Friends, now its time for a review of a Motivational Growth. Be scared.
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| "I said wha' chu lookin' at?" |
Don Thacker’s Motivational
Growth may be one of the most disgusting films ever made. It will no doubt test the gag reflexes of
avid fans of Hoarders as well as the
patience of average film goers not ready to wallow in filth and vermin for two
hours. The new film and debut of its
writer director concerns Ian Foliver (Adrian DoGiovanni), a depressed, bearded
introvert who neither leaves his squalid apartment nor bathes and his only
friend is an outdated CRT television set he calls Kent.
Equal parts a comic character study of a
self-repressed loser in decomposition and surreal horror movie of burgeoning
madness, Motivational Growth scuba
dives deep into sewage and will either tease you in recycling your lunch or taking
a hot, hot shower after it wraps. Full
of dirty walls and floors, multiple scenes of regurgitation, consumption of rotten
mushrooms, rotting corpses, dismemberment, pimple popping and a talking hunk of
mold, Motivational Growth can be, at
times, a real chore to sit through.
And
yet it’s not completely without virtue either.
DoGiovanni’s acting as the possibly schizophrenic protagonist (or
antagonist, depending on your point of view) is really strong and manages to
evoke a degree of sympathy for the foul figure.
Aided by a competently rendered rubber puppet, Jeffrey Combs’ voice work
as the titular mold gives the film something of a snarky personality and may
well represent Ian’s personal battle with himself. Cinematography and editing proves to be much
sharper and fluid in movement than one would expect for a low budget effort
primarily set inside Ian’s apartment. Calling
attention to itself is Alex Mauer’s original score rendered by the obsolete
Commodore 64’s SID chip, which sounds lifted right out of the early annals of
late 70's computer gaming.
-Andrew Kotwicki