The Xavier Effect

Dancing with Mommy to Eifel 65

I'm a good kid ya know?

You win some, you lose some

That's life.

Surprise!

The Stevie Effect

Xavier Dolan was only 25 when

he made this film. What is more

incredible is that he was around

21 when he made his debut film

I Killed My Mother. Young 

directors are always a wake up

call for me because at 28, I still

haven't made a movie. Orson 

Welles was 26 when he made 

Citizen Kane. PT Anderson was

26 when he made Hard Eight. 

By that rate, they seem lazy 

compared to Dolan's output 

at his age. 

The first film of Dolan I had

decided to watch was 

Laurence Anyways.

It was a 3 hour opus that had

a fantastic ballroom sequence.

Yet, I felt something was 

missing. I felt the length of

that 3 hour opus. He could

have trimmed it down a 

bit. 

Upon seeing Mommy,

something clicked for me.

This film felt so honest.

The first thing was the 

performances. I had liked

the performances of 

Laurence Anyways,

but his actors reach 

a new level here.

Ann Dorval, an actress he 

has used in multiple films,

gives a performance that 

is flamboyant yet tender.

It is matched by Antione

Olivier Pilon's 

hyperactive, ADHD

riddled Steve. This 

kid's face goes through 

a multitude of emotions

as battle scars from cabbies,

a neighbor and his own 

beloved mother are 

inflicted upon it. 

Tantrums are thrown. 

Fists are clenched.

Bottles are broken.

Feelings are put through

the ringer with liberal 

doses of hard earned truth. 

What this film brought out in me was a realization, or more accurately, a confirmation, that in a time when so many films depicting ever evolving mother/son relationships or just family relationships, few are able to be as intimate as Dolan's work here. Through the pulsing beats of Eifel 65, Lana Del Ray, Oasis and the rest of the soundtrack, to the rawness of Dolan's camerawork. A simple pan down to a pant leg brings such revelations about a character. Films at their best represent the purest of artistic expression. Mommy is able to break free of the constraints of cinema and transcend to dark corners of the experience of a mother and her son that rarely have light shown upon. 

I wish I could write more.

But the light is green.

It's time to go.

Feet don't fail me now.