by Dan Tabor
Mad Women is a stark look at family that I found very reminiscent of Todd Solondz’s Happiness in the way the narrative deals with a family of very damaged individuals in a very slice-of-life sort of way. The film primarily focuses on the twentysomething Nevada Smith (Kelsey Lynn Stokes), the middle sibling of three daughters whose charismatic, radical mother was recently released from prison. As the film picks up, her mother Harper (Christina Starbuck) is currently running for mayor as a write-in candidate, and among her campaign platforms are life in prison for rapists, 70 days in jail for people who spit in public, and the eventual plan for succession of their small town from the United States.
Nevada’s insecurities are really at the forefront of the narrative here as her mother is running for office, her father is a successful dentist, and her older sister is a doctor in the Doctors without Borders Program. Given Nevada’s younger sister died as an infant, she is forever the middle child and will go to any lengths to get any affirmation from those around her. When her father is sent to jail for statutory rape, leaving her to care for her mother diagnosed with breast cancer, Nevada engages her mother in a consensual sexual relationship in an attempt to console her.
The strange part about this is given the foundation of what appears to be a grotesquely progressive upbringing, Nevada’s attempt at comfort feels more like a power play on her weakened mother to boost her own confidence. From there we witness an almost cult-like mentality as any appearance of normality disappears from the family and those around them. The characters from there continue to devolve to a point, and strangely enough begin to circle around to evolve in the third act, which was definitely a different conclusion to the film then I was expecting.
Mad Women, while also dealing with such taboo situations, never feels exploitative or gratuitous, and consent is at the forefront of all the characters’ choices. Thanks to this, writer/director Jeff Lipsky is able to propose some hard questions about the film’s inhabitants, since they are in fact choosing to do what they do. Jeff is assisted in a narrative that is no easy task to bring to the screen by an amazing cast led by Kelsey Lynn Stokes as Nevada who brings the film’s script and razor sharp dialog to life with her fearless performance that feels so effortless, its almost frightening.
Mad Women is an engrossingly dark coming of age tale that will make you look at the family you call your own in a whole new light. Director Jeff Lipsky gives us a dense narrative filled with the kind of flawed complex characters that can only exist in independent cinema. While not for the easily offended, Mad Women is the kind of thought provoking trangressive film you’ll be dissecting long after the credits roll. If you’re lucky enough to live in New York you can check out Mad Women today in its limited release.