Mammoth

Cast & Crew

Gael García Bernal

Leo

Michelle Williams

Ellen

Marife Necesito

Gloria

Sophie Nyweide

Jackie

Run Srinikornchot

Cookie

Tom McCarthy

Bob

Joseph Mydell

Ben Jackson

Caesar Kobb

Anthony

Lukas Moodysson

Director

Lukas Moodysson

Screenwriter

Lars Jönsson

Producer

Marcel Zyskind

Cinematographer

Michal Leszczylowski

Film Editing

Denise Östholm

Costume Design

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News & Interviews for Mammoth

Critics Consensus: New Moon Wanes

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Critic Reviews for Mammoth

Audience Reviews for Mammoth

• Sep 16, 2011

  Fragmented, but coherent, Mammoth comparatively narrates domestic drama in different social-cultural settings. Heaving with stereotypes, Mammoth concluded in accomplishment of imparting a definite set of emotions with the audiences.
  

  Super Reviewer
• Jun 23, 2010

  The film is gritty, with all the characters interrelated, yet somehow all unrelated. A thought provoking film from Lukas Moodysson in his first English piece as writer and director.
  

  chris h Super Reviewer
• Mar 04, 2010

  Written and directed by Lukas Moodysson, "Mammoth" is a melancholic indie feature showing how both those who have money and those who don't can be equally unhappy. On a deeper level, it's also about how parents - mainly out of necessity but sometimes out of cruelty - often fail to provide their children with the care and nurturing they need to feel protected and loved. Leo (Gael Garcia Bernal) and Ellen (Michelle Williams) are a young married couple with a seven-year-old daughter (Sophie Nyweide) who live in a fancy loft in Soho. Though a self-described "hippie" in his younger days, Leo has recently made it to the "big time" by turning his nerdish obsession with internet video games into a multimillion dollar enterprise. But Leo can't quite adjust to being a part of the privileged classes, and he yearns for a simpler life focused on his family, something that seems to be becoming ever more difficult to achieve with his busy schedule. Ellen works nights as an emergency room surgeon, which prevents her from spending the kind of quality time she would like with her daughter, Jackie, who, in turn, is becoming ever more attached to Gloria (Marife Necesito), her Filipina nanny. Gloria, meanwhile, is heartbroken at the fact that she's had to leave her two little boys back in the Philippines to basically fend for themselves, while she earns enough money to build the house they will all one day live in. Leo and Ellen are united in their desire to do good in the world - Ellen, by patching up broken bodies and shattered lives, and Leo, by spreading his new-found wealth around to those in need. In a way, they're finding their own means of helping to bridge the gap between the haves and the have-nots in this world. But at what cost to their family unit? The movie draws a distinct contrast between life in Manhattan and life in the Philippines, where Gloria's children live with the everlasting threat of poverty hanging over their heads, and Thailand, where Leo goes on a business trip and where his attraction to a beautiful native girl may ultimately prove too powerful to resist. Though at times it may seem meandering and insufficiently developed in terms of its storytelling, "Mammoth" finds its own strength in concentrating on those little moments of truth that form the essence of real life. And even though there is a surfeit of musical-montage sequences running throughout the film, it is partly counteracted by a subtle, spare and haunting musical score that nicely accentuates the lyrical nature of the piece. The last half hour, in particular, becomes a poetic and powerful account of people learning to prioritize their own lives in such a way as to be of the greatest value to both themselves and those around them. Leo and Ellen are a successful New York couple, totally immersed in their work. Leo is the creator of a booming website, and has stumbled into a world of money and big decisions. Ellen is a dedicated emergency surgeon who devotes her long shifts to saving lives. Their eight-year-old daughter Jackie (Sophie Nyweide) spends most of her time with her Filipino nanny Gloria; even when Ellen has time for her, Jackie often prefers to be with Gloria. Gloria has two children of her own, young boys staying in the Philippines with their grandmother. The older boy tries to find a job so that Gloria does not have to work abroad, but he gets hurt. Gloria is informed and quits her job right away to return to her country. Leo travels to Thailand to sign a contract, but in Thailand it turns out that his colleague has to negotiate additionally. In the meantime Leo is bored. There are attractive women offering themselves to him, but at first he does not want sex, and even pays a prostitute for not having sex with any client one evening. Later he has sex with a local women after all, but he regrets it afterwards, and has his colleague accept the terms offered, so that they can finish the work and return to the US. While on a trip to Thailand, a successful American businessman tries to radically change his life. Back in New York, his wife and daughter find their relationship with their live-in Filipino maid changing around them. At the same time, in the Philippines, the maid's family struggles to deal with her absence.
  

  Super Reviewer
• Feb 13, 2010

  Mammoth was the story of a rich New Yorker couple and their daughter and their nanny and her family. The one thing the woman, the man, and the nanny all have in common were the sacrifices they made for their kids. The couple, both had very successful jobs, and the nanny worked in the US to earn money for her kids in the Philippines. Each of the actors were superb, Gael García Bernal was simple marvelous in his role as Leo and Michelle Williams portrait a successful surgeon who was very sentimental active in her job. The story sounded a bit like in the style of Babel and Crash,but this movie was in some ways a more intimate version of that kind of storytelling.
  

  Super Reviewer