'night, Mother

(Commenting on an Ateneo thesis production, not the film adaptation)

A great script allows for great performances. 

Ever since I discovered the play sometime last year, I’ve wanted to watch a staging of it. The play is right up my alley: a two-hander that allows for great performances, thanks to a stellar script.

This thesis production is spectacular because what playwright Marsha Norman did was already spectacular. However, director Marta Muñoz makes solid creative choices that really give this staging a lived-in quality.

For example: Jessie, the daughter who wants to kill herself, is antsy as hell. The director conveys this by Jessie’s incessant tapping of the telephone’s switch.

Marsha Norman also portrays Jessie as someone who is absolutely exhausted with being the doer. This is conveyed through her commands and reminders to her mom Thelma. It succeeds in conveying so much about Jessie’s depression. 

Yet even though it is Jessie who says the line “‘night, mother,” and who drives the play, it is the character Thelma that really blew me away.

I will be vulnerable. As someone who had suicidal thoughts and as someone who had episodes of intense depression (bouts of sobbing), Thelma is written in an incisive way that really reflects the lived experiences of mothers who had an immensely depressed child. I saw so much of my mother in Thelma, down to the self-blame and the apologies. It was such an impactful character. Not because of the emotions she expresses, but rather how authentic her character was. It was so, so, sooo real, and it’s because of that character (and the marvelous Grace Nicolas Shuke) that I found myself with tears in my eyes.

So when the door is closed at the end, I just felt deeper for Thelma.

And the calm after the gunshot reinforces the authenticity overflowing in this stunner of a play.

(Commenting on an Ateneo thesis production, not the film adaptation)

A great script allows for great performances. 

Ever since I discovered the play sometime last year, I’ve wanted to watch a staging of it. The play is right up my alley: a two-hander that allows for great performances, thanks to a stellar script.

This thesis production is spectacular because what playwright Marsha Norman did was already spectacular. However, director Marta Muñoz makes solid creative choices that really give this staging a lived-in quality.

For example: Jessie, the daughter who wants to kill herself, is antsy as hell. The director conveys this by Jessie’s incessant tapping of the telephone’s switch.

Marsha Norman also portrays Jessie as someone who is absolutely exhausted with being the doer. This is conveyed through her commands and reminders to her mom Thelma. It succeeds in conveying so much about Jessie’s depression. 

Yet even though it is Jessie who says the line “‘night, mother,” and who drives the play, it is the character Thelma that really blew me away.

I will be vulnerable. As someone who had suicidal thoughts and as someone who had episodes of intense depression (bouts of sobbing), Thelma is written in an incisive way that really reflects the lived experiences of mothers who had an immensely depressed child. I saw so much of my mother in Thelma, down to the self-blame and the apologies. It was such an impactful character. Not because of the emotions she expresses, but rather how authentic her character was. It was so, so, sooo real, and it’s because of that character (and the marvelous Grace Nicolas Shuke) that I found myself with tears in my eyes.

So when the door is closed at the end, I just felt deeper for Thelma.

And the calm after the gunshot reinforces the authenticity overflowing in this stunner of a play.

“I am what became of your child”

I’m speechless. The saddest movie I’ve ever seen. The most gut wrenching dialogue between a desperate mother and a decided daughter. I was on the verge of tears and I don’t cry to movies. Anna Bancroft delivers an unmatched performance and somehow outshines Sissy Spacek. I am floored. Don’t think I can ever rewatch.

“I am what became of your child”

I’m speechless. The saddest movie I’ve ever seen. The most gut wrenching dialogue between a desperate mother and a decided daughter. I was on the verge of tears and I don’t cry to movies. Anna Bancroft delivers an unmatched performance and somehow outshines Sissy Spacek. I am floored. Don’t think I can ever rewatch.

“I’m not very good company, am I?” 

this movie felt very personal to me. i see a lot of myself in jessie, especially with how i think about life or interact with my family itself or the worth of my existence. i cried a bit, especially during the scene where the quote i have typed out above happens.

i think the film taught me that sometimes, letting go isn’t a bad thing, and it’s okay, although it hurts for the others around you. it’s better to be honest and let things end rather than to fake it and keep going on with a mediocre life. 
  
besides my own personal impact, the performances here were great, considering how lengthy are the dialogues in the film. the movie did feel very theatrical (i know it’s based on a play) and the southern accents took me out of the experience a little, i think it was still effective in capturing the heaviness and the emotions of the characters. 

surprised that this has like only 500+ logs, it actually deserves more attention from the letterboxd community!

“I’m not very good company, am I?” 

this movie felt very personal to me. i see a lot of myself in jessie, especially with how i think about life or interact with my family itself or the worth of my existence. i cried a bit, especially during the scene where the quote i have typed out above happens.

i think the film taught me that sometimes, letting go isn’t a bad thing, and it’s okay, although it hurts for the others around you. it’s better to be honest and let things end rather than to fake it and keep going on with a mediocre life. 
  
besides my own personal impact, the performances here were great, considering how lengthy are the dialogues in the film. the movie did feel very theatrical (i know it’s based on a play) and the southern accents took me out of the experience a little, i think it was still effective in capturing the heaviness and the emotions of the characters. 

surprised that this has like only 500+ logs, it actually deserves more attention from the letterboxd community!

*if you got the guts to kill yourself, you got the guts to stay alive
i know that, it’s just a matter of where i’d rather be*

*if you got the guts to kill yourself, you got the guts to stay alive
i know that, it’s just a matter of where i’d rather be*

i wish i wish i wish someone would understand that this is how im feeling now

i wish i wish i wish someone would understand that this is how im feeling now