Mommy Film Difficulty Ranking: 3
Sexy Moms + One Uncontrollable Kid = Mommy, a film with Canadian Karaoke and Violence. Sounds like a game of Cards Against Humanity right!? A smart-phone like aspect ratio takes headlines in this one in a beautifully shot film about a single mother trying to raise her unpredictably violent son.
From: Canada, North America
Watch: Trailer, Rent on Amazon, Buy on Amazon
Next: We Need to Talk About Kevin, Tangerine, Room
Why Watch Mommy?
- You want to see how aspect ratios can change the way you watch films!
- You’re a future parent wanting to see an emotionally charged film about the craziness of parenthood.
- You want to hear French spoken with a wholly different accent (unless you’re from Canada, where you’ll have to head over to the French film page)
- Canadian Karaoke!
The Breakdown
First off, this was the first French-Language Canadian film I have seen. Having learned French at school in the U.K. I want to say how strange the accent sounded to me before I make a big thing of it throughout this post. I hardly understood a word which probably doesn’t say much for my French skills (if you’re also a French speaker, let me know what the French accent sounds like in comparison to the world of English-language accents).
Moving on, I absolutely loved the way this whole film was shot. The whole film appeared to have been shot on a smart-phone due to an aspect ratio of1:1 (a square) rather than the usual widescreen aspects used by film-makers. The aspect allows the director to hide parts of the screen, and therefore parts of the characters lives (their house, their furniture, where they live). Their faces are also given the whole screen, much like Skype calls or selfies, forcing you to read everything about the characters from their faces.
However, whilst the confining aspect ratio and face close-ups confine the audience’s view, flowing camera movements, following characters spinning, running, and dancing, gives us a bit of intimacy. These scenes with the free camera movements gave me happier feelings, which made me forget the square aspect ratio – giving us and the characters freedom. When you watch this one, as I hope you will, I’m pretty sure that you’ll notice a difference in the tones because of the aspect ratio and the camera movements! (Apologies if you don’t, I have a ‘watched-too-many-films-syndrome’ which makes me notice things like this).
For an emotionally charged film about a single mother and single-child, this film may be tough to match in emotion. Sometimes you hate the kid, and other times you hate the mother. I guess it points out the flaws in everyone as well as their positives (nice character development). That neighbor as well! What is she hiding!?
ps. Is their humor really strange? Is French-Canadian Humor really that different? Or am I missing out on something?
What to Watch Next
For more mother son relationships on film check out We Need to Talk About Kevin and Room.
Or if you’re looking for another great film shot on the iPhone you should watch Tangerine. Anyone can make films!
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