Mommy

In a Montreal suburb, a single mother with financial and employment difficulties reunites with her violent teenage son who is being released from a detention centre. More chaos ensues.

It would be very tempting to call this film a "kitchen sink drama". There are many explosive scenes which are cathartic. Most films would have only a few such scenes, maybe only one at the climactic finale. While the catharsis might seem too much, every one of those scenes works well because of the great talent of director Xavier Dolan and his equally talented cast.

There are thankfully lighter scenes that show the love in the dysfunctional family and their ability to have fun especially as they are joined by a mysterious neighbour across the street, Kyla, who seems to have her own troubles. Her troubles seem lessened as she bonds with the unusual mother-son duo. Kyla's situation seems a bit too mysterious at times. As a subplot, it could have used a few hints to tap viewers further into the reasons why she prefers the family across the street to her own.

The film's greatest strengths are two scenes near the end. One is the perfectly executed climactic scene. The other is the one that follows - a very melancholy scene of transition with which most viewers could sadly identify.

As mentioned, Dolan has directed a superb cast. As the troubled teenager, Antoine Olivier Pilon has the perfect balance of rage and vulnerability. As the neighbour Kyla, Suzanne Clément is very believable as someone facing change and loosening up especially when she has fits of uncontrollable laughter. As the mother, Anne Dorval gives Dolan another superb performance as she did with "I Killed My Mother" (2009). Her range in the final two pivotal scenes display true brilliance. - dbamateurcritic

RATING: 9/10

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT: Performance by Anne Dorval

I've now seen four Xavier Dolan films; "I Killed my Mother" was my first (his too ;), and I thought it was a much better film. Although there are great similarities in the characters' dynamics, the characters in "I Killed my Mother" were simply more believable, and that made their plight - and the story - more interesting.

"Steve" in this movie has such a weird mania: he seems to know when he's being super-anti-social but simply doesn't care. (Is it possible he's named after "Steve-O"?)

I was surprised, in "I Killed...," how unlikable Dolan made his own character, but that story - about two people who had absolutely nothing in common but were forced to love each other anyway - seemed like a much truer story, and that movie also had genuine emotional moments - particularly the line "I would die tomorrow" (if you've seen it, you know). Where that movie was emotional, this movie is merely cringeworthy.

I've seen 4 Dolan features so far (not in the order he made them), and this is the first one for me that didn't (a) feature Dolan himself in a staring roll, and (b) have a gay sub-plot in the story. Both of these were disappointing to me, although he does replace himself with a young actor who would be simply stunning, if he wasn't constantly mugging for the camera - which is still fine for the movie, since we see it as part of his mental disorder.

Having seen previous Dolan movies, I've come to believe he "widens" the screen for fantasy scenes - this is clearly shown the second time in "Mommy" that he widens the screen, but I mention this to suggest that the mid-movie "Wonderwall" montage, which others have suggested was showing progress, is actually a fantasy.

Speaking of screen shape - this movie may be square, but on a wide screen, it appears vertical. Obviously, Dolan was trying make us feel visually "trapped" in the story, the same as his characters. Like wiring theater seats for an electric shock, this technique does work, but whether it makes this a better "movie" is debatable. It's not a deal-killer, but I think it honestly makes the movie less-fun to watch, and what do we watch movies for, if not to have fun?

Final comments on the beginning and ending (not really spoilers): The "alternative Canadian law" thing in the opening titles seems completely unnecessary, as "Steve" was more than dangerous enough for involuntary psychiatric commitment with or without an alternate universe. And the ending! Well... it seemed inevitable through the whole movie that it would end this way, because it really didn't have anywhere else to go. Even the final shot: seems it's been the final shot in many other movies with a similar subject. MANY other movies.

So, not a bad art film, to be sure, but in my opinion, it's hardly Dolan's best movie, and certainly not his most accessible... I would NOT recommend it to anyone who's not already a fan.

Wow! I was left with tears and emotional instability after watching this film. I mean this in the best way possible of course. I've never been so emotionally AND PHYSICALLY moved by a film. Mommy is so powerful and touching in so many ways because it captures a lot of problems, turmoils, and emotions that we all experience. In fact, it didn't feel like I was watching a film. I felt like I was living with these characters and experiencing everything they were going through. Laughing with the characters during their happiest moments, crying with the characters through their darkest times, and feeling frightened of what would happen next were all sentiments I felt throughout the film. This brings me to one of the most amazing aspects of the film-the acting.

