Mascotte

Reticent teenager Jeremy doesn’t open his mouth much, not just because he is untalkative, but also because he has an oral affliction that requires him to wear dentures. As the sole male in his house, Jeremy feels obliged to play white knight to his single mother Abbey, whether driving her home after a night out or threatening her boss to protect her job. His overly close relationship to his mother, combined with self-esteem issues, comes to a head when Abbey starts dating again.

Remy van Heugten’s Mascotte is a tense, hard-edged examination of the pangs of individuation and the inheritance of malady. Jeremy nurtures a mysterious grudge against his absent, mythical father, whose identity he vehemently keeps from his younger sister Emine. In his attempts to toughen up and play the man, Jeremy is casually drawn to extremist ideology.

With its intimate, realist cinematography relieved by bursts of primary colour, Mascotte keeps us close to Jeremy’s perspective. While it centres on Jeremy’s strained links to Abbey, the film is equally about Abbey’s struggle to carve a space for herself while keeping her family afloat. A tough and unsettling domestic drama, Mascotte sheds light on the corrosive bonds that make up a family.

– Srikanth Srinivasan

The screening on 28 January will be preceded by a video essay by the Young Film Critics, as part of the Critics’ Choice programme.

Mascotte is also available with free SDH and audio description via Subcatch and Earcatch, find more information here

Trailer

• 

• 

• 

•