Director: Kate Dolan

Writer: Kate Dolan

Stars: Hazel Doupe, Carolyn Bracken, Paul Reid

Synopsis: In a North Dublin housing estate Char’s mother goes missing. When she returns Char is determined to uncover the truth of her disappearance and unearth the dark secrets of her family.

Horror movies are typically difficult to review. There is an argument that to fully appreciate the genre itself, it is best to go in completely blind. To critique a movie like Kate Dolan’s You Are Not My Mother requires dissecting some of its more nuanced elements, which may then unravel the thread of the story for a viewer who may have benefited more from the story’s crackling slowburn aura. With that in mind, all readers may want to know is that Dolan achieves a tense, atmospheric take on an Irish folktale which doesn’t always hit its mark story-wise, but successfully maintains a level of quiet, creeping dread which is enough to unsettle any horror fan.

A part of the sub-genre of elevated horror, You Are Not My Mother is as much invested in psychological drama and mental health observation as it is with the more pulpy aspects the movie is occasionally ground down by. Its take very much follows suit from the likes of Ari Aster’s Hereditary, with a pinch of Robert Eggers’ work – specifically The Witch. The draw here is the slow build up of tense confusion as more questions than answers are pulled into the light, and eventually the (sometimes) satisfying results when everything starts to break down.

Char (Hazel Doupe) is a teenage girl from Dublin whose mother Angela (Carolyn Bracken) suffers from a severe form of depression. Angela often can’t leave her bed, preferring to lie silently in the dark and let her own mother Rita (Ingrid Craigie) look after Char. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this leads to many difficulties for Char, who is subsequently bullied in school for having a strange family. Everything changes when Angela disappears after taking Char to school one day, announcing that she “can’t do this anymore”. 

Char is panicked and confused, and this confusion only worsens when her mother returns home in good spirits, dancing around the kitchen and cooking dinner for the family. Naturally, Char has questions. However, Rita is reluctant to supply any, and instead gives her granddaughter a haphazardly crafted ball of twigs for her protection. But what does Char need protection from? What secrets are her family hiding from her? And why does her mother seem so different?

For the majority of its runtime, we are as much in the dark about Angela’s circumstances as Char is. A scene where the police are called in the wake of Angela’s disappearance is notable for Char being dismissed from the room before Rita and Angela’s brother Aaron (Paul Reid) will explain more about Angela’s character. We are led upstairs with Char who sullenly begins rooting out pictures of her mother to hand around. The obvious questions swirl in the ether: is Angela dead? Was she abused? Did Rita neglect her? An opening scene features a baby being taken into a forest by a younger Rita and subsequently burned. Was this Angela? 

Anyone who knows Irish folklore will quickly understand the situation and the significance of the film’s title. Perhaps that in itself is too much of a giveaway. But what is more important is the cement-thick fog of atmosphere layered throughout You Are Not My Mother. Cinematographer Narayan van Maele conjures a deeply unsettling force within the dusty house, located in a drab housing estate in north Dublin. Darkness hides in every corner of the house, suggesting a milieu of shadows dancing within – out on the streets the grey open sky hints at a purgatory Char cannot escape from. Later, the street kids will run around lighting bonfires for Samhain, or Halloween as it’s commonly known, crackling small lights into the inky black air. 

Inside her house and out, Char is trapped: bullies accost her, threatening to burn her face, and worried parents instruct their children not to go near her or her family. Inside, Angela’s increasingly strange and erratic behavior creates an ever more caustic environment for Char, Rita, and Aaron. 

Similarly, composer Die Hexen’s captivating score strikes through each moment with a string or two underscoring the real moments of danger, and discordant flashes of horns throughout the calmer moments, reminding us that no scene is safe for the audience to drop its guard in. John Cutler’s editing does exactly the same thing in a different way – jaggedly cutting from a scene before it reaches its natural apex, leaving the audience reeling as we try to adjust to the jarring tonal changes. It all adds to a satisfying unsettling feeling.

