Mammoth (Mammut)

This Swedish/Danish/German co-production is Lukas Moodysson most recent movie, and I was looking forward to it. I already knew his work from movies like Show Me Love and A Hole In My Heart, and I thought highly of him.

The cast also seemed promising; I’ve had great experiences with movies featuring Gael Garcia Bernal or Michelle Williams, and with them on board and Moodysson directing, this movie could be something really special. I was anxious to watch it.

Ellen and Leo are an American couple, with successful careers. Leo is the creator of a gaming website, and a businessman travelling the world. Ellen is a surgeon. Their daughter Jackie is spending most of her time with her nanny Gloria. Gloria is from the Philippines and we get to see how her family lives, and how much her two young sons miss her. Meanwhile, Leo goes to Thailand in a business trip with an associate.

As the movie progresses, by thirty minutes into it, I was already feeling like pushing the fast forward button. I ended up watching the rest of the movie later on (one day later), and that is not a good sign. The movie drags itself and in my opinion could be a good half an hour shorter. The story doesn’t bring anything new, unless you have never travelled outside your country and also do not watch any documentaries or the news.

By now I’m quite aware how people with successful careers have great apartments and status but do not seem to find a way to balance their professional lives with their personal ones, and end up sacrificing their kids and family life and ultimately, their happiness. And I’ve seen how tough life can be in under developed countries, where money and education are not available to all. But, as I said, unless you are living under a rock or have been in a long, deep coma, we all know that. Personally, this movie didn’t bring me anything new. The story is painfully predictable and so are the characters.

You have good acting, as expected. But that is not enough to hold a movie and I know that I will soon forget about this one, except for the fact that it disappointed me so much. I expect a movie to be entertaining or thought-provoking and, either way, to arise some kind of emotions in me. This one failed completely.

Most reviews about this movie are very positive, and comments about it from viewers go from “really boring” to “the best movie ever”. So I give this one a Yellow Light, meaning, you are on your own deciding if you want to take a chance on it or not.

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion