“Loverboy”
They say that there is no love in the world like the love that a mother has for her child. They also understand the struggle that a mother fights as she allows her child move on into the world. The growing pains that occur throughout the duration of their relationship are understood as being natural. But when do you draw the live between normalcy and obsession? In the movie “Loverboy” the line between social norm and psycho behavior if finely walked.
Directed by Kevin Bacon this film which was originally a book written by: Victoria Redel tells a story about a women (Emily) who was not loved enough by her oversexed seventies parents (Kevin Bacon and Marisa Tomei). As a young girl Emily (Kyra Sedgwick) is inspired by Mrs. Harker (Sandra Bullock) her neighbor who teaches her a very important lesson, all boys are afraid of girls. Mixing that with her odd relationship with her parents, Emily makes her life mission to be a great mother.
When she finally becomes pregnant, she names her child “Loverboy”. She keeps him within her eyesight at all times and becomes jealous when anyone else tries to handle him. There are moments in the film that you wonder if they are over exaggerated on purpose or not. As Loverboy gets older the other kids intrigue him. He wants to go to school and other mothers in the neighborhood start to question Emily’s parenting methods.
This is where the movie gets interesting, you can understand this idea of non conformity and an alternative lifestyle, you can understand this bond between a mother and her child, but you cannot understand how or why the mother has become so obsessive. Emily’s attachment to Loverboy becomes tested by outsiders and life for Emily becomes very stressful because she simply cannot share.
The psychological look at this obsession is very smart. The movie captures this idea with so many great examples. It is obvious that Emily is a unique person from the beginning of the film. As her character gets older you see the progression of her tendencies. All the characters in the film are played by great actors who give great performances, especially Emily’s parents and Mrs. Harker. There are some very subtle points in the film that come across easily to the audience because of great direction.
- Story- A
- Acting- A+
- Visuals- A
- Originality/ Innovation- A
- Enjoyability- A
- Overall- A
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