Rendanlovell
'Mommy' is the fifth film from 26 year old writer/director Xavier Dolan. Who burst into the film making scene with 'Tom at the Farm' and now 'Mommy'. If there is one clear fact about Dolan it's that his films display a sense of maturity and restraint seldom found in directors twice his age. After watching 'Mommy' this is even more clear. It is quite possibly the most raw film from 2015. It follows a mother and her only son. Diane, a widow, has been hardened by lifes constant beatings. And is trying her hardest to raise a son that is prone to aggressive behavior. He throws temper tantrums, breaks things, and is in constant search of a fight. Needless to say, this film is difficult to watch at times. But It's a bold testament to how great a film can be when you have deeply fleshed out characters. Who, at first, seem like very unpleasant people to be around. But just like their across the street neighbor they some how grow on you.Whether it's the awkward dance parties they have or the total lack of social awareness I couldn't say. But one thing is clear, these characters feel undoubtedly real. Dolan has written people that you can not only relate to but feel for as if you stood right beside them in the best, and worst times.Each hard decision they make will send one into a panic as it does the characters. Through all the crap the film puts its characters through it's somehow a magnetic watch. In fact it seems to dare you to take your eyes from the screen. Even for the shortest second used to look away can easily cost you a heart wrenching scene or beautiful moment between mother and son.But all this wouldn't have been possible without this films performances. Each actor involved in 'Mommy' delivers an unflinchingly honest portrayal of their respective character. They are absolutely breathtaking to watch and display superb chemistry between each other.This is all captured by exquisite direction and cinematography. The film is shot mainly in a 1:1 aspect ratio, or a perfect square. This choice helps to elevate the emotional impact of each scene. It creates a claustrophobic and tense atmosphere that is meant to show how the characters are feeling, as if the walls are closing in around them.'Mommy' is a seriously impressive all around film. The direction, cinematography, post work, performances, and script are polished to perfection. And the result is a brilliant, undeniably original piece of cinema. It may have a few minor issues here and there but rarely do they detract from this visceral experience.
lasttimeisaw
Xavier Dolan, Canadian infant terrible's fifth feature, MOMMY is gratifyingly his maturest work to date, won the Jury Prize in Cannes last year, and gutsily challenges our traditional cinema habit by altering the frame to an idiosyncratic 1:1 aspect ratio - bar two exceptions of 16:9 ratio sequences involving a soul-liberating celebration of life and a fanciful imagination of a mother indulging in her proudest moments of his son, which is quite a bravura to pull off, centralises its characters and dramatises their interactions and emotions.Retracing to the central theme of his smash debut I KILLED MY MOTHER (2009, 7/10) at the age of 19, but sans the queer label, MOMMY is concentrated on Diane (Dorval), a middle-aged widow and his teenage son Steve (Pilon), who is diagnosed with ADHD and afflicted with a proclivity of violence and self-abuse, apart from other misconduct in the present Canada. Their intimate mother-son life-pattern has gone through an extensive scrutiny from Dolan's invading camera with a tagline like this - sometimes love cannot save one person, anticipates the finale. They fight and reconcile, confess their love but also swear to each other and even roughhouse, she has to walk on thin ice with him while he is recalcitrant and rebellious.Their volatile relationship has been wondrously balanced out since a new neighbour Kyla (Clément) barges into their life, her first intrusion happens exactly after a most violent incident could ever occurred between mother-and-son. Then the triangle starts to stabilise into a wholesome dynamism, Kyla, a compulsive stutter who claims to be a high school teacher on sabbatical and very evasive about her past, albeit she lives across the street with her husband and a young daughter. A semi-friend-semi-family liaison is luxuriantly budding between Kyla and the family, she home-schools Steve so that Diane can earn some extra money as a house cleaner, life is not easy, but all of them feel content and optimistic, they dance, bike/skateboarding, prepare food and dine together, here is when the first 16:9 ratio sequence exuberantly inserted literally by Steve extending the screen on his skateboard.When Diane receives a citation from court, due to a previous wrongdoing of Steve, which demands a great sum of compensation, the screen retreats back to the square frame, life is just a winding road, a tentative plan to befriend with their lawyer neighbour Paul (Huard), who has always been flirtatious towards Diane, goes awry thanks to the uncooperative Steve. Strife emerges again and after Steve's unsuccessful suicidal attempt (or just a way to raise attention and state his point, since who with a firm intent to die will cut his wrist in a packed supermarket?), Diane must make the most difficult decision after she ravishingly envisions a perfect future for Steve, the gorgeous-looking 16:9 section accompanied by Ludovico Einaudi's sublime EXPERIENCE is the long-waited high point of this intensive drama, Dolan's usual tricks - slow-motion, soft focus, close-up - are all consummately deployed in a fantasy we could only wish would be true for our protagonists. Not too soon we are sucked back to the grim reality, staring at the square again, a coercive separation, a heartrending goodbye and the ambiguous/unambiguous ending (Lana Del Rey's BORN TO DIE is the closing credit melody), after all, it is not a film for those faint-hearted.Within this close-knit cast, Dolan successfully sheds his pompous swagger to be overtly impressive and ostentatious which is often associated with a devil-may-care resolution among young filmmakers, and has trespassed the threshold of intolerance in HEARTBEATS (2010), my least favourite among his 5 features, instead, he patiently teases out the top-notch chemistry among his three main players, calculated in minute precision. Dorval, is utterly majestic to personify a stimulating mother image poles apart from I KILLED MY MOTHER, Diane has an uncouth and kitsch temperament which she cannot hide, then it materialises that it is a useful approach to communicate with her equally bad-mouthed son, but her unconditional love to Steve, sincere affinity with Kyla, and a strong faith in hope (the poor man's luxury), all marks her as a remarkable and vivid human being out of Dorval's outstanding dedication. Clément, another muse of Dolan, comes to the fore in her more introvert characteristic to hide her secret (a dead son in her past only fleetingly implied but never actually revealed), Kyla's stutter is a convenient barometer of her emotional state and Clément is amazing to the hilt. As for the newcomer Pilon, his Stevie is a spitfire with explosive fierceness, a nightmare to any parenthood, with fitful charisma on the verge of dissipation at any minute due to inappropriate external stimulation, it is a prime casting choice and he chalks up a grandstanding presence.From Sarah McLachlan, Dido, Counting Crows, Oasis, Lana Del Rey to Andrea Bocelli until the national treasure Celine Dion, etc. MOMMY's soundtrack is an ear-worm hits collection, measures up to Dolan's eclectic taste in music, emblazons the youthfulness and urbanization in his filmic tack, better than lighting up the mood, it coherently indicates the progression of diegesis which will continue to be one of Dolan's trademarks. Finally, MOMMY positively attests that a prodigy can survive the inevitable backlash and hopefully evolve into a bonafide maestro, Dolan's future cannot be brighter in this regard.
