Mama - Thoughts

Mama is a 2013 horror movie that somehow slipped through my radar. I wasn’t aware of it till I was told of it playing at a popular multiplex by a friend. I looked up the trailer, found it fairly interesting and decided to go check it out, especially considering that it’s been ages since I’ve seen a decent horror flick. Following an accident two young children are stranded in the woods, being forced to live alone. 5 years later they are found and joined with their uncle, who tries to raise them with his girlfriend. The question is, have the little girls come alone, and is everything as straightforward as it seems, and therein lies the premise of Mama.

After the recent slew of slasher movies and other reality-esque horror movies, it was nice to come back to something solid, which reminded me of The Ring. I felt that I could draw a lot of parallels between Mama and The Ring, with Mama successfully using some of The Rings strengths. The mysterious backstory adds a layer of intrigue that keeps the audience glued, while pacing is also managed well to avoid any boring moments. I don’t recall any instances during the movies 110 minute runtime when my mind briefly wandered away.  In terms of the sheer chills, Mama worked well, showing just enough, teasing just right, and slowly building up to the eventual ghastliness of the Mama character. What was unique were the traits associated to Mama, which made sense as the plot evolved, and can also be related to by the audiences. A clear theme all throughout is the mother and child bond; be it to do with the Mama character or Annabel. While there are some stereotypes, and cliché’s, nothing that was laughable. Some of the editing and scene planning was predictable, but personally I did not find the horror cheesy, and quite liked the movie. Was Mama scary? Indeed it was! If you’re in the mood for a good horror flick, I’d certainly recommend this one.

The cast of Mama was largely new to me. Jessica Chastain plays the lead role of Annabel. Between the makeup, dressing, and the look she totally fit the ‘rock band girlfriend’ part, which interestingly plays into the story, as the narrative forces her character to develop, and she does justice to this forced situational transition. Isabelle Nélisse plays Lilly, the younger of the two children, and does fabulously as the misguided confused kid, too young to discern the difference between normal and strange. She excels in the area of facial expressions, to a point where her capability in relation to her age astounds me. Other notable roles include Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Lucas and Megan Charpentier as Victoria, the two girls’ uncle and the elder girl respectively. Both do decently well in their roles. Interestingly the demonic Mama character, whom by narrative is of female origin is played by Javier Botet. If anything this just surprised me in afterthought.

I checked this one out in the theatre, and interestingly this was my first ever Dolby Atmos experience. To the uninitiated, Dolby Atmos is the next big sound technology after 5.1/7.1 surround. In simple terms, think several speakers spread across the roof overhead, some behind the wide screen, and pretty much all along the sides, with up to 64 independent channels of sound.  The intent being to provide a more immersive listening experience, with ultra-realistic pans, beyond the front to back, and left to right that we are traditionally used to. Sadly I don’t have too much in terms of specific feedback on the new Atmos technology, but I will admit that I did feel superbly enveloped by the sound. There was frankly no escaping the eeriness. I will need to watch more movies, and perhaps experience both regular and Atmos versions to tell the difference better. Picture quality was good, as can be expected nowadays with digital theatre presentations. The movie had a noticeable dull tone, favoring darker browns. There were no vibrant colors used. Picture was sharp, with no grain or blur effects.

My Recommendation: Watch It (Never underestimate a mother’s love)