Starring: Holland Roden, Kyle Gallner, Chris Mulkey
Directed by: Laurence Vannicelli
Proving that an intensive dive deep into the world of possession and its trappings doesn’t always have to include pea-soup-puking, head-spinning or the verbal castigation against a member of the church, Director Laurence Vannicelli’s “MOTHER, MAY I?” goes to show the audience that a slowed-down, tepid approach can easily be as frightening in essence.
The film follows Anya (Roden) and her fiancée Emmet (Gallner) shortly after the death of his mother, who in turn has left him quite the sizeable property out in the country, and Emmet’s plan is to flip the residence after a little fix-up work, seemingly to snag some cash for the foundation of a new family. Emmet isn’t terribly despondent regarding his mother’s passing, especially since she left him at an early age, however Anya takes the opportunity to use this past trauma to try to self-heal her lover by implementing “chair reversal” techniques – something that Emmet isn’t too fond of. Not before long at the soon-to-be refurbished domicile does some extremely disquieting circumstances start to take place, including Anya dressing & acting exactly like Emmet’s dead mother.
Where this leaves the audience as far as plot-pathing is up for interpretation: is Anya undergoing some sort of demonic possession that is forcing its way upon her, or has she taken a calculated (and obviously unorthodox) measure of therapy to help Emmet deal with his abandonment issues? As the film rolls along, there are numerous potential catalysts that can be framed as assistants in this psyche-rattling excursion: the death of a parent, aforementioned desertion cause, mistrust within a couple’s relationship…hell, even the notion of living under the roof of a dead-relative can give off sizeable doses of the heebie-jeebies!
Gathering up all these conceivable possibilities, combined with the stellar acting prowess of Gallner & Roden as a twosome in discord, this presentation lives & breathes by its atmosphere and (not to sound malcontented), but the lack thereof in shocking, explosive visuals, ala THE EXORCIST or any other possession film to use such tactics. Overall, I can recommend “MOTHER, MAY I?” as a respected viewing for those who enjoy their soul-stealing films in a plodding & measured framework – not necessarily something that could stand the the test of time with multiple viewings, but a work that should absolutely stick to the gray-matter of those who let it into their subconscious.
The film will be released commercially by Dark Sky Films on 7/21.
