Motivational Growth could be performed as a stage play, if it wasn’t for that heads-blowing-up thing. Written and directed by Don Thacker, Motivational Growth takes us into the twisted mind and apartment of Ian Folivor, played by Adrian DiGiovanni. Ian hasn’t left his apartment in 62 weeks. Then his 1960s era TV goes on the fritz, and his world goes crazy. Well, crazier.
Honeymoon, the directing debut for Leigh Janiak, breaks the rules and it breaks them in exactly the right way.
The trailer and the first act make it look like you’re about to see another “bloody teenager” movie. There’s the young, charming, horny couple. There’s a cabin in the woods. There’s even a crystal clear lake. But, director/writer Janiak and co-writer Phil Graziadei do what you are supposed to with a perfect genre set-up. They spin it in an unexpected direction.