Momma’s Man

Mikey, in his 30s, is on his way to the airport after visiting his parents when he decides to stay on. He goes back to the building in which he grew up, in Manhattan, back to his nursery, that is now a storage space. He lies to his parents about the reason for his return, calls his wife in California who is looking after her crying baby and also lies to her. Mikey seems to have succumbed to a severe personal crisis.
Momma’s Man, the third feature by Azazel Jacobs, is an intriguing mix of feature narrative and personal unburdening. The film is not only largely set in the real parental home of the scriptwriter (where his parents have lived for more than 40 years), but his real parents, Ken and Flo Jacobs (both artists, respectively film maker and painter), also play the parents of Mikey. Jacobs had initially intended to document the place where he grew up: the Tribeca of his childhood seems to have turned into a kind of St Moritz. Once he got this far, Jacobs decided that his parents were so closely tied up with the house, that they themselves should play the roles of the parents.
Mikey’s role does not involve much text and the actor Matt Boren shows convincingly that here less is more: he shows and hides the moods and emotions almost exclusively with his face. In this way the film maker touches the viewer in the most personal, most intimate way. (EH)