Spanking the Monkey

A nicely matter-of-fact, sensitively performed US indie debut about a white middle-class pre-medical student lumbered by his dad, a travelling video salesman, with the task of caring for his attractive invalid mum during the summer holidays. Much confusion and anxiety result, mainly because the boy suddenly begins to feel longings for his mother. Russell's script and direction hit just the right note: the film being at once wittily satirical and poignant, erotic and uncomfortable, as it refuses either to romanticise or to make a mountain out of an admittedly troubling molehill. Watson and Davies, as mother and son, are especially watchable.