Laura and her younger brother Elliot are making a mad dash to their family home in New England after they have received an urgent phone call telling then that Lilly their terminally ill mother had just checked herself out of the hospital the day before. As they argue on the drive up there from Manhattan, Laura who is an aggressive control freak, insists that she takes complete charge the moment they arrive and insure that her mother either moves back into the hospital or home with her.Lilly is not only much sicker than they had surmised but has deteriorated drastically since they last saw her. Not surprising when you discover that neither of them have paid a visit to her in the past 18 months. This is one very dysfunctional family and this visit not only turns out to be about tending to the mother that neither of them like, but also to start airing some of the many grievances that they have all been stewing over so long.
Lilly is the first one to agree that she has been a lousy mother, but her long illness has opened her eyes and she now wants to make amends before its too late. That is not the only surprise in store for them as she has taken to smoking pot, but even more startling is discovering that a hunky young man called Ted. who she claims is her groundsman, is living in the house and looking after her.
All these new facts enrage Laura even more and no-one in the house is immune from her angry lashings out. Its not just the discovery of the handsome stranger, but the fact that she has never been close to her mother, and has no respect for Elliot who she accuses of just blindly cruising through life. Plus there is the matter of her absent husband who has just walked out on her.
Elliot bears resentment because he feels that his mother was never there for him when he was growing up, and also because he is now stuck helping Laura run the family launderette business which he completely hates. He doesn’t know what he wants in fact and even when Ted makes a pass at him, he dithers between accepting or not.
Ted on the other hand, has his own hidden agenda and although both of the siblings think they know what it is, but they end up being totally wrong. His story is the one that gives this whole piece a few very nice unexpected twists.The family just about manage to kiss and make up before Lilly passes. Her future is settled, but what of the others?
Written and directed by Richard Lemay (‘200 Americans’), and aside from a tad too much shouting (!) its a refreshing well acted/produced wee movie. Shot in a beautiful home with some rather stunning grounds in Lincoln, Mass. which I now discover belongs to the Producers mother … so its not who you know, but WHO you know!
Don’t be misled by the movie’s title or the poster …. this is not a skin flick. I’m guessing that it what it refers to how we all enter this world…. and leave it too.
Out now on VOD & DVD
