The Thingy: Confessions of a Teenage Placenta (Movie review)

The Miracle of Life might sound a bit more innocent than this film actually is haha. The Miracle of Life is also known as The Thingy: Confessions of a Teenage Placenta. I found this interesting movie during Weekend of Hell at the stand of Zeno Pictures. It sounded so strange and funny that I just had to buy it. You guys might remember that I told Tony Moore that I like his 'thingies' hahaha (Meaning his artwork). Ever since me and the word 'thingy' are connected! So when I saw this movie called the Thingy, I just couldn't resist it. When I read it was about a living placenta, my day just got better! I had never seen a movie like this one. And in that case, count me in!

The Thingy is directed by Joël Rabijns and Yves Sondermeier. It's a comedy/ drama/ horror movie about a living placenta. Yes, you read that right. Marianne (Pascal Maetens) is a bodybuilder and she's pregnant. The child is born dead, but the placenta is alive. She decides to name her placenta Luke and raise Luke like a regular child. Father Julio baptizes Luke and stays involved in his life. But Father Julio is a strange man. Watching him just gives you a creepy feeling! 

When Luke grows up, his struggles start. Marianne focuses on her training her arm. She wants to win competitions. But she trains just one arm. Her philosophy is that people never completely get what they want. They only get half. So why not just train half? She is fully concentrated on the importance of her arm. Meanwhile Luke struggles with common issues: He's Christian but struggling with his faith. He likes a girl but doesn't now how to approach her. He's struggling with finding friends and popularity. All things we know! And sometimes he turns to Father Julio. But that doesn't help him a lot. He's mainly interested in every detail about the girl Luke likes. 

The movie turned out to be very different than I expected. There was much more drama and story to it than I thought there would be.  Seeing how Luke grows up and struggle with things all teenagers struggle with, is a big part of the movie. Sometimes I just had to remind myself that I was looking at a living placenta. I think Pascal Maetens does a great job in portraying Marianne. Yes, Marianne is played by a man. But somehow, that doesn't really feel strange in this movie! Marianne is a very believable and well-written character. 

I liked watching the movie. It's strange and weird and not what you'd expect. But I like that in a movie. I had fun watching it. the acting was great and you just couldn't do anything different than feeling for Luke. The only thing that was a bit too much for me, was Marianne hitting the dog when she was frustrated. That distracted me a bit from the story and didn't really add value in my opinion. 

I am glad that I bought the DVD from Zeno Pictures since they always something different and surprising. The Thingy is a movie I won't forget quickly. There's a lot of creativity in it. I like the acting and the camera work. And Luke is one sympathetic placenta!