Don MalvasiFrench Canadian wunderkind Xavier Dolan (he made and starred in I Killed My Mother at 19) seriously gets in your face with the extravagantly jarring Mommy. The brutal arguments between tantalizing, violent-prone, just-released-from-juvenile-detention, ADHD 15-year-old Steve (Antoine-Olivier Platt) and his tough yet unconditionally compassionate single mom, Diane (a great Anne Dorval) have to be seen to be believed. Unencumbered by inhibition, Dolan displays an acute sense of knowing his characters, and allowing the viewer to get inside their fears and demonstrations of conviction. Steve yammers his way into his mother’s confidences one moment, strikes at her in a swift mood change the next, then washes it down with an all too believable vulnerability as he seeks placation. It’s at once heart-rending and totally disarming.
Dolan, 25, has an eye for marvelous shots and his use of the narrow 1:1 screen ratio, highly effective in itself, produced an anticipation of wondering just when he was going to spring the change of ratio to full-blown widescreen. He doesn’t disappoint. He also has a penchant for long scenes accompanied by an entire pop song. Oasis’s Wonderwall never sounded so good as it augments a particular scene that borders on the surreal.
Stylistic marvels aside, Mommy is essentially about a mother’s love against all odds. After Steve, who’s also been know to wet his pants, expresses fear to Diane that she’ll stop loving him, she replies, “What’s gonna happen is I’m gonna be loving you more and more, and you’ll be loving me less and less. That’s just the natural way of life.”
A harrowing, artistic view of a 15-year old who is a recalcitrant handful…4.5 stars (out of 5)
