My First Mister Review
by Karina Montgomery (cinerina AT flash DOT net)October 31st, 2001
My First Mister
Full Price Feature
I should say right off the bat that before I saw this film, Albert Brooks was the only attraction for me to go see it - for some reason I have developed this rabid anti-Leelee Sobieski attitude which I have had trouble overcoming. My First Mister did wonders for that problem. It is weird and interesting to see the proud virgin and Helen Hunt doppelganger with this character's tattoos and piercings and black hair and makeup - she is aggressively rebellious against the attempts of her sweet Stepford mother (Carol Kane) to make her "pretty."
I love the film, love Leelee in it, love Albert of course, great stuff all around. She plays a disenfranchised, isolated punk of a girl, with self-destructive and anti-social tendencies, cloaked in a screaming maw of loneliness. She meets Albert Brooks, a schlumpy obsessive who is also, but differently, cloaked in isolation. Somehow, an amazing friendship blossoms, ultimately transforming more than the sum of its parts. She's not just tattooed and surly and heís not just geeky and stern - their characters are beautifully written and fleshed out gradually and admirably by the actors. As with a flower opening, a single, simple bud becoming a profusion of petals and color and scents, these characters truly come alive in each other's presence. The film skirts toward the dangerous, the obvious, and even the maudlin, but thankfully never quite gets there. Quite refreshing.
Comparisons with Ghost World will probably crop up -these are both indie films about rebellious teens wallowing selfishly in cynicism and angst whose lives are enriched by befriending older men are always compared, as if teen angst itself were as formulaic as an asteroid movie. In Ghost World, the teen and the adult are drawn together by a mutual fascination, which leads to their ultimate separation. However, in My First Mister, theMay-December acquaintances are repelled by preconceived prejudices that lead to their ultimate bonding. And neither film is Lolita, if you're concerned about that. Unlike Ghost World, which I did enjoy, My First Mister is a little more accessible, so I feel I can more easily issue a blanket statement of "go see it you will like it."
Director Christine Lahti helms this, her second feature film as a director, with confidence and sensibility. It's definitely got a womanly angle, insofar as how the characters end up approaching the changes within, but it's not a schmaltz fest by any reckoning. The screenwriter, Jill Franklyn, has previously only written for TV, and knowing that, it seems that the episodic nature of the steps of their relationship could have been broken into different episodes fairly easily - but it doesn't feel choppy. However, each separate event does play in a kind of standalone manner, which might feel bumpy to persons unused to enjoying non-commercial television. These two women should be very proud of this work.
Albert Brooks (Mother, Defending Your Life) specializes in self-exploratory characters who hide behind their flaws or fears, and you have to love him for the humor with which he infuses his neuroses. Either Sobieski was just waiting for the right role, or else she bloomed in Brooks' presence and influence. Whatever the reason, I really loved it. Despite taking forever to actually sit down and write about it, I have been recommended it to most people I've run into. And now you!
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These reviews (c) 2001 Karina Montgomery. Please feel free to forward but just credit the reviewer in the text. Thanks.
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