By 
MOMMY ****
Life is a contagious and inevitable cycle where once you are little you’ll always need shelter, then as a teenager you believe you have all the answers and you need privacy to find yourself, then as an adult you realize life it is the same for everyone, the experiences, the struggle, the pain and the joy, everyone shares the same path but in different ways, results and consequences. Young Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan is only 25 years-old and has been analyzing the subject of family relationship since his 2009’s debut “I Killed My Mother”; the result he achieves on his 5th feature is so grand that it could only have been made by an older filmmaker, or by someone who might have experienced intensely the turmoil of being a teenager. A gorgeous mother decides checking her son out of rehab, aiming to reconstruct their lives together. She’s told that such cases happen all the time and most people are not successful with the return, adding that love cannot save people. She’s determined to make it work, getting him to compromise to the idea of getting back on track, struggling to get a job, a secure future, and perhaps find someone to help them reestablish. Until then, the images are shut by bars on both sides of the screen, while the camera rides along with the boy skating on the streets. As he’s conducting the wind, listening to rap, and flying over wheels, he forces the screen to open wide, reflecting to the sense of his emotions: that’s how his world feels like, shut, divided, uncertain; and as he opens up the bars that imprisons him, he’s screaming for attention, for a chance to find his role and meaning in life. Dolan presents the facts of his story, the strange, aggressive and disturbing relationship between mother and son, observing their reasons and reactions, both sides, justifying them as simple creatures trying to love and survive. As he observes the transformations in society, which he also belongs to, the evolution of this generation and the modern tendencies, pointed by language, music, clothing, technology, unstable economic condition, codependency and the lack of warmth, Dolan creates a heartbreaking, shocking, honest portrait of the disintegration of modern families and the need of saving it. He’s like a mentor who offers them to cry out for help and hope, revealing their anguish and how they’re affected by the situation life has given them. While she’s unable to complete her motherhood responsibility, defied by the facts of her condition, he’s unable to understand the process of growing a man, as he’s still willing to experience the essence of being part of a family, and everything he missed as a child. Anne Dorval gives an unforgettable performance as the mother, while Antoine-Olivier Pilon is perfect as the uncontrollable son. Suzanne Clément is also excellent, as their neighbor, becoming a bridge of reconciliation between them. And when Dolan allows the characters to undress the masks and fully express their despair, he strikes the audience revealing that the cycle of life never changes, challenges and obstacles will always emerge, and even if it feels impossible at times, we must learn to deal with it, because love and family are worth fighting for.
Comments