New Zealand cinema isn’t something I have forayed into much before, so upon a friend’s recommendation and the promise of the filmmakers and cast being in attendance at the Melbourne International Film Festival, I foolishly filled my arms with snacks and headed into my session to see what this was all about. This film is a sticky, gooey, oozy, comedy body horror that gave me some of the biggest laughs I have had in a long time. It is a well directed and written with absolute care, packing in as many jokes as it can, it would require multiple viewings to truly catch all of them. The film is the exploration of the horrors of pregnancy and the indifference to everyone around about that first experience.
The story revolves around Mary (Hannah Lynch) a down and out millenial (aren’t we all!) living with her mother Cyntha (Yvette Parsons) in a block of community flats. Her days involve sleeping late, watching alien anime porn and complaining about the injustice of her life. When some new neighbours arrive Ann (Jackie Van Beek) and her recluse son Boo (Arlo Green) the two mothers set on a mission to introduce their two children to hopefully ignite a spark and get them out of the house. When Boo and Mary meet, a hilarious and awkward encounter at the communal laundromate leads to Mary becoming alien pregnant and dealing with the rapidly increasing stages of an extra-terrestrial birth.
The hilarious events that follow are better left unspoiled, there is a consistent joke that noone bats an eyelid at the rapid acceleration of Mary’s pregnancy, the scary and mysterious MRI’s that go wrong and her insistence that the baby is of alien origin, to which noone really seems to bat an eyelid. At the heart of the comedy are the two mothers Parsons’s Cyntha is the clear highlight of the movie, providing the majority of the laugh out loud moments, her over-bearing relationship with her daughter, yet wanting her to move onto the next stage of her life is hilarious to watch. The two mothers are completele opposites, Cyntha is a free-spirited, chat your ear off, force herself in for coffee and biscuits kind of neighbour, while Ann is a reserved recluse, uninterested in getting to know anyone or get too attached. The two are forced into each others lives and their scenes together discussing their children and what they are going to do next are among the highlights of the film.
Now let’s get to the gooey part, the practical effects are far beyond anything I expected for a film on this scale. They are just real enough to be believable and not take you out of the story. There are many scenes with slime, alien goo, alien ejaculate and breast milk that have you squirming in your seat and make you not want to touch any of your snacks. While the reveal of the creature itself is quite low budget, there is enough goodwill from the rest of the film for it to not ruin the entire experience.
Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant was the biggest surprise of the Melbourne International Film Festival this year. A comedy/body horror that knows how to make pregnancy both terrifying and hilarious with an incredibly smart and witty script. The special effects for a film of this calibre are beyond what I was expecting and real credit needs to go to the team who designed and created all of these unique pieces. Parsons and Lynch prove to be the perfect mother/daughter duo, showing the age old addage of “You’re not the first person to give birth” and the absolute indifference of paramedics, hospital staff and doctors around that is truly hilarious to watch in this unique situation. There is definitely more under the hood here about pregnancy, how women are treated compared to men and consent that will probably become more apparent with repeat viewings. This film is one of my favourite comedies of the year and is best viewed at the cinema with a room full of other unsuspecting audience members.
Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant is now showing as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival and will get a wide release through Umbrella later in the year.