Doupe is good as the often-simple Char, a girl who lacks any real agency in the story until the final third. There is not much asked of Doupe apart from some confused facial expressions and a slight twinge of worry, mixed with anger and fear. She carries these off well, but ultimately Char doesn’t have much in the way of character development for a viewer to get invested in. It is Bracken who has the biggest role here: Angela walks a gossamer thin line between crippling mental illness and a suggestively sinister monster with a sweet veneer. There are moments where she must oscillate between Char’s wayward yet improving mother, and some ethereal, otherworldly phantom whose intentions are unknown; and she does so in a subtle, quietly dreadful way. It’s Bracken’s performance which catches the eye, and drives the majority of the tension throughout. 

The central tenet of You Are Not My Mother is whether Angela’s mental illness is the banal reality of modern life, or something much more terrifying and unexplainable. It’s this line which the audience walks with Char, and only when the third act happens and the plot begins to unravel does You Are Not My Mother begin to falter. Once the veneer of mystery has been burned away, we are left with a run-of-the-mill horror which relies too heavily on genre tropes to have any lasting resonance. It feels anti-climactic to have built all that tension and dread, only to squander it on a typically cliché finale. The rich mythology promised throughout is then discarded as a more traditional jump-scare precedent is established and the heart-pumping tension, ironically, leavens to a mild arrhythmia. 

Ultimately, You Are Not My Mother is a fascinating watch with an excellent production value. It is let down only by its lackluster third act, which does a disservice to the exemplary set up and worldbuilding done in the first hour. As genre fare goes, it’s admirable for having tried something different, something which, to its credit, it often achieves.

Grade – C+

*YOU ARE NOT MY MOTHER debuts in UK Cinemas and Digital on April 8th!

Director: Aaron Nee and Adam Nee 

Writers: Dana Fox, Adam Nee, and Orne Uziel

Stars: Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, and Daniel Radcliffe

Synopsis: A reclusive romance novelist on a book tour with her cover model gets swept up in a kidnapping attempt that lands them both in a cutthroat jungle adventure.

It doesn’t take much to convince me to see a comedy. Comedies truly are my comfort movie genre when I’m looking for a little rest and relaxation to either kick-off or end my weekend. Comedies are the type of movies that can be viewed as going to a fast food restaurant. The food is easy to digest, they are loved by the people, and there is always something new on the menu to try. Let’s just say I took a trip to my favorite theater and ordered The Lost City special and I can’t get enough. 

They say laughter is good for the soul and I wholeheartedly agree. I went in blind when I went to see this movie and I’m glad that I did. I loosely knew the concept of the movie prior, but at the time it didn’t look interesting to me. I thought this was one of your standard, generic comedies that somehow got approved by Hollywood. I didn’t give this movie a second thought after viewing the trailer, but I decided to give it a chance anyway. I’m not sure if it was the plot or the fact that this movie was filled with talented actors such as Daniel Radcliffe, Sandra Bullock, and Channing Tatum, but something drew me to this film and I’m glad it did. 

The plot of this film is very straightforward and tells you exactly what the story of the movie will be. Loretta (Bullock) gets tangled up with her cover model Alan (Tatum) on a quest to find the lost treasure of an ancient city led by the antagonist of the film Abigail Fairfax (Radcliffe). When it comes to comedies, I feel as though a lot of the plot can get lost in translation and bogged down by too many jokes but with The Lost City, I found that it was easy to follow along and the line delivery was hitting on every level. It felt as if this movie was tailor-made for me. Every joke landed so well and I found myself falling in love with dialogue. The script was snappy, witty, and quippy and made me chuckle more than a few times.

I was thoroughly surprised by a few of the performances of The Lost City. It has been some time since I’ve seen Daniel Radcliffe on screen, but I think that the comedy scene is right up his alley. I know it’s hard to associate him with anything else outside of Harry Potter. However, I think this type of role could work for him in future projects. Channing Tatum’s character was pegged as the “attractive dumb one” but he always brought a smile to my face. I believe that this is one of my favorite performances by him in ages. As much as I enjoyed him in the Jumpstreet films, this is probably his best performance by far. And I have to give a special shoutout to Jack Trainer (Brad Pitt). Although he’s only in the movie for a short while, he leaves a lingering presence that will keep you thinking long after the movie is over.

