Who’s Watching Oliver
If you thought the creepiness of Norman Bates’s matricide and psychological frailty was too subdued and easy to digest, well have I got a film for you. It’s not a stretch to make a connection between Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” and Richie Moore’s disturbing dark comedy, “Who’s Watching Oliver,” nor is it a stretch to say that “Who’s Watching Oliver” is definitely not for everyone. Though categorized as a horror film, rightly so, the film has jet black humor that twists this story of a boy and his mother into something genuinely troubling, but also worthwhile in how it takes parental abuse to an extreme place. If you can get past the first few minutes, you might find something of interest in this film.
The film starts out with an awkward adult named Oliver (Russell Geoffrey Banks, who cowrote the script with Moore and producer Raimund Huber) getting ready for his day. It’s hard to tell whether Oliver is just painfully awkward from being sheltered by his mother (Margaret Roche), whom he talks with daily via video chat, or mentally challenged; I vote for the former, although someone could certainly be forgiven for thinking it’s the latter. He walks the street, and keeps to himself, for the most part, but he does speak to women who catch his eye. He gets them to come back to his apartment with him, but they never leave alive. One day, he meets Sophia (Sara Malakul Lane), a woman of tenderness and very vivid dreams that he has a real connection with. The problem is, will Mama allow it?
Skirting around key plot points with a film like this is tough, and I feel like I’ve given up too many already even though there’s much still to get out of the film. This is a difficult film to discuss, because it’s still twisting around in me, leaving me unsettled about what I’m watching. For a film like this, it’s not only expected, but it can also be a good thing as we are left wondering how the filmmakers came up with such a disturbing story. One thing twisting around in me about this film, though, is why I don’t like this movie more. The performances by Banks, Roche and Lane are all good for the characters they are playing, but I don’t feel much of an emotional connection to Oliver and his situation, and it feels as though I should, given the direction the story goes into. This is a story that does interest me, however, and the ideas that Moore have one display make for a twisted and wicked piece of horror filmmaking. Fans of the genre, and especially horror that deals in seedier material and ideas, should enjoy it. I did to a point, but it didn’t quite connect with me like I hoped it would have.
