{"id":12599,"date":"2015-11-15T12:22:25","date_gmt":"2015-11-15T17:22:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=12599"},"modified":"2015-11-15T12:22:25","modified_gmt":"2015-11-15T17:22:25","slug":"br-motivational-growth-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=12599","title":{"rendered":"BR: Motivational Growth (2013)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\"MotivationalGrowth_s\"<\/a>Film<\/strong>: \u00a0Good<\/p>\n

Transfer<\/strong>: \u00a0Excellent<\/p>\n

Extras<\/strong>: Excellent<\/p>\n

Label:\u00a0<\/strong>Parade Deck Films \/\u00a0MVD Visual<\/a><\/p>\n

Region:<\/strong>\u00a0Region A, B, C<\/p>\n

Released:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0April 21, 2015<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong>\u00a0 Black Comedy \/ Horror<\/p>\n

Synopsis:<\/strong>\u00a0An unemployed computer programmer regains part of his life under the malevolent influence of a huge hunk of talking mold growing in his bathroom.<\/p>\n

Special Features:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Audio Commentary with writer-director Don Thacker and actors Jeffrey Combs and Adrian DiGiovanni \/ 4 Making-of Featurettes: \u201cInspiring Growth: The Mold\u201d (11:16) + \u201cThe Fall of Ian\u201d (6:31) + \u201cGore, Blood & Goo: Building Gore\u201d (12:34) + \u201cThe Characters\u201d (20:25) \u00a0\/ Teaser +Theatrical Trailers \/ Photo Gallery.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Written way back in 1998 (!), Don Thacker\u2019s tale of a schlub and his highly personal relationship with a massive clump of mold in his filthy bathroom has strong overtones of Frank Henenlotter’s uniquely odd canon \u2013 if not with its central human figure being an outsider \/ loser, then the outright surreal nature of a co-star who\u2019s clearly not your average human.<\/p>\n

Unlike Henenlotter\u2019s\u00a0Brain Damage<\/b>\u00a0(1988) or even\u00a0Frankenhooker<\/a><\/b>\u00a0(1990), Thacker\u2019s story doesn\u2019t unfold as reality but as a possible fantasy world in which Ian Folivor (comedian Adrian DriGiovanni) finds himself after an attempted suicide proves highly unsuccessful. Waking up with a bloodied jaw on the grungy linoleum floor, Ian realizes the voice he\u2019s been hearing isn\u2019t his subconscious but The Mold (voiced to absolute perfection by\u00a0Re-Animator<\/b><\/a>‘s\u00a0Jeffrey Combs), a rather arrogant glob that insists on being formally addressed (The\u00a0<\/i>Mold!)<\/i>, and persuades his protege to devour its own special \u2018offerings\u2019 – edible control mechanisms – lest Ian attempt to free himself from the power of The Mold.<\/p>\n

The Mold initially helps Ian better himself \u2013 indeed, the schlub transforms from a bearded lazy bum living in a cluttered pigsty to a manicured schlub, imbued with enough confidence to flirt with Leah (Danielle Doetsch), a pretty next-door neighbour he\u2019s been \u2018door stalking\u2019 via his peephole \u2013 but it\u2019s all a ploy to control and eventually spawn more mold, breeding enough dependents for a purpose that\u2019s never fully revealed because when the twist ending comes, it\u2019s the one most viewers suspect is on the horizon.<\/p>\n

Thacker adds enough small details to hint at what aspects of the narrative are reality, but for a while the relationship between a schlub and a hunk of fungus is fascinating \u2013 mostly because DiGiovanni plays Ian as a believable everyman nerd, and Combs gives The Mold so much personality with his soothing voice and slick attitude. Thacker\u2019s dialogue for the fungus is a little reminiscent of the \u2018man behind the painting\u2019 in George Barry\u2019s\u00a0Death Bed: The Bed That Eats<\/a><\/b>\u00a0(1977) \u2013 maybe not as poetic, but no less of an intellectual with a knack for wit in place of profanity.<\/p>\n

And yet The Mold\u2019s lack of potty words is made up by grotesque requests and biological transformations which Ian dutifully fulfills, including a kind of goo-foaming, lactating nipple protruding from wall tiles that causes the suckler to levitate; spouting putrid vomitus, and dismembering in the bathtub a very persistent delivery girl (Hannah Stevenson) after a second attempt to receive unpaid gratuities. There\u2019s also a TV-humping repairman (Ken Brown), a bully landlord (Peter Giovagnoli) named Box the Ox, and pretty Leah who seems perfectly okay with starting a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship with a self-confessed door stalker.<\/p>\n

Motivational Growth<\/b>\u00a0has a lot of elements worthy of turning it into a modest cult classic, but it\u2019s almost undone by a running time that reflects Thacker’s insistence on following through with every scripted monologue and surreal moment rather than keeping an eye on taut pacing \u2013 a problem Henenlotter generally kept in check with tight editing.<\/p>\n

Thacker\u2019s story has many secondary characters, including Kevin, a vintage General Electric TV console who provides Ian with a vital source of entertainment and a window into the outside world, given the unemployed computer programmer hasn’t ventured outside in months.<\/p>\n

A former programmer and avid video game connoisseur himself, Thacker\u2019s packed his film with all kinds of video game references and in-jokes (including setting his film in 1991), but the film wouldn\u2019t be as sleek and immersive of game lore and apocrypha without Alex Mauer\u2019s excellent score \u2013 performed with vintage game gear, yet crafted with a wealth of performance nuances typical of a skilled band of musicians. Themes, motifs, and underscore may sound like game emulations, but they deliver a wide variety of moods, and suggest Ian may be living out one bizarre trip that\u2019s either in his mind, within the TV set, or something else.<\/p>\n

MVD\u2019s release (a burned MOD disc) is loaded with extras, including an informative director commentary outlining Thacker\u2019s great instincts in creating production value from nothing for an ambitious production, details on the visual design (nicely realized by cinematographer Bliss Holloway, using a pair of Canon 5D and 7D), the music, effects, and set decor. Making-of featurettes focus on the brilliantly designed animatronic Mold (vastly more affecting than anything CGI), some great (and grotesque) practical stunts, and the cast and their oddball characters.<\/p>\n

More info and cast \/ crew interviews are available at the film\u2019s\u00a0website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2015 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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External References:<\/strong>
\nEditor’s Blog<\/a> — IMDB<\/a>\u00a0—\u00a0Composer’s Website<\/a>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nVendor Search Links:<\/strong>
\nAmazon.ca<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written way back in 1998 (!), Don Thacker\u2019s tale of a schlub and his highly personal relationship with a massive clump of mold in his filthy bathroom has strong overtones of Frank Henenlotter’s uniquely odd canon…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[4082,4083,4079,4081,4077],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-3hd","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12599"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12599"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12610,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12599\/revisions\/12610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}