Big Picture Big Sound

Mammoth Sized Failure

Swedish writer-director Lukas Moodysson's first English-language film, "Mammoth", attempts to tie together people from around the planet, or at least a few that live in New York, the Phillipines, and Bangkok. He is making a statement of universality. At least that is what I think he is doing.

Leo (Gael Garcia Bernal) is a successful geek who has earned a fortune by designing computer games. Ellen (Michelle Williams) is his wife, a surgeon. They live in NYC with Jackie (Sophie Nyweide), their 8-year old cutesy-bright daughter. Also sharing their luxury apartment is Gloria (Marife Necesito), the nanny who has left behind her own children in the Philippines so she can earn a good living. 

For the first thirty minutes of the film, Moodysson places intensely ominous music. It had the desired effect of keeping me on edge but that edge is never fulfilled. Oddly, the impending scary or horrific scene takes so long to play out that the effect is terribly dulling to the senses. You can only keep an audience waiting for so long for the proverbial axe to fall before you are torn between hoping that someone gets nailed and hoping that it all ends as quickly as possible.

Leo travels to Bangkok to sign a multi-million dollar contract, but sitting around waiting for it to happen makes him bored. At least he knows how the rest of us felt while watching him. He feels the need to get away to a nearby island, and only then do we see him do anything of mild interest. Mild might be overstating it. It's still devoid of dramatic value. Meanwhile, back in New York, Ellen is wrestling with a problem case at the hospital, and Gloria's children are dealing with major problems in the Philippines. Of the three stories, only the one revolving around Gloria's sons yields anything resembling drama, despite Moodysson's attempts to manipulate our emotions with the travails of Ellen. Not even the director could have found much entertainment in Leo's story.

Moodysson attempts to fill us full of deep thoughts about what is really important. Instead he crushes us with heavy-handed, overly dramatic nonsense that at times is downright embarrassing. In the plus column, I loved the soundtrack. If you are abducted and forced to watch "Mammoth" try and keep your eyes closed and just listen to the film.