Mama (2013 film)

Mama
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Andy Muschietti
Screenplay by	Neil Cross Andy Muschietti Bárbara Muschietti
Produced by	J. Miles Dale Bárbara Muschietti
Starring	Jessica Chastain Nikolaj Coster-Waldau Megan Charpentier Isabelle Nélisse Daniel Kash
Cinematography	Antonio Riestra
Edited by	Michelle Conroi
Music by	Fernando Velázquez
Production companies	Toma 78 De Milo Productions
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	18 January 2013 (2013-01-18)
Running time	100 minutes
Countries	Spain Canada
Language	English
Budget	$15 million
Box office	$146,428,180

Mama is a 2013 Spanish-Canadian horror film co-written and directed by Andrés Muschietti (credited onscreen as Andy Muschietti) and starring Jessica Chastain and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. The film, produced by J. Miles Dale and Bárbara Muschietti, with Guillermo del Toro serving as executive producer, is based on the Argentine Muschietti's Mamá, a 2008 Spanish-language short film of the same name that captured del Toro's attention.

The film deals with the story of two young girls abandoned in a forest cabin, fostered by an unknown entity that they fondly call Mama, which eventually follows them to their new suburban home after their uncle retrieves them. Originally set for an October 2012 release, it was released in theaters on 18 January 2013.

Plot

On the onset of the 2008 financial crisis, a distraught man, Jeffrey, kills his business partners and estranged wife before taking his children, three-year-old Victoria and one-year-old Lilly, away from home. Driving dangerously fast on a snowy road, the car slides off the road, down the mountain and crashes in the woods. Surviving, Jeffrey takes the children into an abandoned cabin and builds a fire. Planning to kill his daughters and commit suicide, he holds a gun to Victoria's head, but a shadowy figure drags him away and snaps his neck. Victoria turns around, but cannot see what is going on due to her glasses being previously taken by her father (so as to obscure his gun in plain sight from her bad eyes). The girls, huddled by the fireside, are tossed a cherry by the mysterious figure.

Five years later a rescue party, sponsored by Jeffrey's brother Lucas, finds Victoria and Lilly alive, but in a feral state after years of isolation. The girls are put in a welfare clinic under the psychiatric care of Dr. Gerald Dreyfuss. They make reference to "Mama", a maternal protector figure. When Lucas tries to communicate with the girls, they are initially hostile, but Victoria recognizes him after he gives her a pair of glasses and she can see him properly. Dreyfuss agrees to support Lucas and his girlfriend Annabel's custody claim against the girls' maternal great-aunt Jean. In exchange, they must move into a clinic-owned house and grant Dreyfuss continued contact with Victoria and Lilly for research purposes.

While in bed with Lucas, Annabel is startled by the appearance of a shadowy, monstrous figure in their doorway. While investigating, Lucas is attacked by "Mama" and is put into a comatose state. Annabel, who has no relation to the girls and is uncomfortable being around them, finds herself left alone to care for them. Although Annabel makes progress with Victoria, she finds Lilly hostile. Alarmed by nightmares and Victoria's warning about Mama's jealousy, Annabel asks Dreyfuss to investigate. He initially believes "Mama" to be an imaginary alter-ego of Victoria, believing she had to take on a parental role to take care of Lily for five years; however, his research corroborates Victoria's story that Mama is an aggrieved mother separated from her child and brings to light the story of Edith Brennan, a mental asylum patient in the 1800s.

Dreyfuss recovers a box containing an infant's remains, and first encounters Mama while interviewing Victoria. Annabel has a nightmare revealing Mama's past; Edith Brennan/Mama was sent to St. Gertrude's Asylum, her child was taken from her and given to nuns. She escaped the asylum, killed a nun and stole back her baby. Fleeing pursuit, she jumped off a cliff, but her child was snagged on a branch and killed on impact while she drowned. Annabel realizes that Mama doesn't realize her child died from hitting the tree and has taken on Victoria and Lilly as substitutes.

Lucas regains consciousness after a disturbing vision of his dead brother Jeffrey telling him to go to the cabin in the woods and save his daughters. Annabel and the girls are visited by Jean, who is alarmed by the girls' bruises which come from their still animalistic behavior, but tries to get Annabel investigated for abusing them. Victoria's growing closeness with Annabel makes her less willing to play with Mama, unlike Lilly.

Dreyfuss visits the cabin at night to investigate – and attempts to communicate with – Mama. After his flashlight stops working, he uses the flash of his camera as a light. He is suddenly attacked and killed by Mama. Finding Dreyfuss missing, Annabel steals the girls' case files from his office. She learns that Edith and Mama are the same person, while Lucas leaves the hospital to search for the cabin. Shortly after making a breakthrough with Lilly, Annabel and the girls are attacked by a jealous Mama, who attacks Annabel, kills Jean and spirits away the children. Annabel regains consciousness and hurries off to save the children with Lucas.

