Mama (2013)
Starring Jessica Chastain, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Megan Charpentier, Isabelle Nélisse, and Daniel Kash
Directed by Andy Muschietti
I had heard some good stuff about Mama, a film that came out at the height of Oscar season and was buzzed about because Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain was making an appearance in a "lowly" horror movie. Well, Mama is okay, but I think Chastain's appearance in it raised its actual worth in most critics' eyes...but not this critic.Following some horrible financial/stock market crash, a distraught guy Jeffrey (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) kills his business partners and wife and then runs away with his two young daughters. After their car crashes on a snowy road, Jeffrey takes his two girls into a deserted cabin he finds in the woods. However, inside this cabin a spiritual entity resides, killing Jeffrey when he attempts to shoot his young girls before turning the gun on himself.
Five years pass and Jeffrey's brother Lucas (also played by Headhunters' Coster-Waldau) has never given up on finding his nieces Victoria and Lilly (Megan Charpentier and Isabelle Nélisse) and, because of his relentless effort, the two are found living seemingly alone in the same isolated cabin to which their father took them a half decade ago. Victoria and Lilly move in with Lucas and his wife Annabel (Chastain), a guitar player in a punk band who has to give up her lifestyle in order to help her husband with the new additions to their family. Victoria and Lilly don't adapt to the new lifestyle very easily. In fact, they constantly act as if someone named Mama is always around. While Lucas, Annabel, and the child's psychiatrist seem to think Mama is just a figment of the girls' imaginations -- a person they formulated to help them make it through the five years in which they were abandoned -- perhaps Mama is more than that.
Mama is nicely shot and contains a few clever camera techniques that elevate it beyond your typical horror film. Debut director Andy Muschietti certainly doesn't embarrass himself in that department. However, his debut script does leave a lot to be desired. For some reason, the film just never felt tense or scary to me. Granted, I don't think the film was ever trying for those clichéd "jump scares" (at least not often), but if it was attempting to build tension through overall eeriness like a good ghost story should, it never achieved that either. One of the biggest reasons for this is the disappointing special effects of Mama herself. There's a cartooniness to her and her movements that never rang realistic (or as "realistic" as a ghost can get) and that certainly doesn't aid in making her a scary specter.
While it's true that Chastain puts in a solid performance here and likely elevates Mama a bit more than another actress might've been able, she's not given a ton to work with in terms of a character. Perhaps writer-director Muschietti should've kept Mama in its original form as a short film as I'm not quite sure the story was adequate enough to stretch the creepiness out over 95 minutes.
The RyMickey Rating: C
I agree it wasn't too scary but it was moody as hell. And for a January(February?) horror release it's much better than it should be.
ReplyDeleteThe ending is shitty though. Like it's the worst ending for everyone! But not in a "We're gonna give them a super unhappy ending!" I think they intended it to be meaningful and shit.
I actually felt like it was "moody" until about halfway through and then once Mama came into play a little more, I was "unintrigued" (yes, I'm making up words here).
ReplyDeleteI will admit I was a little surprised at the ending, so the film did have that going for it, but I agree with you in that I actually wasn't a fan for it...I was just impressed that they went that route.
The ending was described by the director/Del Toro(I forget which) as "The happy ending for each character because the smallest girl was too far gone to want to be with Jaime Lannister and Emo Best Part of Tree of Life" despite the obvious fact that if one of the two kids they are responsible for disappears, things are not ending well for them. So, Jaime Lannister and Emo Pants are in jail and the older sister is in foster care. Happy endings!
ReplyDeleteI do think that the littlest girl was too far gone to reasonably want to spend her life with her "new family." I appreciate the lack of a "happy ending" for all (I can't agree with the director that is a "happy ending" for each character).
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