misterdunc
Well I'm a fan anyway. As a gay man I have always loved his voice, so young and so fresh what's not to like?No gay content here but human drama and real people in real life trying to get through. The boy isn't always likable but his charisma shines through and u cant help but grin at his awful antics. And in the end its totally about them all, all 3 of them each has a presence and a character and a story.In this movie, for me its that scene, the future forward one towards the end. I didn't see it coming and I didn't realise it had come until the final scenes, Rewind and watch it again after you've seen the end. What beauty, cinema and music and actors,the poignancy of lives, life, people, what we have and what we hope for. I cried and cried. Profoundly moved. What more could I ask for in a movie?
Matthew Luke Brady
You know what sucks? I already did my top movies of 2014 list, now if I only watched this movie before making the list this would have made the list easily. Well I got something to learn next time.The story is about a single mom's drama about raising her son, who's behavior deteriorates into violence, due to a mild mental illness.I first took interest in the film Mommy just because of the hype and the positive praise it got from the 2014 Cannes Film Festival and the amount of awards it won from the Jutra Awards and Canadian Screen Awards for best Foreign Language film, but not a Academy Award for Foreign Film at the Oscars. Since I am watching more Foreign Language films and searching the ones that got high ratings or just the ones that may interest me, because I'm taking a break from some movies today as they normally not very good or just too Hollywood for me, I mean movies today are getting pretty stale and cliché as nothing feels originally anymore. When Hollywood tries to make a original movie that's down to earth it's laughable. These something about Foreign Language films that always feel real and sometimes so tight with it's story and ending that most movie studios will shy away from and I love it. So I checked out the 2014 Award Wining Mommy and it was absolutely brilliant, I mean how could I even dear overlook this I mean this is a great movie right here and true film making at it's best.Not only did the Oscar screw up for not awarding this for Best Foreign Language film, they also didn't nominate Anne Dorval for Best Actress, because she did one of the best, the most heart felt and the most real piece of performance I've seen in 2014. I felt her struggle and the mix relationship between her and the missed behaved son. There was many scenes in the movie were the son and her have this argument over each over and it never felt like I was just watching actors reading out the script and pretending that they related, no they back and forward arguments always felt real and I bough it. Oh and I found out most of the awards that this movie won are not just for the Foreign Language Award but most of the awards went to her and she deserves it and a Oscar too for god shake. At the Cannes Film Festival Julianne Moore won for Best Actress for Maps to the Stars and I haven't seen Maps to the Stars yet so I can't really judge on her performance in that movie since I haven't seen it, but Anne Dorval was nominated in that category so it was disappointing that she didn't take the award, but I have seen Still Alice and she won a Oscar for that role, but Anne Dorval should have took that Oscar home as she did a much better than Moore as I connected to Anne Dorval more and how her performance made me feel different emotions that I never felt before while watching the movie.Antoine-Olivier Pilon is a unknown star to me as I haven't seen him in any other movies before so this is basically the first ever performance I get to see him in and man god can this kid act, I mean he was so good in the movie. Just like I said about Anne Dorval and that is all the time it never felt like acting to me, it felt real. Antoine plays the misbehaved son perfectly that he actually catches the trouble child very well since I have seen young people like him in real life and how they act is just like him. I also love how they never force the message of "He's got a mental illness oh feel sorry for him". The movie never puts that in your face like most movies do when they try to be realistic or make you feel something for the character. He's performance showed both angry, goofy, troubled and damaged but all that is in he's performance and it never feels force and that was so well done that movie didn't slip into that cliché that happens in most movies and that's due to Antoine-Olivier Pilon excellent performance.The director of the movie Xavier Dolan which I haven't really seen any of his last work so this is my first movie directed by him and a great start. This is film making at it's best, I mean the cinematography is beautiful, the tone of the movie can switch to serious drama but quickly change to happy and many other tones and it didn't ruin the movie like most do. Xavier Dolan did both a excellent job on directing the movie and making this as down to earth as possible showing characters and they problems that most people can relate to. Awesome work Xavier Dolan.For problems with the movie I haven't really got any to be honest, but I'm not going to give this the perfect rating as I think this isn't on the level of 5/5 rating it can ever get it, but the rating I'm giving it is really outstanding and it's the highest rating I give this week.Overall I say that Mommy is worth checking it if you haven't seen it yet. It's worth your time and don't do the same mistake as I did and not watch this fantastic movie.