The acting was absolutely superb! Everyone was terrific. The three main characters depicted by Anne Dorval, Suzanne, Clément, and Antoine Olivier Pilon were so engaging and compelling. They WERE their characters. I didn't feel like I was watching actors acting-it was so real! Bravo to all the whole cast!

The cinematography was breathtakingly beautiful. Xavier Dolan films are always a treat because they are all so visually stunning. Dolan captures many of the activities we do such as dancing with our family and friends, falling onto our beds, riding our bikes/longboards, and karaoking so majestically. Dolan is truly talented.

I was very excited to see Mommy for the longest time and I was not disappointed. I was transported to a different, magical, yet realistic world. I want to thank everyone involved in the production of Mommy. It was extremely powerful and so painfully relatable. I think about this film everyday and still get emotional. The soundtrack was lovely-I listen to it everyday and the songs evoke so much more meaning now. EVERYBODY, GO WATCH MOMMY!

"What does anyone want but to feel a little more free." Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

Mommy is a film about extraordinary, ordinary people. Individual scenes may be small and everyday, but what Mommy has to say is bigger, deeper: about life itself. The film reminded me of the above quote and freedom and our quest for it is the biggest thing Mommy has to talk about for me. It's about this and also about love and family and how those closest to us are so entwined they're not entirely separate beings to us. It's easily Dolan's most affecting work to date because within it every scene stems from and is full of emotion and conveys this to the audience.

In fact the film is so filled with emotion it is hard to remember the extremes it reached. It is so devastating by the end that I had to really think back to recall how I'd laughed out loud earlier on. There is a lot of humour in the film (in its observation of characters and what they say and do, but the time that got me most of all was when two characters laugh so hysterically you can't help but laughing out loud too – there's a real danger of us all descending into uncontrollable laughter alongside the ladies on screen!) which made me glad to watch it in a full cinema where the reaction could be heard from the audience. Despite this, by the end Dolan puts you through the wringer, and all that is left is our heartbreak for his characters and that that quest could never be.

Dolan's characters, for me are always his greatest strength. Not so much the specifics of them (though I must say these three are unforgettable in that sense!) but how they work. Since his first film, he has managed to express often deep or complex aspects about who his characters (and thus, who we all!) are inside in a way where I feel it. It isn't a thing that is easy to talk about because for me Dolan can tap into the kind of things the people in his films are and feel and do that often defy rational logic but yet which we all understand totally. Wow, confusing, much?

Anyway, here too, Die, Steve and Kyla (all exceptionally portrayed) are the heart of the film. They all feel like real people and despite the 2.5 hour running time, somehow at the end of the film you feel they've been snatched away from you. All actors can convey so much in an expression or action that you feel a world of their emotion and understand things about them without them needing to be said.

The three main characters in the film all become tied to each other in a way where they're kind of enmeshed. This is most true with Steve and Die who I feel are not entirely two separate people. They are Son and Mother, but more than this – they are man and wife, lovers, little kids – sister and brother, he's prince to her queen and Steve can be the father and Die the child. He is she and she is he and this is a bond that is wrapped up in who these people are. This makes the love Dolan's familial pairings have for each other unbreakable. Steve and Die fiercely are protective of each other: above all else. Yet in this, as in Dolan's other films, people entwined together struggle to exist almost as one being when despite how interwoven they are, they are individuals too. How to be separate, yet one? Dolan's characters push each other away and pull each other tight but they can never be entirely individual, nor can they escape each other. This is for me the true link between all of Dolan's films thus far.

I just want to say something briefly about the very start to illustrate the detail I felt in the film, without describing every detail which would sound trite. Though we'll come to know Die, Mommy of the title as many things, here we are first introduced to her as Mommy: she is shown in a visual sense as the roots, the trunk of the family tree.

I guess I should talk about the fact that the film is shot in a square of screen and to be honest I barely noticed it until a truly glorious moment when the screen opens up as a character exclaims their freedom and we see our three leads feeling free fleetingly. It gave me chills. After this moment, when the screen closes again – now you feel what at least I hadn't really noticed until then – that this aspect ratio works as a visual representation of how trapped these characters are. The screen closes in at a time that truly illustrates this and from then on the black sides feel as though they're kind of that-which-will-remain- forever-unreachable. The only time the screen expands again attests to this for it is a character's dream of the future.

