Anora (Laura Haring) & Imogene (Jill Marie Jones) cuddle
Nancy Kissam's directorial debut film "Drool" (USA 2009, 88 minutes) is a twisted little Neo-Gothic tale. The narrator is 15-year-old Tabby, short for Tabitha, who is the eldest child of Cheb and Anora-a couple who likely had a shotgun wedding. Cheb is churlish to his wife and an odd mixture of loving father and harsh taskmaster to his children. The small town of Catoosa, Oklahoma is the backdrop for this oddly amusing and constantly arresting story.
Nancy Kissam is the intellectual lovechild of the Coen Brothers and Tennessee Williams. She writes and directs a tale in which Anora Fleese (Laura Haring), who cannot imagine a real world different from the one she lives in, creates an imaginary fantasy man who looks like her husband and treats her as the lady she is, the one that her husband doesn't see. That's why meeting Imogene Cochran (Jill Marie Jones), the new neighbor who moves in, next door, rocks her world. "Imogene"-"Imagine"-the accents on different syllables make all the difference.
Cheb (Oded Fehr) works at a rubber factory-one that makes pool liners, etc. He is an angry man whose family bears the brunt of his displeasure. And while some of what makes him angry is obvious, some of what is revealed is shocking. Tabby (Ashley Duggan Smith) and her brother, Little Pete (Christopher Newhouse), have the trials of modern teens and the combination of what we tell our parents and what actually happens in the daily life of youth is also well displayed.
Critical timing and fallout from unfortunate events yield an amazing result. Anora gradually emerges, like Galatea, from having feet of clay to becoming a living, feeling fully human female and her family struggles to figure out where the pieces go next.
This film is worthy date material. Take someone you love to see it-you'll have a great deal to consider over dinner and coffee.
"Drool" receives its Philadelphia premiere, as part of QFest 2009 (www.phillycinema.org), at the Ritz East, 125 South Second Street, in Theater Two, on July 10 at 7 p.m. and is repeated, in Ritz East, Theater One, on July 12 at noon. The single ticket price is $10, $9 for Philadelphia Cinema Alliance members.
