Touches You

Good concept, poorly executed.

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Ray just wants to go to medical school. More than that, he has a great opportunity at hand: he's got a big chance with a paper he's writing to be selected as one of the ten interns for the Surgeon General in DC. But there's a hitch, an annoying and bib and personal one: his mother, a depressive, has broken her leg quite badly and is in bed and needs help to do basic things: go to the bathroom, take a shower, have meals, etc. So Ray's father, a traveling salesman (and a louse, which we see in snippets though sadly the rest of the family never quite knows about if suspects), tells Ray he has to do this, no one else can help, and it will be about a month. So much for the internship, right? Could he make it? But what about those showers? And lotioning the legs and the under-the-cast area? And those little touches of the forearm. Mom, you're trying to seduce me(?) Um... are you?Spanking the Monkey, a technically and writerly masterstroke (no pun intended) of a debut from director David O. Russell, is simply a sick twisted f*** of a movie made by a man who, at the time at least, was probably a sick twisted f*** as well. You wanna know what this is? Here's a pitch: Young Charles Manson (who Davies later played) does his Mom. There. Go see it. It delivers on that but it's so much more a psychological mind-bender, but told without too much flash and panache - this isn't Three Kings, for example, it's more low-key and low-budget, which adds to the disturbing elements being directed just like a regular indie film from the 90's. And it does try to add a little levity - or more of a typical quirky/awkward sub-plot where Ray may or may not get into a sexual relationship with a high-schooler (no, believe me, this is the more normal part of the movie, awkward kissing and juxtapositions with the dog as well).But be warned, sorta: this is billed as a 'comedy', and it is in the sense that I chuckled a few times. But the character interactions, Davies performance (and here, more than anything else I've seen him outside maybe Rescue Dawn) looks like he's about to explode or cry or both at any moment, and just how Russell takes a very direct approach to the psychological issues at hand, not sugar-coating how much he and his mother need help and we feel for both of them because it's so honest even in its absurdity, make it essential viewing for those looking for subversive American cinema from the 1990's, or ever really. It would be in Amos Vogel's book if it had been made in the 60's or 70's, you mark my words! That it was made for (relatively) so little and looks pretty polished is a further credit (this won the Audience Award at Sundance 94 - the year Clerks was there, to give perspective).

Raymond goes home after his freshmen year at MIT thinking he will only stay there for two days, then off to Washington for a prestigious internship. When he gets home, his father unloads a boatload o' crap on him: his mother injured her leg, is bed-ridden, and he must leave for a month on a sales trip.Nothing works out quite right for Raymond, and even when a break does come, he inevitably--and, most likely, subconsciously--lets it slip through his fingers. Meanwhile the tension between the neglected mother (husband is a moron) and an increasingly frustrated son slowly simmers until it explodes.Good drama, well-done. The mother was sexy for some reason, even though she shouldn't be. She was certainly hotter than that weird girl with the strangely shaped face. Only thing is the title. It would be more accurately named: MONKEY, UNSPANKED.

An independent film that bravely confronts the subject of consensual incest is presented as a dark comedy in which ALBERTA WATSON and JEREMY DAVIES, as mother and son, have the key roles. It's their mother/son relationship at the heart of the story that is compelling and sometimes erotic--especially the scene where Davies has to massage his mother's legs and toes while they discuss why her road travelling husband isn't there to do it for her.When the story strays to others outside this relationship, it fails to make the same connection. The father is strictly a man so obsessed with his own career that he ignores his wife. She, in turn, is a manipulative shrew who virtually seduces her son because she's a needy woman. The son's friends are depicted as total drug-happy boors and boozers whose minds are completely idle.At times the story becomes dark and brooding--even intense--and yet there's a surface tension broken by laughter at some of the shenanigans going on in this dysfunctional, to say the least, family.Outstanding work by JEREMY DAVIES and ALBERTA WATSON. He's highly sympathetic in his predicament all the way through and she's totally despicable in the manner by which she exerts control over him. Both show complete understanding of their difficult roles.Summing up: Interesting tale, character-driven and flawed, but worth watching.

OK, well I saw this film back when i was at school and yeah, it's shocking, it deals with a gritty subject that most directors/producers wouldn't touch with someone else's; but does anyone else think maybe some people are making too big a deal of the subject matter? I'm only having an opinion (I don't do that very often, so please note that I did register solely to add this review). The film stuck in my head, whether it was due to the content, the production, the acting - or all the above - and I eventually had to look it up in case I'd dreamt it. But as for being a black comedy...not so sure. NOT A SPOILER, I am just pointing out that there's not much humour to be found. You'd have to look really hard, and be a bit needy to find it. Satire maybe.For like 8 years, every now and then I see or hear something that reminds me of this film and that's why I've concluded that it's just plain BRILLIANT (oxymoron I know!). You'd have to be a real ignoramous not to find it compelling in some way. And even more of a fool to only see as far as the surface plot.LilMiss