Grief manifests itself in obscure and unknowable ways. Some turn to food, isolation, or overstimulation. Some people turn into cats. And who are we to judge how someone manages their grief? Booger follows Anna (Grace Glowicki) and the perils she faces after the loss of her best friend Izzy (Sofia Dobrushin). Shortly after Izzy’s untimely death, Anna loses the cat they shared in their New York apartment, though not before the cat, Booger, bites Anna’s hand. Over the next few days, Anna starts to experience signs that she may be turning into a feline.
Booger: Mary Dauterman’s Directorial Debut
Writer/director Mary Dauterman crafts a compelling and inspirational slice-of-life film for her directorial feature debut. With a bevy of shorts under her belt, Dauterman exercises years of hard work and puts everything on the table with Booger. This film has a real take-it-or-leave-it attitude, and I’m ready to take it. What’s impressive about this feature is being able to see Dauterman’s succinct style shine, even with being fairly unfamiliar with her previous works.
Booger blends multiple subgenres, with the main ones being psychological and body horror. When filmmakers take the task of blending subgenres for their debut features, it can quickly go either way. It’s easier to do something like that in a short film, but the blending can seem half-assed and underdeveloped when it comes to features. Dauterman commands the camera in a way many feature filmmakers have tried for years to accomplish and still can’t get right. The blending of subgenres comes off naturally. Each specific subgenre gets its moment to shine, while never stepping on each other’s toes.
Grace Glowicki and Marcia DeBonis Shine in Booger
A lot of commendation needs to go to Dauterman, but without the actors, you won’t have a film to begin with! Grace Glowicki brings tragic authenticity to her performance and chews the scenery every chance she gets, giving audiences a performance they won’t soon forget. Marcia DeBonis, who plays Izzy’s mom, Joyce, gives one of the most heartbreaking-frog-in-throat performances the genre has ever seen. And it would be awful for us not to mention the wonderful Heather Matarazzo. Now, her character serves no purpose in this film, and if she weren’t in this film, nothing would change. That being said, it’s always a pleasure to see her in anything, and I NEED to know how Dauterman talked Matarazzo into THAT scene.
Booger is a [soon to be] odd genre staple of New York cinema. This film will make you step back and examine your life. It’ll make you question what’s important. Have I ever heard this many covers of Rupert Holmes Piña Colada’s song, and…oh hey, where did that laser pointer come from?
I’ll be right back, gotta get to the bottom of this.