The Manor | Hot Docs 2013 Review

Polemic Crisis: Cohen Turns Camera On His Fam

Having flown the coop over a decade ago to work in the film industry as a digital effects artist, first time feature director Shawney Cohen decided to return to his Jewish roost to help out with the family owned strip joint and motel in times of turmoil. It seems his parents, a life long couple who now seem to share nothing in common except an incendiary relationship with food, are now slaves to their sustenance. Presently 400 pounds, his kingpin father can do little but delegate from behind his desk, while his mother, only a mere 85 pounds, can barely stomach more than a few bites in a sitting. Within Cohen’s deeply personal, thematically complex docu debut, The Manor, their contradictory comestible issues turn out to be deeply seeded in the dirty business they’ve built their lavish lives upon.

Long before the Cohens started living behind iron gates and gaudy statuary, Mr. Cohen purchased The Manor, a small town strip club in close proximity to Toronto. With his wife reluctantly on board, he’s managed the bar and 32-room motel for over three decades with the pontificating pompous of a low-brow high-roller. Unfortunately, as his age grows higher, so does his weight, which has become a major hindrance in not only running the family business, but also his daily routine. Dead set against dieting and woebegone over the thought of working out, he’s decided to have his stomach stapled. If successful, the pricey surgery should alter his ruinous eating habits, forcing him to lose weight with little effort. Meanwhile, it becomes obvious that Mrs. Cohen has a serious eating problem herself. Horrifyingly skinny, she nibbles on food only when badgered into doing so, and though she won’t admit it, we are led to believe she takes liquid laxatives to limit weight gain.

Amidst all this, Shawney is found both on screen awkwardly helping out at the bar or squabbling with his argumentative parents (with help from co-director Mike Gallay), and off screen, in apprehensive, highly honest voice over. Slightly ashamed of the business he literally grew up in, Shawney introduces us to the ex-convict who works the bar, the pill popping ex-stripper who manages the hotel, and his antipodal brother who embraces his occupation for what it is and the luxuries that come with the lifestyle. Their colorful bouts with lingering demons line the film with often hilarious ancillary character, but also call into question Mr. Cohen’s soft spot for deliverance and the perception of charity. Though succinctly fascinating, Cohen’s main concern is the health of his stubborn parents and the heritage his father hopes to leave behind.

Much of the film is spent observing the routines of his parents, their shallow interactions and the loneliness that seems to fill each room of their massive home. When Shawney finds himself in the frame, he’s usually trying his best to coax his parents into acknowledging their health issues (often through humorous parental quarks), but it takes a hard fall for his mother to admit that she needs help. Sadly, even then, her husband fails to be supportive in getting her the help she needs. Though her obsession with maintaining a slim figure stems from her husband’s involvement in the business of naked bodies, he accepts no responsibility for her deterioration and fails to exude even the slightest bit of sympathy despite her continued support. Unless there is a direct benefit to him, he sees no use in pouring money into therapy for his ailing wife, even after his own exorbitant attempt at health. Instead, he’d rather reinvest the money in the future of The Manor. Shawney’s altruistic attempts to save his parents from themselves ultimately prove to be just another bump in the road of perceived normalcy.

Despite its darkly serious subject matter, the film ultimately proves to be a surprisingly funny, ultimately tragic composite that abides by the language of video memoir and the semi-constructed aesthetics of reality TV with strikingly personal sincerity. While exploring the dangers of overeating and anorexia, Cohen delves into what it means to be charitable, as well as how heredity can predefine lives while habitual backsliding can stifle them. Much more than just a family in the spires of eating issues and the grotesqueries of running a strip club, The Manor is a disheartening depiction of modern upper-middle class that sadly proves a little late life support can’t always settle life long disputes.

Reviewed on April 24^th at the 2013 Hot Docs Film Festival – Special Presentations Programme. 78 min