The couple spot the children on a nearby cliff, where Mama is preparing to re-enact her fall, taking Victoria and Lilly with her. When Annabel offers Mama the remains of her child, Mama transforms into her beautiful form. However, when Lilly (who, being younger than her sister, remembers only Mama as her original parent) calls out for her, Mama reverts back to her more monstrous form and takes the girls again, nearly killing Annabel and Lucas (but refraining from doing so mainly because Victoria clearly shows she cares about them). Lucas is knocked unconscious, but Annabel clings to Victoria who asks to stay with her instead of leaving with Mama, despite Lilly's pleas to come with her. After a tearful farewell, Mama and Lilly leap off the cliff, turning into a shower of moths when they hit the branch that originally killed Mama. The film ends with Annabel and Lucas embracing Victoria, and Victoria noticing a moth with bright blue wings (as opposed to Mama's moths, which were all dark) landing on her hand, indicating that Lilly is still with her in some form.

Cast

• Jessica Chastain as Annabel Moore
• Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Lucas Desange / Jeffrey Desange
• Megan Charpentier as Victoria Desange
  • Morgan McGarry as Young Victoria
• Isabelle Nélisse as Lilly Desange
  • Maya and Sierra Dawe as Young Lilly
• Daniel Kash as Dr. Gerald Dreyfuss
• Javier Botet as Mama
• Jane Moffat as Jean Podolski / Voice of Mama
• Laura Guiteras as Voice of Mama
• Melina Matthews as Voice of Mama
• David Fox as Burnsie
• Julia Chantrey as Nina
• Elva Mai Hoover as Secretary
• Dominic Cuzzocrea as Ron
• Diane Gordon as Louise
• Hannah Cheesman as Beautiful Mama (Edith Brennan) / Skinny Woman
• Joel Samuels as Town Police Chief Capt. John Roberts,

Production

The film began production in Pinewood Toronto Studios on 3 October 2011. Production ended on 18 December 2011. Parts of the film were also shot in Quebec City, Quebec. The film was initially scheduled for release in October 2012, but was later rescheduled for 18 January 2013.

Reception

Mama received generally favorable reviews from critics; it currently holds a 66% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 143 reviews. The site's consensus states: "If you're into old school scares over cheap gore, you'll be able to get over Mama's confusing script and contrived plot devices."

Richard Roeper, writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, enjoyed the film, giving it three stars out of four and saying, "Movies like Mama are thrill rides. We go to be scared and then laugh, scared and then laugh, scared and then shocked. Of course, there's almost always a little plot left over for a sequel. It's a ride I'd take again." Owen Gleiberman, reviewing for Entertainment Weekly, gave the movie a B and said, "Mama lifts almost every one of its fear-factor visuals from earlier films: the rotting black passageways that spread like mold over the walls (very Ringu meets Repulsion); the crouched figures that skitter and pounce à la the infamous 'spider' outtake from the original Exorcist; the way that Mama, with her arms like smoky-shadowy bent tendrils, evokes both the monster from the Alien films and also, in a funny way, the crumpled-puppet gothic mischievousness of Tim Burton animation. Nothing in the movie is quite original, yet Muschietti, expanding his original short, knows how to stage a rip-off with frightening verve. It helps to have an actress on hand as soulful as Jessica Chastain..."

IGN editor Scott Corulla rated the film 7.3 out of 10 and wrote, "This is a fine first film for director Andrés Muschietti and, despite some missteps and disappointments, very well could be a harbinger of interesting things to come for the helmer." The Huffington Post wrote, "With Del Toro's name up front, expect Mama to be the winter horror film of choice in 2013." The Philadelphia Inquirer called the film an "effectively spooky ghost story," adding, "Mama is full of arty tropes – sepia-toned flashbacks, flickering lights, menacing murmurings. The atmosphere is positively spectral. And it's easy to see why del Toro is a champion: Like his Pan's Labyrinth, there's a fairy-tale aspect (the film even begins with the title card "Once upon a time..."), with children in jeopardy, a witchy monster, and edge-of-the-precipice confrontations." Canyon News wrote, "The scares do indeed come a mile a minute and will unnerve even some of the toughest moviegoers." The Houston Chronicle wrote, "Director Andres Muschietti is cinematically literate – in one example he borrows a flashbulb effect from Hitchcock's Rear Window – and he has visual panache. Much of the movie is surprisingly beautiful."

Box office

The film earned $28,402,310 on its opening weekend, debuting at #1 and playing at 2,647 theaters. As of 4 April 2013, it grossed $138,628,180 worldwide and is a commercial success.

External links

• Official website
• Mama on Facebook
• Mama at IMDb
• Mama at Box Office Mojo
• Mama at Rotten Tomatoes
• Mama at Metacritic