Mask (1985)

Directed by Peter Bogdanovich. Starring Eric Stoltz, Cher, Sam Elliott, Laura Dern, Lawrence Monoson, Richard Dysart, Estelle Getty, Ben Piazza, Harry Carey Jr., Micole Mercurio, Dennis Burkley. [PG]

Sweet, sensitive, but sanitized based-in-truth story of California teen Rocky Dennis (Stoltz), who suffers from the rare condition of craniodiaphyseal dysplasia (a.k.a. lionitis), giving him an enlarged, disfigured head. His mother (Cher) loves him unconditionally and wants him to have the best (and most normal) life possible, but as a “wild child” biker with a recurring drug habit, she’s hardly a saint. Visually, director Bogdanovich does little to elevate the aesthetic above TV-movie territory, and he goes for slick storytelling gestures when texture would have made the experience feel realer and rowdier—Rocky’s cruel and judgmental encounters are both rare enough and so quickly resolved they come off as too good to be true, and mom’s friends are about as gentle as a biker gang could be outside of a Disney feature. Chief characterizations and performances carry the day, however, and it’s not nearly as maudlin or manipulative as it could have been; even Dennis Ricotta’s music is restrained enough to be blown away by the Bruce Springsteen cuts (those who saw it in theaters or on home video prior to 2004 had to settle for Bob Seger). One small bonus: at least we know a little more about the sordid past employment record of Dunder Mifflin’s Creed Bratton—he used to be a carnie who called kids the R-word.

69/100