Mama, I didn't mean to make you cry

Rating: 6/10 (30 April 2020)

"Mama" is a 2013 horror film directed by Andy Muschietti starring Jessica Chastain and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. A few years before Argentinian novice director more or less successfully helmed both remake adaptations of the classic Stephen King novel "IT" and became known to a broader audience, he kind of acquired renown within the genre with his quite popular yet not really successful full length feature debut. I personally heard a lot of things about it, most of them being positive and to know that Guillermo Del Toro produced this film made me believe it to be true. To be honest, after seeing images and short sequences of the trailer when I was actually not allowed to see it (thanks to German advertisement) I was scared to watch it at all, although I'm sure that I've probably seen even worse by now, but what am I to say? Childhood fears stick with you for a while against all rationality. Regardless, I took my courage in both hands and had the guts to give it a watch, although I admittedly was about to abort mission already during the menu. Turns out though, that the scenes that are shown during this short sequence are already the creepiest scenes and sadly the only highlights. Even if this flick is far from being abysmal, it still has several undeniable flaws that disturb the overall experience. First, I personally could not believe Chastain in her emo punk goth chick role with the black dyed hair and tattoos, it seemed extremely insincere to me and far away from credible. It appeared to be more of a masquerade than anything that fits to an actual fictional personality to me and sadly lacked the authenticity that keeps it from appearing unintentionally hilarious, but the more the film proceeded, the more I astonishingly grew accustomed to it, solely thanks to Chastain's talent and the effort she has put into this role and it is those factors that make it tolerable to a certain degree. Next to this, the film started out in a promising way and put some effort in building up a specific atmosphere, but the more the film moved on the less packing it became. While I was on the verge of covering my face with my blanket in the beginning, it was nowhere near it in the end, because the films suspense curved dropped gradually. How does this happen? Well, it is happening when you have a genuinely scary entity but don't know how to deal with it properly. What I mean is the simple fact that Mama was way creepier when she was only implied and not actually visible on screen. Aware of the fact that she was not completely computer animated and played by an actual actor, the phenomenal Javier Botet, gave it some extra vehemence to it, yet is doesn't change the fact that its full potential hasn't been used in the slightest. Nevertheless, the camera work and especially the use of long shots out of a hidden camera angle created some dense atmosphere, as it suggested that the audience is watching the helpless protagonist and also some subliminally effective scares that are only thrown in by the way also help building up the atmosphere immensely. Why did it go wrong then? The answer is monotony. After it used this certain formula for a few times it became repetitive and hence lost the threatening power it used to have in the beginning and became boringly predictable. The only reason I still flinched at some scenes was simply due to the fact that the sound mixing was extremely unbalanced, in other words the dialogue was mostly quiet and almost inaudible, which is why I turned up the volume multiple times while the scenes you are supposed to jump off your seat at are extremely loud by nature. I'm aware that this a common practice in horror films, but those scenes in here weren't that intimidating that I'd consider them to be jump scares at all. In this case it's more of a cheap trick to compensate the lack of originality and factual horror. In addition to that, the story also did not do much about keeping the atmosphere intact and thus mistreated the promising exposition immensely. Sadly, the plot really does not flesh out the personality and background story of Mama enough and scratches on the very surface only. They could have gone way deeper into the historical aspect of the story, explored the human background of what Mama eventually became develop her personality and motivations of her haunting more. Instead, we only get a brief insight into her past without any further explanation. It is only just enough but could have been way more interesting and that is kind of frustrating. They even mention and define the meaning of a ghost and how it is the pure manifestation of extreme feelings, yet they don't explain her emotionality enough to make it completely comprehensible. It is not like that they leave it out completely, but it just doesn't feel right to me, it is simply not enough for me personally. Furthermore, there are some plot decisions that don't really fit into the story. Next to the uselessness of Mama showing Annabel her backstory (there was actually no need for her to know, only for the audience) the character of Luke is actually pointless for the story as well. The meaning he has in the story is that he is the cool uncle, but aside from this he is useless for the story as well and the dream or vision he has also doesn't bring anything important to the further scenes. It is no surprise that the character constellation somehow reminded me of the "Silent Hill" movie, because like said title this film also is about maternal bonds (who would have guessed it with that title?) and this is the only thing that gives some personality to Mama, as it characterizes her basic motivations. She is inherently not hostile, but extremely protective and jealous in her own way. With the sadly way too short but enough glimpse at her backstory I even felt bad for her in some way, as it explains her endless spook. That is why I absolutely don't understand the final climax. In my humble opinion, her haunting as well as the film should have ended after she was reunited with the remains of what used to be the baby she accidentally killed. Not only would it have been metaphorical and concluded the films symbolism, it would have rounded up the film in a pleasant way as well, as she found her humanity again. But it doesn't end there. Instead, she makes the same mistake again by throwing her infants bones over the cliff again and tries to claim the child she is aware of isn't rightfully hers. After that moment, my sympathy for her vanished immediately, because all those actions contradict her role as a victim and make her the perpetrator instead. The desired redemption I hoped to see was bitterly tainted after this. Having had a discussion with her afterwards, my mother on the other hand disagreed with me, as she thinks that Lilly never would have had the chance to reintegrate into society and that the only way for her to find peace was to go with the only mother figure she has ever had, but it did not feel right to me. That is only a proof how deeply divided the opinions about the same topic might be. I guess the reason why my Mom understood the ending differently is that she is a mother herself, an interpersonal relationship I will never experience myself. She comprehends it on a level I can only imagine, and it think that's an interesting point of view. All in all, this horror drama has the correct approaches, but the execution lacks the innovation that its premise promised it to be. While scary in the beginning, it progressively became less and less scary and more and more repetitive in its repertoire of scares. Aside from a few illogical things and obvious discrepancies it managed to offer a mediocre and minimally atmospheric experience. While it is far from being outstanding or memorable, it knows to entertain the audience in a cheap way. Could have been more but even worse at the same time.