I realize that there are numerous positives that come with talking about this film but there is a negative that I cannot overlook. When it comes to comedies, I expect the story to have tight pacing and not overstay its welcome. With that said, the run time could have been shaved down by about 25 minutes. There are some scenes in which they stayed in one location longer than I would have liked, but I understand why they took this route. The front half of this film is a comedy through and through, but the second half steered into the romance side which is something I did not foresee, but it was a welcomed surprise. 

The Lost City is the perfect palate cleanser for those who are looking for a fresh twist on the comedy genre. The writing is clever and will keep you laughing long after you’ve left the theater and Channing Tatum’s performance steals the show. If this movie was a fast food item it would be the Big Mac with a side of large fries and an ice-cold beverage. This is one of the biggest surprises of the year and if this film has taught me anything, it’s that we could all use a good laugh now and again.

Grade: B+

Director: Seung-wan Ryoo

Writer: Ki-cheol Lee, Seung-wan Ryoo

Stars: Kim Yoon-seok, In-sung Jo

Synopsis: In 1991 war-torn Somalia the personnel and the families of both the South Korean and the North Korean embassies have the same goal: to escape from Mogadishu.

Two years ago, South Korea made a statement of intent towards silver screen domination with Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite. Rightly heralded as a masterpiece, Parasite walked away with a plethora of awards and even became the first foreign language film to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

The Oscar entry for South Korea this year is no Parasite, to be sure, but what Escape From Mogadishu proves is that the South Korean movie industry is vast and fully capable of competing with the best Hollywood has to offer.

Based on the incredible true story of a daring Argo-esque escape back in 1991, Escape From Mogadishu centers on diplomats from North and South Korea who have arrived in Somalia to convince the Somali dictator, Mohamed Siad Barre, to vote for their entry into the United Nations. While both sides of Korea try to navigate each other, a coup on Barre’s leadership erupts, descending the city of Mogadishu into violent anarchy and martial law. With their lives at stake, both diplomats of North and South Korea have no choice but to work together to ensure their survival. But can they really trust each other long enough to stay alive?

Part political thriller and part action-adventure, Escape From Mogadishu feels like a strange nomination for the Academy Awards. Traditionally, countries seldom submit this kind of fare to the International Feature. While it’s no surprise that Escape From Mogadishu didn’t make the shortlist, that it was submitted at all says a lot for the quality of the movie itself. Director Seung-wan Ryoo manages to deftly handle the tonal transition between the nervy political elements early on to the all-out action sequences which come later, also imbuing the movie with a vein of humor running throughout, something which you might not imagine in a movie about a violent dictator and the bloodbath his removal creates. 

Ryoo’s take on the bitter enmity between North and South Korea is highlighted by the fact that they are both in a foreign country with its own troubles, troubles which put the Korean issues in perspective. With a similar concept to Park Chan-wook’s classic JSA: Joint Security Area, Ryoo builds upon the tension until the explosive revelation of impending civil war. Suddenly, the stakes change and both sides must work together. Although the South Koreans are the center of the story, the North Koreans are not painted as simply villains. A recent law passed in South Korea states that no North Koreans may be portrayed as heroes, which means Ryoo must be cautious about representation, nevertheless he manages to create a dichotomy whereupon both sides are simply acting in the interest of their respective governments, diplomats simply doing their jobs. The message is clearly one of unity. For us to survive, we need to work together, regardless of our history.

There are some expertly done action sequences, involving car chases from both Koreas, and the cinematography makes use of the Moroccan background which stands in for Mogadishu itself. The night sequences are stark, lit by torchlight, and tinged with a wariness that lends itself well to the situation. 

Although packaged and presented as an action movie, Escape From Mogadishu works well in its more quiet moments, and carries its message of unity amid turmoil, and the need to put down nationalist flags and identify with one another on a deeper level.

Grade – B