— by ROBERT DeFEIS —
In “Mammoth,” Gael García Bernal and Michelle Williams play the roles of Leo and Ellen Vidales, a very successful New York couple who are totally immersed in their work.
Leo created a Web site that is booming with business and put him in a position of power where money is no object and decisions need to be made. On the other hand, his wife Ellen is a devoted emergency surgeon.
Their busy household is run by a Filipino nanny named Gloria (Marife Necesito), who is hired to watch over their 8-year-old daughter Jackie (Sophie Nyweide). Leo and Ellen aren’t the only ones with problems; Gloria has two young children of her own who live in the Philippines.
As you can see in the trailer, the older boy Salvador misses his mother dearly, but unfortunately she is forced to stay and try to make some sort of living for her kids.
Leo is asked to go to Thailand for a business meeting and while he is there he is put into situations that won’t help his marriage. He ends up having a little fling with a prostitute named Cookie. However, he regrets what he has done and cannot wait to return home.
“Mammoth” looks to be a deep movie about the daily grind and heartbreak of people’s lives. Everyone has their own story where every decision made has consequences and every action can have an impact a world away.
“Mammoth” was written and directed by Lukas Moodysson. The title refers to a mammoth ivory pen Leo receives as a gift and loosely to a quote from one of Moodysson’s poetry collections: “Our Savior buried like a Mammoth.”
Mammoth will be released Nov. 20 at the IFC center in New York City.
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One theatre?
hmm sounds interesting to see what happens.