By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Shannon Plumb
Starring: Alexandra Hennrikson | Cody Cianfrance | Derek Cianfrance | Jason Quarle | Lora Lee Gayer | Shannon Plumb | Walker Cianfrance
Country: united_states
Year: 2013
Running time: 85
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2578832/combined
Bruce says: “New York filmmaker Shannon Plumb draws on her own experiences of motherhood for the vignettes in TOWHEADS. In the film her name is Penelope and her real live husband, Derek Cianfrance (THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES and BLUE VALENTINE is named Matt; their two boys, Cody and Walker, retain their given names. If you can close your eyes and picture a cross between Cindy Sherman and Miranda July, you will come pretty close to figuring out what to expect from Ms. Plumb. She is a woman of style combined with awkward sensibilities.
“Penelope is a woman on multiple brinks: of boredom, physical collapse, mental confusion and creative crisis. Motherhood is sapping all her energies. ‘Motherhood makes you completely selfless. You have to give yourself up,’ is how Ms. Plumb explained Penelope during the Q & A following the film.
“‘I think Cody has outgrown his stroller,’ a neighbor observes. Penelope is going through a phase where she goes through the motions but is oblivious to the facts. Later, she suffers through a food fight at the dinner table. ‘What am I going to tell daddy?’ she asks. Clearly she cannot handle things on her own. When Penelope interviews potential babysitters she runs through a group of amusing misfits before finding the perfect fit. Some vignettes – interviewing for a Santa Claus position and doing a tampon commercial – border on slapstick.
“In the end she bonds with her children by asking them, ’How do I get super powers?’ That is clearly their area of expertise. And it happens to be what most mothers need at one point or another.
“Shannon Plumb comes off as a stand-up comic who has decided to make a film. Like many comics, she, at times, appears to think she is funnier than she actually is. 3 cats
“(TOWHEADS screened at the 2013 New Directors/New Films Festival co-sponsored by the Film Society of Lincoln center and the Museum of Modern Art.)”