Mommy is pitched in an ordinary world, but at extremes of emotion, but at the core there is always honesty in what it says and it's this that for me makes Dolan a great filmmaker. Dolan gets people and when you understand people enough to not just make a film in which you care about the characters, but to make a film where no matter the character, their experiences resonate: then, you have something magic.

"What does anyone want but to feel a little more free." I quoted at the start. Though Mommy wends through humour to ultimate heartbreak, for moments in it its characters are free and perhaps through this as we escape in its world, it allows us to feel a little more free also?

The movie 'Mommy' written and directed by Xavier Dolan takes place in an alternate version of Canada where any parent has the option to rid themselves of their troublesome children by sending them to an institution. One of the movies main characters Diane Després finds herself in exactly that situation when her son Steve who has ADHD gets out of a youth detention center. Immediately Diane is presented with the option to send Steve away, but his undying love for his mother paired with her own stubbornness and pride stops her from making such a drastic decision. Right from the start this unique family seems to be heading into a disaster but things change when a mysterious neighbour inserts herself into the lives of Diana and Steve.

The concept of a mother struggling with a troublesome child is not all that unique, and even though this movie has quite a few interesting story elements up its sleeve, at its core it still is a film about a dysfunctional family that has been told many times before. That is not to say that this movie is as mundane as possible since the manner the story is presented in is anything but generic. Characters are extremely well defined and never seem to say or make any decisions which one could consider inconsistent with their usual behavior. The exposition necessary to set up these characters is masterfully woven into the dialogue. The movie never really goes out of its way to tell the viewer something about the characters and instead lets it happen naturally throughout its runtime.

What makes the characters even better are the amazing actors portraying them. The actress Anna Dorval does an excellent job at showing the human side of Diane. Often times when her character is either laughing or crying it comes off as genuine so genuine in fact that it is not hard to forget that you're watching a movie and not a documentary. Even when her character is not speaking it is quite clear that internally she is struggling with the decision to send her son away in order to live a normal life. This struggle also resonates within the viewer via Antione-Olivier Pilon's portrayal of Steve. There is always a noticeable sense of built up frustration and when his violent nature paired with his ADHD sends him on a tantrum his anger seems real and almost scary at times. Afterwards there is always a small sense of regret when he sees the fear he induced into his mother. The mysterious neighbour Kyla is not as on the forefront as Steve or Diane as she is more of an introvert. That is not to say that this character is very forgetful as Suzanne Clément, the actress behind Kyla, masterfully shows that there is more to her character than first meets the eye. Every performance on its own was very good, but what's even better is the way the director shows the relationship they have with one another. As a family, albeit a dysfunctional one, Steve and Diane really come off as one that probably exists somewhere in this world and the interplay between them and Kyla is also very believable.

Almost the entire movie is filmed with an aspect ratio of 1:1. Characters are literally locked up in a little box in the same way as they are locked up in a lifestyle they cannot get out of. Instead of it being a gimmick this feature almost comes off as its own character. Because of this small frame in a lot of scenes there really is only one character that appears on the screen at any given time. This really puts the emotions being portrayed at the forefront and further enhances the already great acting performances. As a viewer the small frame made me feel as if I myself was cramped into a little box. When things are looking up for Steve and Diane the frame widens and when the characters finally get their breath of fresh air the viewer experiences the same as they are finally able to escape from that little box they were trapped in. This aspect ratio does have its side effects though as it comes at the cost of the quality of some of the set-up shots. Some were still fairly well done however, but others probably would have turned out a lot better if it had been done in a regular aspect ratio. This is just a minor thing though as it really does not matter in the grand scheme of things.

What the movie also does not do well is the pace in which the story is told. The movie slows down tremendously just halfway through its runtime and again just before it reaches its ending point. These moments don't last long however as they are over just before the viewer would lose interest but the movie in its entirety would probably have benefited a lot if a good twenty minutes was scraped of its 139 minute runtime. All in all 'Mommy' is an extremely solid movie with great acting performances at its forefront. Xavier Dolan's incredible use of the aspect ratio provides a unique cinematic experience that is absolutely worth the watch.

My rating: 8/10