LUMINOUS MOTION

Year: 1998
USA: Artistic License
Cast: Eric Lloyd, Deborah Unger, Terry Kinney, Jamey Sheridan, James Berland, Paz de la Huerta, June Stein, Bruce MacVittie
Director: Bette Gordon
Country: USA
USA: 94 mins
USA Release Date: 19 May 2000 (Limited Release - New York)

Synopsis

Ten year old Phillip Davis has spent half his life joyously living on the California highways with his carefree and highly seductive mother. Every night is a road, every man is a map, and no love is stronger than the love Phillip feels for his mom. Mom is light and Mom is motion.

So when Mom decides to settle down and lead an average life with an average American man, Phillip sees himself as her savior, and his mission is to liberate Mom. At first, he appears to succeed, but an unexpected event sidetracks his plans: Phillip's powerful father re-enters his life and he wants his family back. Oedipus was lucky - he was ignorant of his crime. But Phillip is all too aware of his situation and he knows exactly what he must do to regain a life in motion.

Phillip's obsessive love for his mother is intense and perhaps perverse but it is also innocent and ultimately, Phillip learns that Mom is a world all her own and there are some places we must all go alone.