On the Eve of Their Momma's Man Opening, Jacobs Father and Son Talk Shop and Family

While Momma's Man is not autobiographical (Ken and Azazel talk more than the father and son depicted in the film), Azazel was, ironically, struck with Bell's palsy during post-production. "In terms of parallels with the film, it's freaky," he admits. The paralyzing disease gripped him right after telling his girlfriend (The GoodTimesKid's Sara Diaz) that he was going to stay in New York to edit the film: "The next thing I know, I'm waking up and half my face is frozen." He went to an acupuncturist three days a week, but the palsy lasted four months. It wasn't until the film neared completion that it finally lifted and he was able to return to L.A.

After leaving Yuen Yuen, father and son walk down Bayard Street back toward the Jacobs' loft. Ken stops to buy a bag of lychee fruit, and the two reminisce about the city's transformations over the years, from Ken's early memories of "horses delivering milk on the cobblestones" to the time Azazel was caught in the middle of an Asian gang fight at the Chinese Ice Cream Factory. (Azazel's currently writing a gangster flick.)

Tobias Datum

Jacobs family portrait: Azazel, Flo, and Ken

Details

The Films of Azazel Jacobs
August 11 through 15
BAM

Related Content

• Azazel Jacobs Doesn't Have to Be Cool Anymore
  June 29, 2011
• American History, from the Mind of Ken Jacobs, in Seeking the Monkey King
  January 4, 2012
• Tom, Tom, the Piper’s Son
  November 23, 2011
• Terri
  October 5, 2011
• Millenium Film Workshop Being Evicted By La Mama E.T.C.
  January 25, 2012

More About

• Flo Jacobs
• Ken Jacobs
• Azazel Jacobs
• Mike Kuchar
• State University of New York at Purchase

"Nothing is sacred in this city; everything changes, and I know our place"— referring to his parents' apartment, which is a rental—"won't be mine to go to," says Azazel. "In an odd way, I wanted the film to disconnect me from it: to allow us to own it without buying it, to be a way of letting it go, to remind myself that it's not the physical location, it's not the square feet—it's only what was done with it."