“Enough, Mom!” (“¡Basta, Mamá!”)
(Colombia)
Screened at the 42nd Annual Chicago Latino Film Festival (1/5) North American Premiere
Letterboxd (0.5/5), Imdb.com (1/10), TMDB.com (1/10), Imdb critics review
#BrentMarchant #clff42 #ChicagoLatinoFilmFestival #EnoughMom #BastaMamá #romanticcomedy #Colombia #mamasboy #overbearingmother #SCTV #TheCarolBurnettShow
Overbearing mothers, including such stereotypes from vile mothers-in-law to controlling, overprotective coddlers of mama’s boys, have long been a comedy staple. It’s well-worn turf that, arguably, may have significantly overstayed its welcome. Thankfully, though, every so often, sketches, movies and TV shows come along that successfully find a way to breathe new life into this idiom. Unfortunately, this isn’t one of them. This sophomore (or is it sophomoric?) feature from director Flora Martínez is about as lame as they come when it comes to efforts of this stripe. The blame here probably isn’t so much the fault of the filmmaker as it is of the trio of writers who penned its positively dreadful screenplay, one virtually devoid of laughs from start to finish. In fact, it’s the kind of picture that reminds me of the source material behind the brilliantly inspired skits that parodied failed sitcoms for programs like SCTV and The Carol Burnett Show. But, regrettably, that’s not the case here. As 45-year-old Fernando (Raphael Zea) anxiously prepares to attend a birthday dinner in the home where he still lives with his domineering mother, Victoria (Marcela Benjumea), he worries about what kind of impression the event will leave on his fiancée, Leticia (Martínez), who doesn’t know he still resides with mama. And Fernando’s concerns are justified once the two women meet for the first time, a standoff in which they vie for control of the affections of the guest of honor, a conflict that soon turns into an awkward and bitter war of wits. The problem here, however, is that there’s almost no wit involved. The jokes are trite, fall flat and completely lack the zinging nature that makes such showdowns work effectively. In many regards, this is like watching an attempt at a comedy routine that’s about 60 years out of date. To their credit, the obviously talented trio of performers do their level best to try and make something out of this anachronistic mess, but it’s obvious a bigger chore than they’re capable of handling. To make matters worse, the film’s attempt at incorporating a measure of warm, fuzzy sentimentality in the final act only slows things down, delaying the hasty exit from the theater that many viewers are no doubt eagerly looking forward to by this point in spite of its scant 1:17:00 runtime. As material that has already been done so many times before (and better), it’s hard to fathom how this production ever got a green light. At the very least, the script should have gone through a number of extensive rewrites to add some tongue-searing bite to its dialogue and genuine inventiveness to its more-than-familiar narrative before being committed to film. In the end, however, as it stands now, the picture might well have also considered a title change from “Enough, Mom!” to “Enough Already!”
Shown with
“Cake” (short) (2/5) Chicago Premiere
(USA)
Imdb critics review
#BrentMarchant #clff42 #ChicagoLatinoFilmFestival #Cake #Chicago #filmshort #birthdaycake #comedy #Bittersweet #highendbakery
Birthdays are special occasions for most of us, particularly children, for whom it often seems like an eternity passes between such anticipated celebrations. So it’s easy to understand how these festivities can leave an enduring impact on youngsters, endearing memories that last a lifetime. Such was apparently the case for writer-director Erick Juárez when he came up with the idea for this film short about an especially memorable birthday from his own past. As the birthday boy (Benjamin Delgado) looks forward to his party, his adoring mom, Rosy (Camila Banus), wants to make her son’s day a special one, including baking him a special cake. Unfortunately, Rosy’s track record in the kitchen is a trainwreck, so she improvises and orders a cake from Bittersweet, one of Chicago’s high-end (and pricey) bakeries. Of course, Rosy’s success in obtaining the cake is as eventful as her past efforts at coming up with something homemade, an odyssey characterized by a wealth of alleged ample hilarity. I use the word “alleged” here, however, since there’s nothing especially funny or original in this eminently unsurprising tale. To be sure, it’s easy how to see this might be looked upon as a fond, sweet memory, and it clearly means a lot to the filmmaker. But that doesn’t necessarily translate into something engaging (or even interesting) on the big screen. Had there been a greater degree of originality (and definitely far less predictability), this might have worked. But, in its current form, it plays more like a polished home movie or something that one might find as part of an after-school PBS lineup for youthful viewers but certainly not as a captivating big screen production. Indeed, cake is something to be savored, but this cinematic namesake unfortunately fails the taste test.