In his fifth feature in as many years, the 25-year-old virtuoso director Xavier Dolan gives us a magnificently brassy tale of tearaway teen versus long suffering matriarch.
Diane is a single parent whose son Steve is an unruly troublemaker suffering from ADHD and attachment disorder. When Steve is expelled from his latest juvenile facility, Diane has to take him back into her home full time, forcing the sparring pair to re-establish a relationship and work out how to co-exist once more. As a neighbour, Kyla, gets drawn into their crazy orbit, an unlikely family formation emerges which has a profound effect on them all.
Showcasing the young director’s youthful energy and seemingly limitless imagination, Mommy is a masterclass in filmmaking flair. Shot in a striking 1:1 aspect ratio, which seems to frame each character within their own personal Instagram-sized prison, and to the sounds of a so-uncool-its-cool 90s soundtrack, this is a work of bracing visual dexterity and bold emotional resonance
