Mamma Gógó

• Director: Fridrik Thor Fridriksson
• Writer: Fridrik Thor Fridriksson
• Cast: Kristbjörg Kjeld Hilmir Snaer Gudnason Margret Vilhjalmsdottir Gunnar Eyjolfsson
• Language: Icelandic
• Theatrical Release Date: January 1, 2010
• On The Web IMDB Entry

Synopsis: Longtime Festival favorite Fridrik Thor Fridriksson returns with the smart, sly and affecting "Mamma Gógó." A tribute to his mother, who recently passed away, "Mamma Gógó" is a heavily fictionalized yet boldly honest self-portrait, as well as a sharp satire about the film industry and contemporary Icelandic society.

Suffused with a love of movies and packed with allusions to other films, "Mamma Gógó" centers on the relationship between the eponymous heroine, an ailing woman (Kristbjörg Kjeld) struggling with the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, and her favorite child, a film director (Hilmir Snær Guðnason) who has just made his debut feature. This film-within-a-film happens to be a serious, somber portrait of the neglect faced by elderly people in contemporary society, particularly in Iceland, a subject similar to that of Fridriksson’s own second film, "Children of Nature."

At the film’s premiere, the director introduces it, somewhat pompously, as a tribute to the disappearing Iceland he grew up in. But when the film flops at the box office, he proceeds to ignore his mother, and his finances and career begin to go off the rails. In a panic, he hounds his friend the prime minister to help him, desperately trying to pump up the movie by bragging about awards from festivals he’s only heard of.

Meanwhile, his mother’s behavior grows increasingly erratic – a condition her son doggedly tries to ignore. She’s being visited regularly by her dead husband, who complains bitterly about unkept promises and how shabbily she’s being treated, which only spurs her into increasingly dangerous behaviour. (The exquisite hallucination and flashback sequences use scenes from "The Girl Gogo," one of the first big domestic hits in Iceland, which also starred Kjeld.)

Central to the film is the notion that we’re seldom aware of changes that happen right before our eyes – and on the most personal level – preferring instead to chase after phantoms. Holding rancour and tenderness, regret and self-delusion in potent tension, "Mamma Gógó" rivals Fridriksson’s best work and may, in fact, be his masterpiece. [Synopsis courtesy of Steve Gravestock, Toronto International Film Festival]