![]() ![]() She's grounded enough to make the drama work. Dorval wins you over handedly, channeling Marisa Tomei better than Tomei herself. At first it's difficult to invest in the film, the characters are so unlikeable and unsympathetic, victims of their own tempers and ignorance. Granted, that is the point of the film, that a little spark can ignite a forest fire, but it crosses a line where it ceases to be involving or convincing, and nor is it darkly comical. It's wired with high-strung melodrama that escalates outrageously. Perhaps it needs this disconnection from reality. It begins as an unnecessary fantasy set next year with a fictional law to serve the plot. Immediately you can feel Dolan's hand ready to sculpt the film beyond reason. Arguments in their house always escalate to the point of violence, but they find solace in bonding with their stuttering but kind-hearted (with a lioness bouncing inside) neighbor Kyla, enticingly played by Suzanne Clement, who begins to tutor Steve so he can have the potential for a future. ![]() She's a widowed single mother who takes her thuggish son Steve, played by Antoine-Olivier Pilon, back home after his time runs out at a delinquent center due to an incident where he caused another boy to be seriously burned. Frequent headliner for Dolan's previous films and having starred in 4 of the 5, Mommy stars Anne Dorval as the titular character Diane 'Die' Despres, in a whirlwind performance of tantalizing vigor and sensitivity. Some of it does, but I regret to say, much of it doesn't, and what falls off drags the film down. He throws everything at the wall and sees what sticks. At only 25 years old and on his 5th film in as many years, there's a cathartic energy to the way he approaches cinema that is quite refreshing to see. However, as Mommy is being called his most mature work yet, I take pause to imagine how infantile his previous films are as this has its moments of worrisome juvenility, though the 'mature' moments have a gutsy weight. This is my first of his films and I can immediately see the case for both sides. While he has a loyal fanbase that seems to grow more passionate about him by each film, some don't like him at all. People who know Xavier Dolan know what they're walking into when they buy a ticket for Mommy. ![]()
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