2011 was the breakout year for Jessica Chastain. She earned
an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in "The
Help" and won critical acclaim for her performances in Tree of Life and Take Shelter. That doesn't include strong turns in Wilde Salome, Coriolanus, The Debt, and
Texas Killing Fields, which were all
released the same calendar year. While her work hasn't been as prolific since
then, Chastain did start off 2013 with a bang as the star of the number one and
number two box office toppers during the weekend of January 18. I'm speaking of
Zero Dark Thirty and Mama, both of which remained in the top
five for the following two weeks.
Chastain replaced her fiery red hair for a short black
hairdo ala Joan Jett for this creepy horror flick. Mama opens in 2008 when white collar worker Jeffrey Desange
(Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) loses a fortune and his marbles. Desange shoots his
business partners and murders his wife before making off his with daughters,
Lilly (Isabelle Nelisse) and Victoria (Megan Charpentier). Desange loses
control of his speeding car on a snowy road and crashes into the woods. He
seeks sanctuary inside an abandoned cabin, which is never a good idea. Before
the desperate Desange can do the unthinkable, he is killed by a misshapen
spirit the girls eventually refer to as 'Mama.'
Five years later, Lilly and Victoria are found by a search
party. Filthy and feral, the girls are reunited with their uncle Lucas (also
Coster-Waldau) and his new girlfriend, Annabel Moore (Chastain). With guidance
from their psychiatrist Dr. Dreyfuss (Daniel Kash), Lucas and Annabel move from
their cramped apartment to a quiet home in the suburbs to help acclimate the
little ones back into society. However, Annabel is no happy homemaker. She's
plays bass in a rock band and bristles at the idea of children. The older girl,
Victoria, returns to civility more easily whereas the younger Lilly remains
animalistic. She sleeps under the bed, screams at people who come near her, and
eats bugs. Throughout the ordeal, Dr. Dreyfuss believes the 'Mama' the girls
refer to was an imaginary being they created as an idealized protector.
Mama was directed
by Andrés Muschietti, who co-wrote the screenplay with his sister Barbara and
Neil Cross, whose credits include the BBC series Luther and Doctor Who.
Muschietti initially shot Mama as a
short film back in 2008 to drum up interest for the feature-length script. It
worked as Muschietti impressed Guillermo Del Toro, who quickly signed on as
executive producer. Mama has a lot in
common with The Orphanage and Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, two other
horror projects Del Toro helped shepherd. This is a dark and gothic ghost story
that relies on old school scares rather than blood and guts. In true haunted
house fashion, the scares come from knowing that there is something under the
bed or in the closet as the characters cautiously (and foolishly) take a peek.
Mama herself is a mix of practical and CG effects with the
tangled, black hair familiar to fans of Asian horror. Muschietti follows the Jaws formula of keeping Mama relatively
hidden and only shown in short bursts until the final act.
Chastain turns in a solid performance, a far cry from her
Oscar nominated turn as the grim CIA agent in Zero Dark Thirty. Game of
Thrones fans will enjoy seeing Jamie Lannister in the dual role of Jeffrey
and Lucas. The best performances in Mama
belong to the young actresses who are utterly convincing as the lost sisters.
Mama isn't as
balls-out insane as Cabin in the Woods,
but it is one of the better horror flicks produced in recent years. It is well
directed with several stylish flourishes by Muschietti that help to build a
spooky atmosphere.
Rating: *** (*****)
No comments:
Post a Comment