A man's face is visible in his bubble bath. He's Brian, thinking back to when he was five and his Chatty Cathy Halloween doll disappeared. The reverie becomes a meditation on his relationship with his mother, an acerbic, unhappy, wickedly profane character, abandoned by the lad's father. After dad leaves, mom chain smokes and develops emphysema. At 16, Brian sets out to lose his virginity; at his return at 4 a.m., mom confronts him. Once an adult, Brian calls her on rare occasions, and she sometimes calls him. Sons and mothers: is it love despite the spite?
—<jhailey@hotmail.com>