If Lukas Moodysson has a style, I haven’t found it in the few films I’ve had the chance to see. I enjoyed Fucking Amal well enough (our Movie Club Podcast discussion was excellent) and I didn’t make it through all of A Hole in My Heart but with an international production starring Gael García Bernal and Michelle Williams in starring roles, I thought I’d give the director a chance to wow me. Sadly, it wasn’t meant to be.
The story of interconnected lives, Mammoth stars Bernal as Leo, a successful web entrepreneur married to Ellen, an equally successful doctor played by Williams. The two share a life in Soho with their daughter and the help of Gloria, their Philippine nanny. While on a business trip which isn’t going quite as smoothly as planned, Leo takes off on a mini vacation and ends up in a beach hut in Thailand where, after some moral interplay, he has a one night affair with a local prostitute. Back home, Ellen is going through some difficult times at work while at home she feels like her daughter is more attached to her nanny than to her mother. All the while, poor Gloria is working hard in the US while her children are missing her at home.
Interweaving stories are everywhere in film but it seems as though a new breed of them, typically concerned with revealing something ‘hidden’ about the world at large, has developed over the last few years. This film is much more intimate than something like Crash, focusing on a family rather than a group of loosely connected individuals, but it feels empty. Though the performances from both leads are good, the emotion that those performances carry don’t resonate as strongly as is necessary to sustain the story and the larger themes which are at play. Though not as heavy handed as Paul Haggis’ film, there’s a constant nagging at moral messages and dilemmas which I found dull and trying a little too hard.
One thing Mammoth has going for it are the visuals. A beautiful juxtaposition of clean, controlled living in NY where Ellen spends most of her days in white walled hospitals, the white walled apartment or the empty rooftop where she unwinds on a treadmill overlooking the city with the bright, busy and flashy surroundings in Thailand and yet again in the meagre living of Gloria’s family in the Philippines; the film looks fantastic and beautifully captures life in three very different cultures each with it’s own perceived expectation.
I didn’t hate Mammoth but I found the film largely uninteresting and a little boring with nothing new to offer. I simply didn’t care about Leo’s moral struggle or Ellen’s inner turmoil and when the credits rolled, I couldn’t get past the feeling that the film had been pointless; a beautiful pointless but none the less unnecessary.
See VIFF screening schedule for show times.
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Dang. I was surprised this didn’t play tiff this year, as that festival has been a big Moodyson supporter (although they passed on CONTAINER as well…)
Sorry to hear it wasn’t up to snuff, but I’m still hoping to get the chance to see it at some point.
If it makes you feel any better, I seem to be in the minority of people who didn’t like it. And it’s not like it’s unwatchable I was just bored by it.
I’m hoping to fall in the latter camp, I tend to quite like Moodyson, but I’ve not worked up the courage to watch A HOLE IN MY HEART which seems to be very polarizing….
The best part of the film, for me at least:
Just watched this, it is one of my favourites of the year. I like the fact that Moodysson asks questions and doesn’t provide answers, none of these characters are villains or heroes, they are simply struggling in their struggles to find happiness or something like it. Counter review to Marina’s is coming up.
Is this on dvd now? How did you see it Kurt?
Nope, it’s not out on DVD, and only played in NYC for a few weeks. I’m not sure when it will appear on DVD. IFC has it on VOD.
Marina, you are insane. I don’t know how else to put it, but then again looking at the Rotten Tomatoes rating, you are not alone.
This is a fucking masterpiece. This is what all interweaving stories (Babel, Traffic, 21 Grams) wish they could be.
I agree. Mammoth is in my Top 10 of 2009. Rot: We should have a lengthy conversation on this.
I would recommend avoiding the trailer, some of the joy for me was not knowing anything about he film, and also I don’t find that a particularly inspired trailer cut.
I disagree Rot, that trailer is not spoilerish, (a bit ominous maybe), but underscores Moodysson’s signature musical style (present in most of his films). It feels like the trialer needs to be a few more minutes to properly build. But still, not bad.
I fully admit that some of the dislike may come from having seen it in a festival setting but I didn’t like it. Didn’t hate it either just indifferent.