'Think of Me' is a portrait of a young single Mom, 'Angela', (convincingly played by well-known stage actor Lauren Ambrose), and her nine year old daughter, 'Sunny' (starring the talented child actor, Audrey Scott, seen before in Disney's 'Secretariat'). The script and direction is by Bryan Wizemann, who has a few short films under his belt and is now tackling his second feature film since 2005.
Wizemann's basic strategy is to catalog the misdeeds of incompetent parent Angela, as she aimlessly attempts to stay afloat in present day Las Vegas with her daughter. Angela is sort of like a water downed version of Casey Anthony, a child-like narcissist who inflicts emotional rather than physical damage on her daughter, who suffers from learning disabilities.
In addition to the slow-moving plot, much of the film's verisimilitude is dependent on whether one believes in the plausibility of the central character. Angela is so much in her own world, that she doesn't recognize that she has problems. Certainly when it comes to Sunny, she's in big time denial regarding the fact that her daughter is unable to read. Her defensiveness on that point is believable, but I still had a difficult time believing that such a character would not stoop to pursuing grander illegal pursuits or in contrast, seek help from others, to support herself.
For example, at the beginning, Angela picks up a man at a strip joint and goes home and has sex with him. The scene is obviously designed to introduce us to the idea that Angela's actions are thoroughly narcissistic, since Sunny walks in on them afterward, exposing her to all the unseemliness. What's odd is that Angela is not a prostitute and merely asks the man for a $100 to help her out. This is the only time we see Angela having sex or having any dealings with men on a romantic or sexual level. It's odd that she never resorts to prostitution since she is so desperate for money. On the other hand, perhaps prostitution is one step below her moral code. You would think by trying to find a boyfriend, that would be a good strategy for Angela to lift herself out of her isolation. But that strategy never seems to occur to her.
When her boss at the telemarketing firm asks Angela to come in with him on a dubious investment scheme, she doesn't hesitate to have her ex-husband wire her $2,000 from her child support funds, which she promptly loses after some neighbors come over for Sunny's birthday party, and one of them presumably makes off with the money. Again, is she so obtuse that she would so easily get involved in such a scheme? Most people wouldn't—even those down on their luck would be a little bit skeptical; but then again, there are gullible people falling for scams all of the time.
While prostitution is out, Angela contemplates insurance fraud, by asking a young neighbor to dump her car, so she can file a bogus claim. Although she changes her mind, Angela goes through with finding a second job as a cleaning woman. The problem is that she ends up working in the same building as her first job and when her boss from the first job notices her cleaning inside the company offices, early in the morning, he (like the rest of us) find that awfully strange--and promptly sends her packing.
Perhaps the most alienating action we can attribute to Angela (in terms of alienating us as an audience), is her decision to drive out to a deserted area with Sunny and put the family dog out on the streets. From this point on, it's hard to have much sympathy for Angela, as we can see the devastating effect her decision has on Sunny.
The film's denouement mirrors Angela's decision to give up her dog. This time, however, it involves Sunny. Angela ends up getting involved with a co-worker from the telemarketing firm who has a side business involving illegal adoptions. He tells gullible Angela that his "sister" (Louise) is just down from Canada and will pay her $20,000 to take little Sunny off her hands. In perhaps the best scene in the film, Louise (after having met and bonded with Sunny a few times) calls on Angela at a motel and makes a bid to adopt her.
**SUPER SPOILERS AHEAD** Angela decides to give Sunny up but at the last minute, on a lonely stretch of highway, changes her mind. In one respect, we feel relieved, since it's a horrible thing for a mother to give up her child in such a way. But we feel equally horrible, since we know Sunny will be doomed to endure Angela's continual bad parenting for the unforeseeable future.
My ultimate question regarding 'Think of Me' is, "what is the point"? Angela scores few points as a sympathetic character so we can care little about her. Perhaps Wizemann's strategy is to shock—proffering a portrait of a young woman as empty vessel. Can it be that a woman whose soul is virtually blank, can do as much damage as the parent who's guilty of physically abusing their child?
'Think of Me' often proceeds slowly in a cinema-verité style. Lauren Ambrose does well in conveying Angela's selfishness but I kept asking what are the protagonist's motivations. Perhaps the point is that there are no motivations—she acts that way simply because that's the way she is. The protagonist feels like an anomaly precisely because she has no goals like most normal people do. Can anybody be so naïve, gullible, narcissistic and nasty at the same time? Perhaps Mr. Wizemann will argue that there are people out there like Angela. Actually, I'm not so sure. But even if there are, I'm not so sure why I should really care.
