Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: MAM [SXSW Film - Austin Texas]
Sometimes a film walks the line of what is real and fiction but most of the time it is done for inherent drama. "Mam" [Narrative Spotlight] follows the story of a would-be chef named Jerald who wants to make a name for himself as a chef in NYC after growing up in Texas and spending time in Vietnam loving their cuisine. The film initially looks like a documentary but then it looked scripted with a heightened reality. After the credits rolled and some research was done (sometimes better to go in cold on festival films), it turns out that these entrepreneurs are real and have a highly hyped Vietnamese restaurant on the Lower East Side (hence "Mam"). Even when living in New York unless exclusively in culinary circles, places like these sometimes slip through the cracks but this is a cool way to approach it. Here though writer/director Nan Feix finds a blend of authenticity. The co-star of the film is Jerald's wife Nhung whom the film portrays as a girl he meets through his time in Chinatown working for a man who owns the building where the restaurant is eventually located. The owner doesn't seem interested in helping Jerald with his career. It may be dramatic license and some aspects feel staged of course so it is hard to saw what actually happened. But the acting is done by two non-actors...who are the actual chefs...and this is their story pretty much as it is happening which is an interesting blend. But the recreations must have been done afterwards.
"Mam" is a unqiue blend again of meta-narrative (since Jerald narrates the film at times). It is a great companion piece, no matter where the restaurant is or even they go in the future (thouugh NYC helps_. But like it was mentioned before, this is not about drama. The film, in its form, is about community, trust and resilience which is a nice change of pace. There is strife and hard work and sometimes good things happen to those who work hard. The aspect of running an afterhours in a place of business (it is never quite clear what the extent is of the food the owner Chen (played by an actor) actually serves -- or if it was a real person). But it serves the point of the story. These kinds of success stories are all about timing so for dramatic purposes it happened during this time but again how close it is to real life is for the participants to discuss (or not). But even just watching as a narrative, it feels lived in. It feels like jazz...which is helped by the soundtrack which blends beatnik instrumentals, either stock or original that really sell the path that Jerald is on. Nhung though is the first that allows both her expertise and her seeing something in him to let their dream to fly. That is the power of "Mam". B+
By Tim Wassberg
