by Ashley Jane Davis, Staff Writer

Petite Maman
Written and Directed by Céline Sciamma
Starring Joséphine Sanz, Gabrielle Sanz, Nina Meurisse, Stéphane Varupenne, and Margo Abascal
Runtime: 70 minutes

Now that I’m at the age where I don’t know anyone who performs at the GRAMMYs, I realize that life moves fast. Childhood especially moves fast. It doesn’t feel like it when you’re a kid, but then one day you realize that you were in high school 20 years ago. This year, I’ve been making a real effort to live in the present. Sure, memories pop up, and I wonder about the future, but in my mind, the present is all that is real. What if it weren’t?

This is something that is explored in Céline Sciamma’s beautiful film, Petite Maman. Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to grow up with your parents? To see what they were really like during that magical existence of childhood? I have wondered that countless times. Would my mom want to be friends with me? What was my Grammie like as a mother to a young child? We get to experience this with young Nelly (Joséphine Sanz).

After her grandmother dies, Nelly and her parents return to her mother’s childhood home. As the adults tend to the overwhelming task of emptying the house, Nelly explores the surrounding forest and meets a girl around her age named Marion (Gabrielle Sanz). From the moment they meet there is an odd understanding that the two are not at all strangers. 

I loved everything about this movie. I’m sure people will compare it with Sciamma’s highly acclaimed film Portrait of a Lady on Fire and perhaps feel it is slight with not much to say, but I disagree. Admittedly, I knew going in that this was 100% Ashley Jane catnip, but I ended up loving it even more than I thought. While there are many tender and sad moments that made me cry (it is covered with a fog of grief), it wasn’t really a tale of loss. I believe it’s a tale of understanding and love. 

Petite Maman is also a look into a mirror to examine how we change as we become adults. If this exact storyline were being played out with adult characters, the whole movie would have been trying to diagnose the person, trying to explain how this scenario cannot be fact, or trying to return to the timeline where they belong. How about just enjoying miracles in the moment? The children understand what they have is not forever, but they don’t fret about it. They are enjoying life in that moment in a way that is so pure and wondrous and inspiring. This film at only 72 minutes flew by like childhood, but it’s begging you to be present and enjoy it.

You Are Not My Mother
Written and Directed by Kate Dolan
Starring Hazel Doupe, Paul Reid, Carolyn Bracken, Ingrid Craige
Runtime: 93 minutes

Have you ever been around someone you are close with and you can tell that something is just…off? The energy is heavy, and it seems like they are not themselves? This is exactly how Char (Hazel Doupe) feels when her mom, Angela (Carolyn Bracken), returns home after mysteriously disappearing without any explanation. You Are Not My Mother, a spooky film rooted in supernatural Irish folklore, examines how scary it can be to reckon with hidden family secrets.

There is a very unsettling way that Angela’s changed behaviour becomes more and more unpredictable in a way that reminds me of Leland Palmer in Twin Peaks. Can I talk about Twin Peaks for one second here? (My sweetheart is rolling her eyes because I won’t shut up about it lately.) You know how in the days and weeks following his daughter’s death, Leland randomly gets pulled into these otherworldly moods where he has a compulsion to dance and sing at odd times? And even though we don’t know what is up with him, it’s weird? But not necessarily menacing? THAT. 

Perhaps it’s a very specific type of element that totally gets under my skin, but director Kate Dolan nails that disarming feeling of allowing yourself to be vulnerable in a setting that should be safe, yet doesn’t feel right without really knowing why. While I enjoy lots of different types of horror films, I don’t often feel scared while watching. This worked for me. Ya scared me, Kate Dolan!

I am very excited to see what this director does next. She seems to have a lock on atmosphere in a way that I personally love most in horror. The dread is slow burning, tense, sensitive, and lingers over even the lighter scenes. There is a lot more going on in the film than what I describe. The film deals with bullying, rumours, mental illness, family, and friendship through an LGBTQ+ lens in a way that feels organic and not forced. But rather than me going on and on about it, I think you should just watch You Are Not My Mother. And then we can talk about it.

Compartment No. 6
Directed by Juho Kuosmanen
Written by Andris Feldmanis, Livia Ulman, and Juho Kuosmanen
Starring Seidi Haarla and Yuriy Borisov
Runtime: 107 minutes

These days, the thought of sharing a tight train compartment with a total stranger is probably my worst nightmare. Let’s sweeten the deal though – what if the train ride is several days long and you’re a woman paired with a loud and messy man who polishes off a bottle of vodka the first night? Can I just walk to the Arctic circle instead?

In Compartment No. 6 (co-winner of the Cannes Grand Prix), we are on a Scandinavian train adventure with two strangers, the Finnish Laura (Seidi Haarla), and the Russian Ljoha (Yuriy Borisov). They are different in nationality, language, background, and class, but both on their way to the remote city of Murmansk – Ljoha to work, and Laura to study rock paintings as an archaeology student. In time, we observe that they are both lonely, but unsure of what to really do with this loneliness. 

While I don’t know much about the Russian culture, my Finnish family had a saying, “silence is golden, talking is silver”. Small talk is not a Finn thing. While it may be normal to strike up a conversation with the person beside you on an airplane in North America, conversations like that are rarer in this setting. That is not to say that they are unfriendly or cold people, but connections are usually based on something much deeper than the incidental circumstances of life. How do you make a connection with someone who, at first, kinda irks you?

This movie made me feel so good. When you read the description, you may feel like you’ve seen many movies like this before, but I assure you that the journey here is different. This is a side note, but as someone who LOVES snow, it made me positively beam to watch folks frolic about in a snow storm that would shut down many cities over in North America.

My favourite thing about this film is that it reminded me to challenge my preconceived ideas. Most of us have a front that we present to the world, but have a lot more going on behind the facade. Sure, initial reactions may sometimes be right and serve as a protection, but how many times have I possibly missed out on unique friendships or experiences before giving them a shot?