The Mother of All Lies review – pursuing the truth of Morocco’s brutal dictatorship years

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Asmae El Moudir employs a delicate mix of handmade replicas and oral testimony to brilliantly evoke personal and collective trauma Between those who refuse to remember and those who struggle to forget, a tumultuous clash of minds occupies the centre of Asmae El Moudir’s inventive documentary, a prize-winner at last year’s Cannes film festival. Through a constellation of clay figurines and dollhouse-style miniature sets, most of which were constructed by El Moudir’s father, the director recreates her oppressive childhood in the Sebata district of Casablanca. Under the watchful eyes of her domineering grandmother Zahra, all personal photos are banished from the house, save for a picture of King Hassan II. The delicate mix of handmade replicas and oral testimony brilliantly evokes the personal and collective trauma that stem from Morocco’s “Years of Lead” – a period of state brutality under Hassan II’s dictatorial rule. Lingering on the nimble fingers of El Moudir’s father as he puts t
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Jethica review – stalker meets his deadpan match in comedy-horror

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A largely improvised script gives this low-budget feature spontaneity, as it deftly moves from creepy to comic by way of the supernatural

This low-budget comedy-horror feature gives most of its cast “screenplay by” credit, so it’s quite likely they sort of made it up as they went along, or at least substantially improvised a pre-agreed story. Nothing wrong with that, especially since that spontaneity is really felt in the performances, particularly from Will Madden as a manic stalker with a slight lisp named Kevin who won’t shut up. Disgorging an unceasing, frenzied torrent of verbiage, Kevin has followed Jessica (Ashley Denise Robinson) from Los Angeles to New Mexico where she grew up. The title is a not especially amusing reference to Kevin’s speech issue; he stands outside her window calling for her at all hours, ranting about his feelings for her, emitting passive-aggressive fumes of toxicity that grow increasingly more aggressive-aggressive.

Luckily, Jessica is staying with her friend Elena (Callie Hernandez, a mistress of deadpan disdain who recently appeared in Shotgun Wedding). Elena knows exactly what Kevin’s problem is and knows how to get rid of him and it doesn’t involve appeasement or calling the police. Let’s just say there’s a supernatural component to the story. Her grandmother knew all about this stuff.

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