Wizemann's basic strategy is to catalog the misdeeds of incompetent parent Angela, as she aimlessly attempts to stay afloat in present day Las Vegas with her daughter. Angela is sort of like a water downed version of Casey Anthony, a child-like narcissist who inflicts emotional rather than physical damage on her daughter, who suffers from learning disabilities.
In addition to the slow-moving plot, much of the film's verisimilitude is dependent on whether one believes in the plausibility of the central character. Angela is so much in her own world, that she doesn't recognize that she has problems. Certainly when it comes to Sunny, she's in big time denial regarding the fact that her daughter is unable to read. Her defensiveness on that point is believable, but I still had a difficult time believing that such a character would not stoop to pursuing grander illegal pursuits or in contrast, seek help from others, to support herself.
For example, at the beginning, Angela picks up a man at a strip joint and goes home and has sex with him. The scene is obviously designed to introduce us to the idea that Angela's actions are thoroughly narcissistic, since Sunny walks in on them afterward, exposing her to all the unseemliness. What's odd is that Angela is not a prostitute and merely asks the man for a $100 to help her out. This is the only time we see Angela having sex or having any dealings with men on a romantic or sexual level. It's odd that she never resorts to prostitution since she is so desperate for money. On the other hand, perhaps prostitution is one step below her moral code. You would think by trying to find a boyfriend, that would be a good strategy for Angela to lift herself out of her isolation. But that strategy never seems to occur to her.
When her boss at the telemarketing firm asks Angela to come in with him on a dubious investment scheme, she doesn't hesitate to have her ex-husband wire her $2,000 from her child support funds, which she promptly loses after some neighbors come over for Sunny's birthday party, and one of them presumably makes off with the money. Again, is she so obtuse that she would so easily get involved in such a scheme? Most people wouldn't—even those down on their luck would be a little bit skeptical; but then again, there are gullible people falling for scams all of the time.
While prostitution is out, Angela contemplates insurance fraud, by asking a young neighbor to dump her car, so she can file a bogus claim. Although she changes her mind, Angela goes through with finding a second job as a cleaning woman. The problem is that she ends up working in the same building as her first job and when her boss from the first job notices her cleaning inside the company offices, early in the morning, he (like the rest of us) find that awfully strange--and promptly sends her packing.
Perhaps the most alienating action we can attribute to Angela (in terms of alienating us as an audience), is her decision to drive out to a deserted area with Sunny and put the family dog out on the streets. From this point on, it's hard to have much sympathy for Angela, as we can see the devastating effect her decision has on Sunny.
The film's denouement mirrors Angela's decision to give up her dog. This time, however, it involves Sunny. Angela ends up getting involved with a co-worker from the telemarketing firm who has a side business involving illegal adoptions. He tells gullible Angela that his "sister" (Louise) is just down from Canada and will pay her $20,000 to take little Sunny off her hands. In perhaps the best scene in the film, Louise (after having met and bonded with Sunny a few times) calls on Angela at a motel and makes a bid to adopt her.
**SUPER SPOILERS AHEAD** Angela decides to give Sunny up but at the last minute, on a lonely stretch of highway, changes her mind. In one respect, we feel relieved, since it's a horrible thing for a mother to give up her child in such a way. But we feel equally horrible, since we know Sunny will be doomed to endure Angela's continual bad parenting for the unforeseeable future.
My ultimate question regarding 'Think of Me' is, "what is the point"? Angela scores few points as a sympathetic character so we can care little about her. Perhaps Wizemann's strategy is to shock—proffering a portrait of a young woman as empty vessel. Can it be that a woman whose soul is virtually blank, can do as much damage as the parent who's guilty of physically abusing their child?
'Think of Me' often proceeds slowly in a cinema-verité style. Lauren Ambrose does well in conveying Angela's selfishness but I kept asking what are the protagonist's motivations. Perhaps the point is that there are no motivations—she acts that way simply because that's the way she is. The protagonist feels like an anomaly precisely because she has no goals like most normal people do. Can anybody be so naïve, gullible, narcissistic and nasty at the same time? Perhaps Mr. Wizemann will argue that there are people out there like Angela. Actually, I'm not so sure. But even if there are, I'm not so sure why I should really care.