MovieChat Forums > Mammoth (2009) Discussion > FANTASTIC MOVIE

FANTASTIC MOVIE

posted 15 years ago by Vidilegio
22 replies | jump to latest

The Gala premiere of Lukas Moodysson's Mammoth took place in Stockholm yesterday.

I'm writing on a review but I have to tell you right now that Mammoth was one of the most touching and heartbreaking movie experiences I've had the last 15 years (if I exclude another Swedish movie: "Let the Right One In", which will be almost impossible to beat).

Where do we put focus? What choices do we take in our lives? This film asks so many profound questions about how we live and how we take care of each other. Thought-provoking, without ever being condemning or simplistic.

The enthralling key, why Mammoth succeds so well, is the outstanding performances from the cast. All of them (and I really mean all of them) are extremely natural and convincing, due to a fantastic script and brilliant directing of course, but still. Most impressive is how fantastic Lukas succeds with all female actors, from little Sophie Nyweide, Marife Necesito etc to the most brilliant of them all, Michelle Williams, who is just mesmerising.

Lukas Moodysson has crafted almost a mastepiece and one of his best movies ever.

9/10

[–] ulrich_27 15 years ago

The way you gush over this, makes me not want to see it. I get the sense that you would have praised Moodysson and this film, no matter how bad it was.

The trailer looks terrible, with wooden acting (not uncommon when a director directs in a language different from his/her own).
Plus it's seemingly ripping off Babel.

But I share your enthusiasm for Let The Right One In (masterpiece)

"Champagne for my real friends and real pain for my sham friends"

[–] HarryDeanStanton 15 years ago

ripping of babel omg. Every movie that deals with family and feelings is called "ripping of babel". Youre just stupid imo.

[–] rndstr 14 years ago

I second that. And, why would you not want to see a movie because someone overly praises it?
I smell trollism :)

[–] headjar 15 years ago

Agreed - a truly wonderful film. I was on holiday in Sweden the last 10 days catching up with friends and family and I was lucky enough to catch this at the cinema in Göteborg before I flew home tonight.

I'm too tired to do any kind of review right now but an astounding performance from Michelle Williams and the most thought provoking juxtaposition of the ways in which the same human situations affect the world's haves and have-nots make this a wonderful film by my book.

It *IS* intense as we've come to expect from Moodysson, but there is hope here, unlike the stark bleak world of Lilya-4-Ever for instance.

A great film - see it if it comes your way!

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] carbon-made 15 years ago

just saw this at the Berlin Festival, and while I agree there are similarities to "Babel", I must say I liked this one a lot better.

IMO, "Babel" was trying too hard to make me feel guilty and concerned. "Mammoth" is much much more objective in a way, the directing allows you to just see for yourself, then think for yourself.

I know already that a lot of critics will say this movie is too cold and has "no real statement" (I overheard someone say that after the screening), but I absolutely disagree. I think it was the directors intention not to give answers and changes to each character. That is not how the world works, how humans work. As a saying goes, he doesn't have the solution but he finds the problems very interesting.

It was a great movie.

[–] myotherletterbox-1 15 years ago

Good post, carbon-made! I totally agree with you on most of the points.

Don't know if I went to the same screening as you did. Mine was at 15:00 in Friedrichstadtpalast, and I was really impressed by how well the audience responded to the movie, independently on whether there was a "real statement" in it, or not.
I guess Mammoth does not aim at making people realize just how difficult the life of Philippino kids, their mothers, or overworked New York - based ER surgeons unable to spend enough time with their daughters is. Instead we are shown how life is, in all its fairness and unfairness and how relative our problems are with regards to what other people are going through.
Williams' character it saddened by her lack of cooking skills and scans sadly through her overstuffed fridge; Bernal's game-genius is bored stiff, because the money just pores into his pockets without him having to do anything at all; the nanny, on the other hand, works hard day and night to sustain her children in the Philippines at the price of seeing them once in a couple years, perhaps; nanny's boys suffer, because their mother is never there and only sends money and presents; and much poorer Philippino children who aren't lucky enough to have mothers capable of earning money somewhere abroad are forced to dig in litter in hunt for edible bits and sell themselves to pedophile tourists... I find this movie very thought-provoking indeed.

[–] mercywright 15 years ago

I agree that "Let the Right One In" is a wonderful film, deserving of all the accolades it has received.
"Mammut", however, is pure drudgery to sit through. It has none of the honesty and sad beauty Moodysson previously displayed in films like "Together" and "Lilja 4-ever".
You don't believe in any of the characters. Gael Garcia Bernal's techno whiz- kid comes off as more childish than his daughter, certainly more irresponsible; and his wife the Doctor (Michelle Williams) would have been kicked out of her hospital, and censured by the AMA for her unprofessional behaviour (throwing a fit when a patient dies). What is a super-rich woman doing working the night-shift in an ER anyway? She would have had a cushy nine to five job at a private clinic, prescribing Accutane to pimply kids, or perhaps Botoxing wrinkly foreheads.

The couple seemed to care for the daughter - why then would they entrust her in the care of a woman whose legal status in the US seemed questionable? Such wealthy people would have employed an American nanny from a trusted agency.

