Cinema Spotlight VII - Andrés Muschietti (Part 1): Mama
Jessica Chastain as Annabel
Early in his career, Andy Muschietti made commercials in his home country of Argentina with his real passion being cinema. He snagged some odd jobs in show business from public relations to assistant director; one in particular was as a set production assistant on the Madonna musical Evita. He moved to Spain and collaborated with his sister Barbara Muschietti in advertisement; still looking for the chance to make his motion picture break.
Back in 1999, he directed Nostalgia en la mesa 8, a Spanish short about a peculiar soccer player. In 2008, he made his second Spanish short Mama, and grabbed the attention of Guillermo del Toro. Impressed with the horror short, he requested Muschietti to make it a feature film. The Muschietti siblings prepared the script, Andy was placed as director, Barbara as producer, and del Toro served as executive producer.
Lily (Isabelle Nélisse) and Victoria (Megan Charpentier).
Lucas Desange (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) adopts his nieces Victoria (Megan Charpentier) and Lily (Isabelle Nélisse) who have been missing for five years. His punk-rock girlfriend Annabel (Jessica Chastain) is reluctant in this decision. They are supported by Dr. Gerald Dreyfuss (Daniel Kash) a psychiatrist trying to fathom on how the girls survived in the woods for so long. According to them, "Mama" watched over them. Making matters difficult, Mama is very angry and wants her "daughters" back.
Lucas Desange (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and Annabel conversing with Dr. Dreyfuss.
Mama combines the scares and tragedy of Sinister while adding the warmth and mystery of Pete's Dragon (2016). You have a mysterious entity that watches over children, are brought back to society but can't seem to fit in. Terrible things begin to occur with the creature appearing only to the children. The young actresses are especially good, they bring more of the scares than Mama herself especially when you first see them in their Gollum state. But even when they look normal, you can't help but feel something off-putting. If that wasn't enough, the doctor has some creepy vibes at times, as he desperately wants to know the secret of Mama.
The movie pulls a Psycho of establishing Lucas as the main characters only to be swept aside after the first act. While he's not completely out of the picture, we turn our attention to Annabel who has no interest of being a mother. She tries to bond with the girls and while it does get forced at times we do see a connection grow in a sour but sweet way.
Two time Oscar nominee now a punk rocker.
Mama is more scary when we don't see her. Suffering the same fate of Diana from Lights Outwho was more terrifying in the short than in the movie.
The movie starts strong but its ending left me mixed. It tries to go the Pan's Labyrinth route on taking a sad situation into something happy but felt more like the ending of a Sinister movie. While it makes sense on the direction it goes, it could have ended differently when a crucial plot item is introduced. Present it and perhaps offer an ultimatum to the characters who have a difficult choice to make between life and death.
Mama may feel more like a del Toro production with its fairy tale atmosphere and scary scenery but Muschietti does develop his own film-making style. The color beige is frequently used as the adults question their sanity if Mama is real or not. A jangling monster that lures children, doesn't present itself to adults, and always watching. Things that look innocent and ordinary signify the monster's presence as seen with the moths.
Mama premiered on January 18, 2013. Opening at number one at the box-office on its opening weekend to mostly positive reviews; it earned a Saturn nomination for Best Horror Movie and an MTV Movie Award nomination in Best Scared-As-Sh** Performance for Jessica Chastian.
Thanks to Mama's success, Muschietti made the shortlist for many proposed projects from a sequel to Snow White and the Huntsman a remake of Masters of the Universe, and an adaptation of the Shadow of the Colossus video game. He was hired on the remake of The Mummy starring Tom Cruise as his next project. According to reports, Muschietti wanted the movie to be darker and scarier but the studio wanted it more mainstream and family-friendly since it would be part of a planned cinematic universe. Not being able to agree with the studio, Muschietti left the project. He expressed interest in adapting a Stephen King story like The Jaunt or Pet Sematary, so youcan imagine his excitement when he heard that there was a vacancy for a certain Stephen King movie that features an evil clown...
Floating Foreshadowing
"You'll float too!"
Doing research with some creepy visual aids.
A technique that would be used again with a certain clown.
Trademarks:
Beige Color
Love how the logo is tinted with beige.
Annabel hearing strange noises in the
girls' room.
Is it just the girls playing?
...or something else?
Monster after children
Javier Botet as Mama
A skilled contortionist who has played the Crooked Man in The Conjuring 2, Slender Man
and hired by Del Toro in his next film Crimson Peak.
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