Linda is close to the nervous breakdown. Or in the middle of it.
Foto: If I Had Legs LLC
Actually, we all just want the same. A nice home, harmony and a benevolent environment. Director Mary Bronstein does not give her main character exactly and tells in a also-the-das-das-manner of an overwhelmed mother who is looking for grounding and instead suffers an almost two-hour panic attack. You don’t have to like the film to be able to appreciate it.
After »Yeast« (2008) Mary Bronstein is back with her second feature film. This time, too, a woman is in focus. Rose Byrne shines as Linda, a woman who slides from one crisis to the next. There is hardly any time to get breath. Christopher Messina’s camera almost crawls into Rose Byrne, you can see every pore of her face. Microexpressions show how Linda feels. She is desperate, angry, annoyed.
It is not easy to follow Linda, which is as loud as her demanding environment. Your daughter is artificially fed, hanging on a hose. When she is awake, she complains or wants something from her mother. Be it a hamster or pizza without cheese. The main thing is that attention. Linda tries to make her right.
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Mary Bronstein finds expressive pictures and sounds to describe Linda’s state. For example, a moldy, dark hole in your home that has a negative fascination on Linda; She feels attracted to the emptiness, sees it sees an entire universe (of problems?) That is getting bigger and bigger. At some point you no longer know what is real and what happens in Linda’s head. Then “if i had legs i’d kick you” looks like a horror film. Only that everyday life is horror.
The main character is close to the nervous breakdown, and the audience can also feel that. Linda’s pitch is too high, too loud. Constant. The gastric tube beeps incessantly, the baby monitor rushes.
Linda is a psychotherapist. Conan O’Brien plays one that she repeatedly entrusted to her. Using a well -known talkmaster for it is a brilliant idea because it feels strange to see him like this. Rapper a $ ap rocky also appears, an entertaining guy, but he does not advance the story. A strong staging decision: you can only hear Linda’s daughter, you don’t see them. In short: a fairly good film, stretched to two hours and with some empty spaces.
Mary Bronstein intuitively chose the title “if i had legs i’d kick you” before working on the script. Once you have seen the film, you feel it yourself. In the stomach, in your ears, in your head.
»If I Had Legs I’d Kick You«, USA 2024. Regie und Buch: Mary Bronstein. Mit: Rose Byrne, A$AP Rocky, Conan O’Brien, Danielle Macdonald, Ivy Wolk. 113 Min.
February 22, 7 p.m., Uber Eats Music Hall; February 23, 8.30 p.m., Haus der Berliner Festival