"Fathers and Mothers" (2022)

[GoogaMooga]

NOW STREAMING: "Fædre og mødre" (Fathers and Mothers) - (Paprika Steen, 2022)

This is Danish actress Paprika Steen's fourth outing as director, and once again she teams up with screenwriter Jacob Weis to send up generation forty-something in Denmark today. Normally I am biased against an actor or actress helming a film, but here I think Paprika Steen's acting experience is an advantage, as ensemble comedies are extremely hard to pull off. Steen nails it. She has delivered an absolutely lacerating social satire of overly ambitious curling parents, with all their issues and hang-ups exposed in a forced cameraderie that gradually comes apart as drink takes over and inner demons are let loose. The setting is a camp outing for the parents and kids of a sixth grade class at an exclusive private school where everybody is so adamant about inclusion that it is almost painful to watch if it weren't so funny. At first I thought I'd never make it to the end, but little by little I was drawn in and now I am glad I gave it a go. The generational role reversal, where the parents act like kids and the kids themselves seem to be the only people with any sense, is so revealing that I can't help but applaud the whole idea. Although I am a tail end boomer with Asperger's Syndrome, who mentally is stuck in the staid and conservative 1950s, I find the whole film strangely fascinating in a voyeuristic sort of way. It's almost like an anthropological field study for me. It is not just a matter of alienation or autism in my case, this is me on the wrong planet. I should get on my knees and thank the Lord for my handicap, for it has given me the freedom to shut my door, live in a time capsule, and be spared having to go through a charade like the one we see in the film. Top marks from me, but one viewing is quite enough!