Monday, December 15, 2014

AFI FEST '14: Mommy

Year: 2014
Director: Xavier Dolan

Writer: Xavier Dolan

Cinematographer: André Turpin

Cast: Anne Dorval, Antoine-Olivier Pilon, Suzanne Clément

Country of Origin: Canada

Rating: N/A

Time: 139 min.

Kristen Sales (Sales on Film) and I went to AFI FEST this past month and we were able to catch some of the same films together and so we decided to do the natural thing and record some reviews together. And how can we go to AFI FEST without reviewing another Xavier Dolan film?! Last year we review Tom at the Farm and this year is one of the year's best films, Mommy. Mommy is about a widowed single mother (Anne Dorval) who has to raise her violent and volatile son all alone (Antoine-Olivier Pilon) until a peculiar neighbor (Suzanne Clément) offers some hope.

Although I have not seen his first feature, I Killed My Mother yet, I can already tell that Mommy is just another extension of that film about his personal relationship with his own mother. You can't help by fall in love with Mommy starting with it's pop culture references like having a 90's top hits soundtrack to shooting in an "Instagram" aspect ratio to emotionally potent performances by all parties that is universally relatable no matter how extreme. It's theme of volatile love in a family setting was wholly relatable to me as I have had my own share of these moments. Mommy went on to win the Jury Prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival and is Canada's official entry for Best Foreign Language Film at 2015's Academy Awards which I am sure, it will get nominated! Now, all I have left to do is watch his first film before he comes out with his sixth feature film next year!

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