Swedish filmmaker Lukas Moodysson may have gone off the boil since his opening trio of Show Me Love, Together and Lilya 4-Ever but this, his first English-language effort, is a partial return to form. Pinging across the globe, Moodysson interweaves three stories – internet big cheese Gael García Bernal befriends a single-mum prostitute in Bangkok, his wife, Michelle Williams, feels guilty that her job as a New York surgeon keeps her from her daughter and the nanny (Marife Necesito) frets about her own kids back in the Philippines – all around themes of globalisation, rich vs. poor and parents longing for their children. It fits together too neatly and lacks emotional oomph, but the characters are compellingly thorny, the performances, especially Williams’, are strong, and Moodysson’s moviemaking chops, all beautiful widescreen compositions and great music, deliver.
Mammoth Review
Three interconnected characters - computer hotshot (García Bernal), his surgeon wife (Williams) and their homesick Filipino nanny (Necesito) - face up to their struggles in New York.
Release Date:
05 Nov 2010
Running Time:
127 minutes
Certificate:
15
Original Title:
Mammoth
A return to form by Moodysson although the bigger Iñárritu-like stuff - globalisation, poverty, fraying family relationships - are all a bit too neat to really engage.
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