Mammoth

Swedish director Lukas Moodysson's Mammoth is an unsubtle drama that looks at the responsibilities of parenthood from very different socioeconomic perspectives. Successful Manhattan couple Leo (Gael García Bernal) and Ellen (Michelle Williams) reap a financial harvest in their respective careers as a Web developer and an emergency room surgeon, but their too-busy schedules require them to leave their 7-year-old daughter Jackie (Sophie Nyweide) in the care of Filipino nanny Gloria (Marife Necesito). But Gloria is also a working mother with issues: her employment supports her two young children—living in the Philippines with their grandmother in less-than-comfortable surroundings. While Ellen begins to feel a sense of isolation as Jackie bonds strongly with Gloria, Leo confronts his own angst on a trip to Thailand, where he discovers a prostitution ring that forces him to re-evaluate his priorities. Mammoth raises tough questions on both childcare and American views of the developing world, while Necesito's astonishing performance as a woman caught between two very different environments provides the film with a sturdy emotional foundation. Unfortunately, Bernal and Williams never truly seem at home in their characters, with the end result that Mammoth's laudable dramatic intentions are never fully realized. Optional. (P. Hall)