Originally, Sunday at the film festival was supposed to be a day off, a day to perhaps write and lounge around the house in my long johns, but alas this was not to be the case. You see my lovely wife’s colleagues, knowing that I am a “film man”, have been springing loads of soon to be extinct free movie vouchers upon us. Not one to pass up a freebie this has lead to the inclusion of three extra films under the festival; Revolutionary Road (2008), which played this Sunday, is one of these films and subsequently did also play at the festival so I’ve included it under this heading.

I have to say that Revolutionary Road was a surprisingly well done film, to a large extent an excellent companion to a film like Mammoth (2009), as both films press against what I would consider to be similar theoretical fault lines, albeit from different positions. Where Mammoth treats and sets its critique of modern pursuits in more contemporary terms, Revolutionary Road uses an old “sci-fi” trick in order to gain some “critical distance” approaching the same themes from the past instead.

The difference in the two films, beyond their time periods, is that Revolutionary Road is a much more brutal and raw critique of its subject material. It is a “force feeding” of sorts that hits on many points that are extremely easy for anyone to see in themselves and or relate to. Whereas Mammoth has two extreme positions, one of upper class and one of lower class, Revolutionary Road exists as a sort of middle of the road position, to this effect as stated the two films are great companion pieces.

What is so very interesting here for me, something I stated to my wife upon leaving the movie theater, is the how or why films like these are popping up now, especially in more commercial movie theaters. The question’s answer is easily accessible, of which I’ve hinted at in the title to this post. My theory on the matter is that, like there was at the end of the 60s, there exists now a tear in the veil through which the energy to produce certain types of films, Revolutionary Road included, is pouring through. The time periods in both Mammoth and Revolutionary Road are in no way shape or form the same, just as the 60s attempt at revolution is different from the reforms called for now. What is the same is the continued existence of a hole in the facade of banal pursuits, and the questioning that surrounds what we strive for on a daily basis.

I sometimes joke around with my friends or acquaintances when they ask me what I plan on doing with my degree in film by telling them, “I’m gonna make porno’s!” The truth be told I’ve always been in it for exactly this kind of analysis, to use the filters my film degree has provided me to see the flux of society through films, to see the zeitgeist of our times that pours through a well made film like Revolutionary Road.

I have been a bit lax as of late with posts revolving around music on account of the film festival. So In effort to combine the two here is a quick blurb; I was reminded of today in regards to Lukas Moodysson’s Mammoth (2009), that the sound track is brilliant. The specific track I’ve chosen to showcase this point is one from Ladytron, entiled “Destroy Everything You Touch“, from their 2005 album Witching Hour. Ladytron has also been popping up with regularity on my raider in regards to my “hunt” for contemporary music so I’ve thrown in a second track of theirs beyond Mammoths films soundtrack to display their musical prowess, now go out and buy their albums!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

When I went to see Mammoth yesterday I went without too many expectations on the film, no baggage to take with me into the movie theater, hadn’t read a single review or synopsis, and I’m very glad that this was the case. The director of Mammoth (2009), Lukas Moodysson is to a large extent Sweden’s own David Fincher, a director who tends to produce, whether it’s your cup of tea or not, stable and decent work every time out. Mammoth, his first film with major international film stars and a sizeable budget, is no black mark on his resume. Had Mammoth come out in 2008, I easily would have had it in my top 5 list, so it definitely has set the bar high early in 2009.

Mammoth more so than anything else critiques the confines of individual prisons that exist within the globally intertwined capitalist society. This is accomplished by showcasing a “modern” New York family, contrasting their individual hells in the race to succeed and obtain more, with that of their Philipino nanny who is in a similar position.

Having already, two hours prior to Mammoth’s showing, been and watched I.O.U.S.A (2008) at the Gothenburg Film Festival I had the perfect set up for this film. Mammoth is a film that intricately and slowly allows us to be aware of some of the insane ways society functions through capitalism, the faulty logic present therein. Moodysson as a director has, as a trademark, shown this typically through the eyes of children (Lilja-4-ever (2002), Fucking Åmål (1998)). It is not difficult again in Mammoth to understand the point that in the end it is always the children who suffer most. Amazingly, for a male director, is also the contrast Moodysson is also able to weave around “responsible” women characters against men who essentially are allowed to run a muck and have fun eventually falling victim to their own genitals.

Mammoth is probably the most engaging movie that I have seen since I’m Not There (2007), requiring one’s complete attention. This requirement, and subsequent lack of attention, was visible at the showing with people mucking about with their mobile phones half way through the film’s 125 minute run time, obviously disinterested at a commercial movie theater’s viewing of a film that is directly critiquing their existences and pursuits. Had I had the same chance that I did last year, that is to write a major academic essay on a film, I would have chosen Mammoth as my subject. Its exploration of the postmodern condition, that all identities and classes are essentially one and the same, suffering from similar ills would have been too meaty for me to pass on. I’m left with only one question that really requires a re-viewing for my theoretical “nerdiness” and that is, if in fact, the words “Intellectual Capital” are flashed across the screen at one point? Even if they are not, it is the perfect answer to the questions the film raises.