Mammoth (2009)The symbolism of the title will escape most people (it did me), but it literally shows up in an expensive pen with mammoth tusk inlays. This pen crosses a border of wealth and culture that the characters of the movie can't ever cross. And yet the lives of all the many different narratives interwoven here are perfectly parallel.But we know that parallel lines by definition never meet, even if they seem to in the distance down the tracks.The three or four narrative threads are relatively independent even if they relate completely in theme (and in some small direct connecting way) to each other. It's a little like "Babel" in that the stories are literally worlds apart. Central is the New York City couple with the two main stars, computer games analyst (Gael Garcia Bernal) and his emergency room surgeon wife (Michelle Williams). They have a child who is mostly taken care of by a live-in nanny, a Filipino woman with children of her own left behind in her home country.The third locale is Thailand because Bernal goes there on a business trip, and while he's there he has a kind of epiphany about the meaning of life. That's where the pen takes on a brief life of its own. The epiphany, like many revelations for all of us, is short-lived, too, and I think that's part of the idea. We all strive, we all have good intentions, but really nothing quite adds up. What figures most in all of the stories are the children--not least the cute and precocious New York City girl. The children of the nanny and the child of a Thai prostitute who has a slightly caricatured but important role also figure in. If the parents are doing what they can for their children, they are also even more doing what they can for themselves. And sometimes it seems like survival, but of course, survival how, at what economic level? Would it be better in fact to not prostitute yourself (as a nanny, for example) simply to get ahead? Or is this the only way to give your children something you don't get for yourselves.All of this is in the movie. It's intense, it wants to say a lot. And in some way it does. There is some sense that it doesn't always quite click, as if there are things the director could have pushed--or pulled--for greater effect. This isn't something to really judge from the outside, but it's not a masterpiece, which requires some other kind of aesthetic elevation. But it's really good, very good, a movie to see. See it.

Haven seeing the good reviews of the movies I was waiting till the end of the 120 minutes of the movie for something to happen. The story only take the daily conflict of rich new yorkers and Philippians people 'drama' but without any real insight or resolution. This is a story worth telling. Unfortunately these characters are presented in a TOTALLY unbelievable way. Nobody needs a lesson on class struggle in such a naive and distorted form. Equaling being poor with "wholesome goodness" is even more superficial. The movie story stays on the superficial aspects of reality. From the cast, production and photography even it's shoot in NY and Philippines it doesn't take any advantage of the locations scenarios. In summary: it's one of the most plain movies I've seeing, with a 'soap opera' story style. Not recommended at all.

like many others. a trip . like a lot of movies. a new Babel. but in specific way. a poem. about maternity, search of sense and broken bridges of soul. nothing more. story of three mothers in different places of world. and same problems, answers and tragedies. like game of mirrors. like hided arena.a young man in Thailand. his questions, quests and discoveries. and a strange pen. nothing else. a puzzle and definition of globalization fruits. or only reflection of same need of sense who makes heart of every society. who makes hours, months, years, decades of each man and woman.the axis of that heart is always the child. a child. who may be promise for better life. who must be legitimation of present sacrifice. who gives force in every difficult moment. a prey, a pray, a promise and perfect victim.so, the virtue of film is game of nuances. delicate. subtle. cruel. and wise. far from a moral lesson. but, with a very good cast, a letter to public.

I assume it was a great break for the director - a big budget movie with real pan-American stars. What a disappointment! I can completely relate to his plight for abandoned and exploited children, but as an art form - pardonne moi! It was fresh, groundbreaking and believable in "Lilya Forever" showing a Russian kid abandoned by her government and parents, and exploited in Estonia and then in Scandinavia. Here - a much weaker artistically, emotionally, and logically, attempt to develop the theme into a more global tell-all tale. Too bad, it paints a couple of hard-working (and yes, sorry to mention this, well-off) new-yorkers as complete morons, incapable not only of any rational move, but also of any true or at least understandable emotion. If Michelle Williams character is more or less believable, assuming she is severely overworked and terribly depressed, the lead "first lover" is just a walking caricature. There is literally nothing good to be said about this lead character played by Bernal. If people this inconsistent could reach adulthood in reality, they would never achieve any success in life, unlike in the movie. There are also other characters that are so cliché that one could just wonder if the screenwriter/director exercised any self-editing at all after compounding these two "heroines": a "good whore" and a "wise Philippina woman". The conclusion - even as a satire, it does not fly. Nobody needs a lesson on class struggle in such a naive and distorted form. Equaling being poor with "wholesome goodness" is even more superficial. One good thing though - the movie stimulates some thoughts of "downshifting". That is, why work hard, if harder you work - the less happy you apparently are, even if you do achieve your "goal" of living cushy life. A sort of stab at the American Dream. I guess many people could relate to that.