Apparently Lukas Moodyson, himself a father of several children, wanted to make a movie about how parents entrust the care of their children to others - a sensitive subject in Sweden, where children are tossed into communal daycare centers from an early age and more or less are raised by state agencies from then on. I wish he had dealt with this very Swedish subject instead of fantasizing about wealthy Manhattanites.

[–] The_Coma-Man 15 years ago

I can see similarities with the great BABEL, but the film stands on its own and is very different.

10/10!!

--
VOTE JACOB'S LADDER INTO THE TOP 250's!!!
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0099871

[–] derf-info 15 years ago

Just saw it at CPH PIX (Copenhagen's new filmfestival) and I was disappointed. You didn't feel for any of the characters and the whole movie just didn't seem believable to me.. And it was really unoriginal. It was like a mixture of Babel and Crash but worse (and I personally think Babel and Crash are two really overrated movies)... 5/10 (btw. I really enjoyed *beep* Åmål and Lilja 4-ever)

[–] roell29 14 years ago

I hated Crash, but what I hate even more is that it "confiscated" the name of a fascinating and brilliantly original movie by David Cronenberg which has faded into even greater obscurity because of that theft. And now even the quintessentially weird Cronenberg makes conventional movies. Ugh! We are all being assimilated into the boorishly boring borg.

Welcome to Costco, I love you...

[–] kevin_kruz 15 years ago

Doctors in any city work at night as well as the day, because they get paged when they are "on call". Many in that industry get paid more for the night shift. Doctors and other "rich" folks in one city may be a dime a dozen in overcrowded New York. Remember, their cost of living is outrageous, jobs are competitive, the city is short on space, etc. so it may not be that easy to just invest the time or money to start your own practice.

Many people hire Filipino nannies because much of their culture is about service and warm hospitality. Since Filipinos speak English well, are already immersed in American culture more than any other non-American country, and are hard-working, there are hundreds of agencies that are able to successfully place good nannies in rich folks homes.

If anything, Mammoth's characters and the style of "unacting" are more realistic than the Hollywood-touched, oversensationalized Babel.

[–] nielsjanss 15 years ago

Sorry but you missed the point here. Parents all around the world entrust the care of their children to others - not just in Sweden. Perhaps the reason why the movie had such international atmosphere? This is a global issue, not just sweden.

[–] chuppachupp 15 years ago

I thought this movie was awful. I don't know how anyone could say that the acting was anything other than wooden. Every actor was sleepwalking through their roles, which is even worse when you see how one dimensional the characters they are portraying are. I'm a huge fan of the director, Williams, and Bernal, but everyone here gave career lows. Bland, a horrendous script, as emotionally involving as Crank: High Voltage, etc. I cannot say enough bad things about Mammoth.

Now before you tell me to go watch the new Michael Bay film, I want to say that I was a huge fan of Lilja 4-ever and enjoyed *beep* Amal, 2 of Moodysson's previous films and was really looking forward to this. This was one of the worst films I've seen from 2009.

[–] newyorktalk 13 years ago

you should speak for YOURSELF - this film was thoroughly believable and engaging. Your comments about the Michelle Williams character simply show you know NOTHING about the medical profession. Board Certified Surgeons who work in trauma CHOOSE that field as a life's calling - so yeah - she's "super rich" as you said but she would still have to work in that high pressure field all hours of the night and day - days and nights on end at times. That's what trauma/ER surgeons have to do. Her getting emotional is something that could happen from time to time....and not a DAMN thing would happen to her in terms of disciplinary action - are you kidding me!? - they're not going to lose a talented, dedicated surgeon because she threw some trash cans around in the privacy of a locker room!!! you have no idea what you're talking about - Doctors rule hospitals - especially ER's. This film was extremely engaging, believable and heart breaking.

And you continually blather on in your post about things you know nothing about: "such wealthy people would have employed an american nanny from a trusted agency" - you're a fool! Rich people in manhattan employ third world women as nannies - the MAJORITY of the time. Fact.

This movie approached near masterpiece levels in telling a thoroughly heart-breaking and fully believable tale.

[–] Stirchley 12 years ago

this film was thoroughly believable and engaging

Totally agree. This movie was beautiful and very very enjoyable to watch.

[–] j-jameson 14 years ago

Yes very good and touching movie. I think its even so touching that some people will have their defenses up because of it. *beep* Åmal and Lilja 4Ever were pretty much about lives of some others, but Mammoth is more about "all of us", as we all live in the monetary system. Sometimes movies people say are bad are actually the good ones.

I give it 8/10

[–] sue-534 12 years ago

I give it a perfect 10 because I can't think of a single thing that would have made this film better. So powerfully emotionally charged and thought provoking.
"the only way through it is through it " -Jackson Browne

[–] moominoid 12 years ago

I've lived in the US, been to Thailand a few times, and my mother is being taken care of by a Filipina caregiver on the other side of the world to the Philippines and to where I live. I thought the movie was very good and fairly realistic. I think it is just meant to be about how things are and not as judgemental or as heavy on message as some people think. The plot with the older boy in the Philippines was maybe a bit too melodramatic.

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] evikeaz 11 years ago

It was definitely worth watching. For a movie to keep my interest after 10p and watch the whole thing is something. It was beautifully shot, acted and overall great character studies.