Thumbsucker Review
Thumbsucker is one of those movies where you really feel empathy for the lead character. Justin Cobb (played by Lou Taylor Pucci) is a 17 year old with a thumb sucking problem, in order to rid himself of his addiction he actually substitutes one addiction for another from Ritalin to pot. But his only real problem is that Cobb is just so painfully adolescent. There are moments where you can’t blame him for needing a release for all the emotional baggage that he has. Whether its being humiliated in front of his love interest Rebecca in debating class or hooking up with her only to find out that she only wanted to ‘experiment’ with a guy that wouldn’t hurt her. Ouch.
Keanu Reeves plays his hippie orthodontist, Perry, who dishes out advice for Cobb. Best line:
Cobb: Aren’t you just an orthodontist?
Perry: I’d like to think of myself as much more than that.
The movie is so subtle in its symbolism and the idiosyncracies of its characters. For example Keanu transforms from hippie ortho with pictures of wolves in his examination room to clean cut, suit-wearing, ortho with a white walled exam room who smokes after looking at Cobb’s teeth.
The relationship between Cobb and his parents are strained at best, especially with his father. The one image which stands out is when Cobb goes to talk to his father and walks down the hall in his house to knock on the closed door of his parents’ bedroom. It’s almost as if he’s knocking on the door of the principal’s office. The distance between him and his father is palpable.
The other image which stands out has to do with Benjamin Bratt’s reforming celebrity drug addict character - Matt Shram. It’s too gruesome to repeat. But Audrey, Cobb's mother, who is a nurse saves Shram and at the same time allows Cobb to see his mother in a whole new light.
I really liked Thumbsucker since it was such a raw movie. It was hard to distinguish Vince D'Oforio from Law and Order away from his character Michael Cobb though, he doesn’t really strike me as a father figure. But I really liked Tilda Swinton’s performance as a mother and nurse. She kind of looks like Lou Taylor Pucci. The setting is also simplistic, a family living in a house with bad 70s décor. No glamour there. It's just so bleedingly normal.
The thing with Thumbsucker is that people’s problems are always bubbling away at the surface and sometimes they explode. But everyone needs an outlet to vent or release the emotional surge below. And it’s perfectly normal. Even if it is thumbsucking.
And no one ever really "gets it".
Last quote:
Dr. Perry Lyman: I stopped trying to be anything. I accepted myself and all of my human disorder. You might wanna do the same.
T
Keanu Reeves plays his hippie orthodontist, Perry, who dishes out advice for Cobb. Best line:
Cobb: Aren’t you just an orthodontist?
Perry: I’d like to think of myself as much more than that.
The movie is so subtle in its symbolism and the idiosyncracies of its characters. For example Keanu transforms from hippie ortho with pictures of wolves in his examination room to clean cut, suit-wearing, ortho with a white walled exam room who smokes after looking at Cobb’s teeth.
The relationship between Cobb and his parents are strained at best, especially with his father. The one image which stands out is when Cobb goes to talk to his father and walks down the hall in his house to knock on the closed door of his parents’ bedroom. It’s almost as if he’s knocking on the door of the principal’s office. The distance between him and his father is palpable.
The other image which stands out has to do with Benjamin Bratt’s reforming celebrity drug addict character - Matt Shram. It’s too gruesome to repeat. But Audrey, Cobb's mother, who is a nurse saves Shram and at the same time allows Cobb to see his mother in a whole new light.
I really liked Thumbsucker since it was such a raw movie. It was hard to distinguish Vince D'Oforio from Law and Order away from his character Michael Cobb though, he doesn’t really strike me as a father figure. But I really liked Tilda Swinton’s performance as a mother and nurse. She kind of looks like Lou Taylor Pucci. The setting is also simplistic, a family living in a house with bad 70s décor. No glamour there. It's just so bleedingly normal.
The thing with Thumbsucker is that people’s problems are always bubbling away at the surface and sometimes they explode. But everyone needs an outlet to vent or release the emotional surge below. And it’s perfectly normal. Even if it is thumbsucking.
And no one ever really "gets it".
Last quote:
Dr. Perry Lyman: I stopped trying to be anything. I accepted myself and all of my human disorder. You might wanna do the same.
T
posted by Natasha at 11:00 AM
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