I was super excited about seeing my 3rd
movie by Xavier Dolan. Having missed it at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in
the summer, I made sure to buy my ticket to Mommy
a few days ahead. You can imagine the poor state of my nerves when all three
people in the ticket line wanted a seat at the same screening as me – so when I
did get to the ticket box window and was told there are still 1/3 tickets left,
I bought one more for a friend who is also a cinema enthusiast as myself. All
was good.
My first Xavier Dolan experience was Les Amours Imaginaires, a 2010 production
that I saw at the Prague French Film Festival. I was literally blown away – the
camera angles, the music, the general atmosphere of the film impressed me so
much that I thought that Dolan has a promising future. It is then no wonder
that I was a bit worried now, 4 years later that I may be expecting too much
from Mommy. Now however, a week or
two after the screening, I know that that worry was unnecessary.
Because Mommy was
exactly what I wanted and expected it to be – a longer (2 hours 19 minute, to
be exact), but fulfilling film that masterfully focuses on the characters and
their lives. Even though I am no film critic, I feel there are three clear
markers of a Dolan film: 1) the eye-candy of least one of the characters’
fashion taste based on a specific period (the 1960s in Les Amours Imaginaires or the 1990s in Mommy), 2) utilization of songs, both famous and less that make you
sing along or just lay back and enjoy the goose bumps as they perfectly fit the
current action (Steve escaping the grasp of the mental institution ward to the violins and drums of Lana del Rey’s “Born to Die”? Perfection!) and 3), Anne Dorval, seemingly
Dolan’s muse, who appears in almost every of his films. In short, the minutes
flew by and my attention was intrigued by every scene.
For me, Mommy
is a win. Even though the characters lost more than won, even though the
dialogues were one insult after another, even though the Quebec French was incomprehensible
(eh?) and the introduction by the festival organizer and the advertisements
seemed never-ending. I recommend Mommy
to everyone who would like to laugh at the witty, yet rude dialogues, cry from
the finale’s misfortune and most of all, see a work of a young director who is worth
your attention for his unique film language.
Anna Hupcejová
Anna Hupcejová
