Cubby

By: Sam Frost

Cubby is a story about self-discovery. It’s about allowing yourself to take time to figure things out. Mark (writer/director/star Mark Blane) moves to New York after lying to his mother about a secure job and the film shows what happens as he struggles to make it in the big city. While the narrative sometimes felt lacking, the story of persistence shines through.

Twenty-six-year-old Mark finds a room within the house a college friend is living in and lands a job as youngster Milo’s (Joseph Tao) babysitter. The film follows his day to day struggles while also branching out to expand on an LSD cupcake-induced fantasy of a superhero Mark has named “Leather-Man.” This leads Mark to new experience after new experience. It follows him through what seems to be a sexual awakening as well as his big step of moving away from home and learning to care for not only himself but also a child.

There isn’t a strong sense of narrative throughout Cubby, but there is character change. While Mark never strays far from the somewhat lazy and erratic person he is in the beginning, throughout the film the slowly shows signs of taking himself and the people around him more seriously. He forms an incredible bond with six-year-old Milo and, even though he’s not always a great babysitter, he does truly care about the child’s well-being.

Directors Mark Blane and Ben Mankoff chose to use choppy segments, never really giving the full story. There are many side characters that aren’t fully developed and tend to lend a hand to Mark’s story instead of being a part of their own. While at times this left a sense of wanting more, it successfully created the feeling of being alone. Mark is alone in the world, for most of the time, and this style of storytelling alienated the audience in the same way Mark’s situation seems to alienate him.

Blane does a great job of creating a character that’s unable to relate to most other people. There’s always a sense that Mark doesn’t quite understand what’s happening, and Blane doesn’t shy away from this. He embraces it and the result is a unique and compelling character that feels full and dynamic within this story.

There isn’t a specific pull-in moment in this movie; however, it’s steady. It’s whimsical and gentle and portrays moments of great love alongside moments of great failure. There’s an ever-present theme of “try again” and Cubby leaves you with a sense of comfort and a smile.