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On My Own

	On My Own
	by Cinevista Inc. Sales Rank: 36495 Price: $39.95

If there is some point to director Antonio Tibaldi's film, which he cowrote with Gill Denniss and John Frizzell, then it is beyond my comprehension. As a student at a Canadian private boys school, Matthew Ferguson seems like an average healthy child, so when we hear his mother is a schizophrenic, our expectations are raised. Ferguson's father has divorced and remarried, so we assume the schizophrenia is the cause, but in spite of Judy Davis as the mother providing some murky undertones, we don't really see any change in the son. Yes, he has a nightmare about the stereotypical asylum he associates with his mother, but he also dreams of a friend's girlfriend. Even when Davis visits Ferguson and they spend a night together, nothing radical happens. In a scene with his father, Ferguson is unafraid to express his anger and he acts the same way with Davis, so Tibaldi's vague notion of Davis' illness somehow being passed on to her son has no credibility. For a schizophrenic, Davis seems remarkably well, understandably emotional on seeing her son, but hardly belonging in that nightmare asylum. The climactic news seems ridiculous, almost the act of desperate screenwriters, and the symbolic conclusion unjustified. One scene where Ferguson, his friend and the girlfriend all dance together, each touching each other, I was hoping would lead to something. Although having his own gang, we presume that Ferguson's friendship with this new boy based on their shared love of soccer has deeper significance, but as in the dance scene, there is no payoff. The boy lingers around Ferguson, and though I knew in my heart that a homosexual relationship wasn't to be, even when the girlfriend expresses mixed feelings about the boy which undermine us seeing him as a stud, things are left unresolved, unexplained, indicative of the film as a whole. I only wish I had got as much out of the experience as Leonard Maltin, who's response is frankly inexplicable.

Viewer Reviews
I don't know much about Schizophrenia so I wouldn't know if this movie is on the ball about this disease.I actually think that this movie is more about loss than about Schizophrenia itself.It's nice to have a movie where the disease is not the main character.

I especially appreciate that we are not made to suffer through one of those tear-jerker "I want my Oscar"performances that I have come to link with movies about major diseases.Instead, we see the impact of the disease on the people that are close to the sufferer.

The acting is superb.I am a long time Judy Davis fan and I would gladly pay to see her read from the phonebook.
I was blown away by Matthew Ferguson's performance, especially the scene when he gets mad at his father.The support cast was great as well.

I agree with the comment that was made about the homosexual scene not being fully explored,I was also a bit disappointed that the character did not get a payoff at the end [SPOILER]by "getting" the girl,who is obviously the reason why he is going to this party.Yet, the fact that there is no romantic payoff for the main character makes this movie stand out from the usual" coming of age" Hollywood movies where "Coming Of Age" is really about the first word in the sentence.

I thought that the physical coldness of the surroundings ( Canadian Winter ) and the emotional coldness of the father figures ( Father and Faculty) really underlined the fact that in our day and age,becoming a man in Western society means to distance oneself from feelings.I don't know if that was the director's intention but I thought of this movie as a beautiful reflection about the passage into manhood and the challenges of dealing with the loss of maternal love,through voluntary or, in this case, involuntary separation from the mother.

On My Own
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