Written and directed by Lukas Moodysson, "Mammoth" is a melancholic indie feature showing how both those who have money and those who don't can be equally unhappy. On a deeper level, it's also about how parents – mainly out of necessity but sometimes out of cruelty - often fail to provide their children with the care and nurturing they need to feel protected and loved.

Leo (Gael Garcia Bernal) and Ellen (Michelle Williams) are a young married couple with a seven-year-old daughter (Sophie Nyweide) who live in a fancy loft in Soho. Though a self-described "hippie" in his younger days, Leo has recently made it to the "big time" by turning his nerdish obsession with internet video games into a multimillion dollar enterprise. But Leo can't quite adjust to being a part of the privileged classes, and he yearns for a simpler life focused on his family, something that seems to be becoming ever more difficult to achieve with his busy schedule. Ellen works nights as an emergency room surgeon, which prevents her from spending the kind of quality time she would like with her daughter, Jackie, who, in turn, is becoming ever more attached to Gloria (Marife Necesito), her Filipina nanny. Gloria, meanwhile, is heartbroken at the fact that she's had to leave her two little boys back in the Philippines to basically fend for themselves, while she earns enough money to build the house they will all one day live in.

Leo and Ellen are united in their desire to do good in the world – Ellen, by patching up broken bodies and shattered lives, and Leo, by spreading his new-found wealth around to those in need. In a way, they're finding their own means of helping to bridge the gap between the haves and the have-nots in this world. But at what cost to their family unit? The movie draws a distinct contrast between life in Manhattan and life in the Philippines, where Gloria's children live with the everlasting threat of poverty hanging over their heads, and Thailand, where Leo goes on a business trip and where his attraction to a beautiful native girl may ultimately prove too powerful to resist.

Though at times it may seem meandering and insufficiently developed in terms of its storytelling, "Mammoth" finds its own strength in concentrating on those little moments of truth that form the essence of real life. And even though there is a surfeit of musical-montage sequences running throughout the film, it is partly counteracted by a subtle, spare and haunting musical score that nicely accentuates the lyrical nature of the piece. The last half hour, in particular, becomes a poetic and powerful account of people learning to prioritize their own lives in such a way as to be of the greatest value to both themselves and those around them.

MAMMOTH is a sensitively written and directed film by Lukas Moodysson that adroitly traces three stories that all intertwine within the confines of one family. It touches on many aspects of human relationships but the one driving force behind each of the several stories that are woven in this film is the importance of family. It is a profoundly moving film beautifully brought to life by a fine cast of actors.

Leo Vidales (Gael García Bernal in yet another role that proves he is one of the finest actors on the screen today, despite his young age) is a highly successful designer of video games, married to Ellen (Michelle Williams), a committed Physician and Surgeon, and parent to a vibrant little girl Jackie (Sophie Nyweide) who is devoted to her Filipino nanny Gloria (Marife Necesito) who is living with the Vidales to make money to send home to her treasured young sons Manuel (Martin Delos Santos) and Salvador (Jan David G. Nicdao) living in the Philippines with their grandmother (Maria Esmeralda del Carmen). Leo's family unit is warm and secure (the only minor crack in the veneer is young Jackie's preference for spending time with the more available Gloria than with Ellen due to Ellen's long hours in the hospital).

Leo is called to Thailand on a business trip to sell his ideas to Thai entrepreneurs and while there his business partner (Thomas McCarthy) suggests that he partake of the feminine charms readily available in this country. Leo is faithful and declines advances from call girls but eventually gives in to a beautiful young Cookie (Natthamonkarn Srinikornchot) only to be driven by remorse to make a quick sell of his product to return to his family. Meanwhile at home Ellen is devastated by the death of one of her young patients and in her distress she must allow Gloria to return to the Philippines whose one son has been severely beaten in his attempt to gain more money for his family so that his mother needn't work in the USA. How the results of all these traumas resolve forms the touching ending of this moving story.

While each of the actors mentioned is superb, Gael García Bernal shines in a very subtle role as does Michelle Williams who manages to make Ellen credible without becoming saccharine. Yes, if the story sounds a bit like another film in the style of Alejandro González Iñárritu ('Babel') or Paul Haggis ('Crash'), then that is a fine comparison as this film is in many ways a more intimate version of that kind of storytelling. Highly recommended.

Grady Harp

Leo Vidales (Gael García Bernal) is the successful creator of a video game website. His wife Ellen Vidales (Michelle Williams) is a stressed emergency room surgeon. They are away most of the time. Their daughter Jackie spends most of her days with the Filipino nanny Gloria. Leo goes to Bangkok on a business trip. He decides to relive his younger days by backpacking and meets prostitute Cookie. Ellen connects with a young patient and struggles with her relationship to her own child. Gloria is also struggling with her two young sons asking for her to return.

Writer/director Lukas Moodysson seems more intent in making a point than making a compelling dramatic movie. For the most part, this moves at a snail's pace. The three separate stories are making some interesting points about exploitation, responsibility, and connectivity. There are problems when the three stories are combined to make a bigger point. Maybe there is no big point to be had. None of it matters because the plot meanders so slowly in the first half.