental illness, kudos man!
For the budget the cinematography is impressive, I love when the camera, mounted to the door swings open and we get a master shot of the 2 of them arguing on a red light stop, brilliant filmmaking Darious. I can't say how much i love this area of the film.
Darious' acting is great, especially in the heightened moments with his mother, I really felt like I was watching his life play out when they were together.
The first act was really engaging and I felt I really experienced the writers intentions of what its really like to live with someone with a mental illness, and I loved how when she was on meds in the hospital how lovely she can be to Reggie and how potentially great their relationship be if she was always receiving treatment, such a compelling juxtaposition, or the scene where he watches an old tape of her stand up comedy, these moments were soooooo good. I really wished the film was more about these moments, such a shame.
On the flip side there were scenes/choices where the film didn't work for me, mainly the 2nd act:
The stakes in this film don't really come to pass (re the impending home eviction) Why set that up, and build it if its not going to be paid off? and the other comes in a little too late in the film in order to build it (Reggie's mother denying her son based on his court appearance) Compelling stakes add weight and tension to a scene(s), and a film about a mother-son broken relationship with stakes that could jeprodise it coming in in the last 20 mins of the film makes for not as much tension as there could of been, and there so could of been, pity.
In the end she seems to accept him again, I get that this might be part of her nature based on her illness, but ultimately no stakes really came to pass in this film.
There's a few too many scenes regarding the "red tape" process involved in getting his mother the treatment she needs IMO. I get that this was a factual, necessary task involved in the writers real life experience but for me it just kinda bored me, it didn't make for interesting storytelling, 1 or 2 scenes is fine but it over stays its welcome, it was tedious and annoying for the protagonist and thus I felt the same way, also it wasn't very well laid out, I was lost as to who was doing what, wait, which Dr. now? where are we? and why in and amongst this red tape, it was like I was dropped in the middle of the conversation, trying to get up to speed, so that didn't help either.
That's a pitfall for the docudramas, their devotion to "real life" "as it happened" means a number of scenes will fall flat...because, well real life can get tedious and boring sometimes, and these did for me, real doesn't always mean interesting, and these scenes are not a direct, visceral way of experiencing living with and being effected by a mentally ill person, these scenes would be apt for a documentary...but not a film. It's sometimes better to base it off of a true story and make it more compelling but I understand the contrary. I understand the want to "say it like it was" so I completely understand Darious' design choices, but that to me feels like a documentary idea rather than a story/film.
All in all there were moments I was so moved by, and I still consider it a very good first feature compared to many others, but there were moments I felt weren't fitting for this type of story idea, and for a first feature film by Darious I thought it was impressive and heartfelt despite what I said.
For the budget the cinematography is impressive, I love when the camera, mounted to the door swings open and we get a master shot of the 2 of them arguing on a red light stop, brilliant filmmaking Darious. I can't say how much i love this area of the film.
Darious' acting is great, especially in the heightened moments with his mother, I really felt like I was watching his life play out when they were together.
The first act was really engaging and I felt I really experienced the writers intentions of what its really like to live with someone with a mental illness, and I loved how when she was on meds in the hospital how lovely she can be to Reggie and how potentially great their relationship be if she was always receiving treatment, such a compelling juxtaposition, or the scene where he watches an old tape of her stand up comedy, these moments were soooooo good. I really wished the film was more about these moments, such a shame.
On the flip side there were scenes/choices where the film didn't work for me, mainly the 2nd act:
The stakes in this film don't really come to pass (re the impending home eviction) Why set that up, and build it if its not going to be paid off? and the other comes in a little too late in the film in order to build it (Reggie's mother denying her son based on his court appearance) Compelling stakes add weight and tension to a scene(s), and a film about a mother-son broken relationship with stakes that could jeprodise it coming in in the last 20 mins of the film makes for not as much tension as there could of been, and there so could of been, pity.
In the end she seems to accept him again, I get that this might be part of her nature based on her illness, but ultimately no stakes really came to pass in this film.
There's a few too many scenes regarding the "red tape" process involved in getting his mother the treatment she needs IMO. I get that this was a factual, necessary task involved in the writers real life experience but for me it just kinda bored me, it didn't make for interesting storytelling, 1 or 2 scenes is fine but it over stays its welcome, it was tedious and annoying for the protagonist and thus I felt the same way, also it wasn't very well laid out, I was lost as to who was doing what, wait, which Dr. now? where are we? and why in and amongst this red tape, it was like I was dropped in the middle of the conversation, trying to get up to speed, so that didn't help either.
That's a pitfall for the docudramas, their devotion to "real life" "as it happened" means a number of scenes will fall flat...because, well real life can get tedious and boring sometimes, and these did for me, real doesn't always mean interesting, and these scenes are not a direct, visceral way of experiencing living with and being effected by a mentally ill person, these scenes would be apt for a documentary...but not a film. It's sometimes better to base it off of a true story and make it more compelling but I understand the contrary. I understand the want to "say it like it was" so I completely understand Darious' design choices, but that to me feels like a documentary idea rather than a story/film.
All in all there were moments I was so moved by, and I still consider it a very good first feature compared to many others, but there were moments I felt weren't fitting for this type of story idea, and for a first feature film by Darious I thought it was impressive and heartfelt despite what I said.
