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★★★☆☆
8 January 2018
A movie review of MARY GOES ROUND. |
“You don’t deserve forgiveness just because you need it now,” Mary (Aya Cash)
The film’s central irony is laid on too thick: The lead is an addiction councillor while also being an alcoholic. Unless, MARY GOES ROUND is trying to show we are too quick to dish advice that we ourselves should heed? Or empathy comes more easily to those who have similarly suffered? Indie movies not simplifying humanity are always welcome. (A shame such ambition has not seeped into the blockbuster spectacle.)
Women going through personal crises are still rare in cinema, though it is getting better (e.g. TINY FURNITURE, FRANCES HA, YOUNG ADULT, PREGGOLAND, etc.). Society seems to not acknowledge female existential conundrums. MARY GOES ROUND recognises human imperfections, but the soap opera, melodramatic revelations grate.
The film’s central irony is laid on too thick: The lead is an addiction councillor while also being an alcoholic. Unless, MARY GOES ROUND is trying to show we are too quick to dish advice that we ourselves should heed? Or empathy comes more easily to those who have similarly suffered? Indie movies not simplifying humanity are always welcome. (A shame such ambition has not seeped into the blockbuster spectacle.)
Women going through personal crises are still rare in cinema, though it is getting better (e.g. TINY FURNITURE, FRANCES HA, YOUNG ADULT, PREGGOLAND, etc.). Society seems to not acknowledge female existential conundrums. MARY GOES ROUND recognises human imperfections, but the soap opera, melodramatic revelations grate.
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The opening credits is a montage of drunkenness. Mary Jackson (Aya Cash) wakes to unknown bruises. Addiction (booze, drugs, shopping, food, etc.) arguably reveals a crutch for deep unhappiness. The audience is informed quickly of 29-year old Mary’s melancholy. Her mother died when she was just 18, and her estranged father has just reached out through Facebook - perhaps bringing to the surface memories that she wished to suppress.
After crashing a car goes viral on YouTube, a leave of absence is forced on Mary. This is the catalyst for departing Toronto and returning to the family home at Niagara Falls. There she finds out her father, Walt (John Ralston), is dying of cancer, and meets for the first time her 16-year old half-sister, Robyn (Sara Waisglass). Walt has not told Robyn, and typifies the movie’s bizarre withholding of information for so-called dramatic purposes. MARY GOES ROUND did not need histrionics. It should have had the courage of just depicting day-to-day struggles. These characters are low-key winsome. The filmmakers could have taken a leaf from the mumblecore genre, where narrative tension comes from commonplace awkwardness.
Walt is attempting to put his house in order, by getting his children to bond so they will at least have each other. Funny moments punctuate. The feeling abounds that burgeoning self-awareness will prevent the mournful dominating. At one point I wondered whether the story was saying, to help others will stop narcissism. If so, nice.
As a calling card, MARY GOES ROUND shows debut feature writer-director Molly McGlynn has potential.
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