Mammoth

Playing out like a b-side to Babel, Mammoth is anything but throwaway. Tackling similar subjects as Inarritu's 2006 epic but on a much smaller scale, Mammoth's story is a little warmer than its big brother but its looseness and plodding pace lets it down.

Mammoth opens with Bernal, Williams and Nyweide playing happy families, so you can bet the farm that things are going to go downhill from there. And they do. Bernal's Soho-based game site creator takes off to Bangkok to sign a new contract and is distracted by what Thailand has to offer, namely the company of prostitute Cookie (Natthamonkarn Srinikornchot). Back home, doctor Williams struggles to find the time to spend with their 8-year-old daughter Jackie (Nyweide) and has a more than professional interest in the young boy in the OR, in critical condition after been stabbed in the stomach by his mother. With Bernal away at Williams at work, it's left to their Philippine maid Gloria (Necesito) to raise Jackie; she's more than happy to do so since she misses her two young sons (Jan David G. Nicdao and Martin Delos Santos) back home. Their lives will propel to a climax that will change them forever.

Running parallel to this is Mammoth's theme, a theme that director Moodysson doesn't mind hammering home. We, as in humans, are not long for this world: Bernal is given a gift of an expensive pen encased in mammoth ivory, mammoths being long since extinct, and Bernal wonders that if human bones are destined for a similar fashion for another 'superior' race. During a trip to the Natural History Museum, Jackie learns about the extinction of dinosaurs and how fragile the world is (her bedroom is dotted with skulls). We're all not long for this world so finding the time to spend with our loved ones is paramount. It's a nice message.

Moodysson, who also writes here, tackles our lacklustre substitutions for the real thing, those useless distractions that interrupt us from our true calling. Bernal's dalliance with Cookie only serves to highlight what he's missing at home; Williams' connection with the unconscious boy (not properly expanded, by the way) stands in for her alienation from her daughter; Gloria's love of Jackie is only a surrogate for her boys.

Played out with believable performances (especially Williams, whose current arthouse roles stress her movement away from her Dawson's Creek era), Mammoth might stop short of Babel's all encompassing world plot, but still worms its way into the heart in a way Babel never could.