Mama's Boy: A Story from Our Americas

Best movie I've seen all year. I've seen good productions, but a really great film is different. A great film has to tell you something that you didn't know before. Or, rather, to make you feel something, something deep, to reach inside you and touch something that resonates deep into your soul. I know that some people will not feel this way after seeing it, but I found that, in one way or another, my own journey has mirrored Dustin's. I wonder if many young people will understand and really feel the emotions that this films evokes. So much has changed since I made my journey. Things I never thought would happen... happened. And they happened because of people like Dustin. We owe him more that we can ever repay. And this film shows how & why. All I can say to him is: promise kept, promise fulfilled. Well done.

The movie "Mama's Boy" is a documentary about Dustin Lance Black, an Academy Award-winning screenwriter of the film Milk, and his upbringing in a conservative Mormon family, the impact of his mother's resilience, and his journey toward embracing his gay identity and activism. In actuality, the film doesn't primarily center around Dustin Lance Black's life; rather, it places a stronger emphasis on his family, particularly focusing on his mother. In this documentary, Dustin Lance Black demonstrates his exceptional storytelling skills. He skillfully captures the most impactful and crucial details from the family narrative in a simple, straightforward, and succinct manner that makes it feel as if we have personally witnessed each event.

The connection he shared with his mother is deeply moving, and her enduring strength in the fight for life permeates her son as though through a process of osmosis.

"Mama's Boy" is a timeless narrative of resilience, reconciliation, and the lasting connection between a mother and her son. By exchanging stories, it serves as a powerful reminder of the resilience that love can instill in us, compelling us to champion our beliefs.

This is a moving portrait of how a very special woman overcame incredible odds and raised one of the most gifted writers and LGBT activists of our time.

In telling the story of the family and background that shaped him, Dustin Lance Black creates a portrait that is more vivid and moving than any work of fiction.

His journey from poverty and struggle in the most religiously conservative parts of the country, to the Oscar stage, to building bridges and understanding within the homophobic Mormon church, is much more than a tale of self-discovery and coming out.

The beautifully crafted documentary is infused with love. It celebrates the impact that a strong and loving woman can have on her children, and in this case, on the evolving attitudes of our society.

'Oh he won an Oscar so he must tell an amazing story!'

That's what I thought when I saw the promo come up on HBOMax- I was wrong. Maybe had a read it the story may have had more emphasis but I doubt it.

Dustin is a little too breathless, a little too dramatic to allow the viewer to fall into the story, and I didn't even make it halfway before finally turning it off altogether.

Aside from the obnoxious telling by Dustin, we're also treated to polio nonsense that compares the vaccine to the Covid vaccine (no really) and completely ignores the real truth behind polio, how it spread, why it spread so rapidly, why you didn't want to be one of the first to get the vaccine, how the filth contributes to spread, and some genuine falsehoods that as an healthcare frontline worker, makes me think this is more about creating drama than informing people of the truth.

I've seen many of his works and haven't been as enthralled as the Hollywood elites (to the point of throwing awards at him so they can feel like they did something valuable) but he's managed to tell the stories in an interesting way that held me until the end; this does nothing close.

Mama's Boy: A Story From Our Americas (2022) -

I rewrote this review about five times, because it came across in such a negative way, but all the points that I made were valid, yet without any additions that I could make to say why it was actually good.

Initially I thought that this film was produced, written and directed by Dustin Lance Black, as a sweet dedication to a Mother that he obviously loved, but I wondered whether it was really worth making? Was the story special and different enough to warrant it or was it just self indulgent on Dustin's part?

Was it just another story of a sick person that just happened to have a screenwriter for a son or was there something more extraordinary to it all? And did it ultimately fulfil the promise that his Mum claimed that he had made at the Oscar's?

Upon completion I really didn't know. In some ways it felt a bit like "Poor me, my life has been so hard and it started with my otherly abled mum", but by the time it got to the end, it showed how Dustin was using his position as a relatively public figure to deliver a One World message and bolster support for the LGBTQ+ community as well as others. Although it still had a touch of the "Aren't I brilliant?" about it even then.

Personally, I barely even march at pride anymore and I know that I could be doing more to promote acceptance, tolerance and understanding within every community, but at the same time there is a part of me that doesn't want to make a fuss anymore, in order to stop acknowledging differences, because I do believe that the more Pride marches we have, the more Black History Month's and Trans Recognition Day's we have, the more we are saying that there are differences, when actually we are all the same human race, with the same ability to love if we choose to.

We really should have moved passed these fights for our rights already, it is 2022 for Christ's sake.

As the film progressed, I started to wonder who it was really about, because although the start of the film suggested that it was to be about his mum, even his memories of her were very centred on himself. And that was true all the way through it too. But I suppose that it was the title of the story - Mama's BOY!

When I realised that it wasn't made by him, I started to feel that whoever was making the film was doing it as a favour in order to boost Dustin's media presence and to give him a platform for his own work. It was almost an advert for 'Milk' (2008), and perhaps if it had been more about what Mr Black has achieved since his Mother's passing as well as how others can get involved and less about his Mum's origins, Etc, I might have been more impressed and interested in this piece, because the work he is doing now is the important thing to take away from this film.

I didn't know Dustin or his work enough to be watching this as a devoted fan. I only really knew that he was the somebody, who'd made a film, that had married Tom Daley, so I was hoping for something more from this documentary that made it stand out, that made it different from all the "Sob Stories" that have been heard on reality TV shows for years now. And I don't wish to diminish the ladies achievements, because Mrs Black (Not Tom, Dustin's Mother) was very impressive for the way that she lived her life with what appeared to be so much drive and determination and probably far more strength than I'll ever have, but now, after the event, it seemed that the film didn't really know what story they were making and the waters were muddied about where it was going. The ending was wrapped up a bit too quickly as a result and as I've stated above, I believe that was where the most relevance was.

I also felt that he was swearing to emphasise points, but that the words were unfamiliar to him, so I suppose that there was an element of disingenuousness about it too.

Having known nothing about him and especially his Mother, I didn't realise how depressing and upsetting it was going to be to watch this film either, because one of its strong points was how it sensitively showed the pain and the losses that the family endured.

These coming out tales are always hard to watch for me, especially with my own Mum, because it almost seems to dredge it up all over again, but neither of us says anything, because we don't want to upset how things are now and maybe that's why I'd rather see films that are about openly gay men who don't have any issues like that. Films like 'Bros' (2022), 'Single All The Way' (2021) and even 'God's Own Country' (2017), because they don't bring it up. I realise that this film was a documentary and not fiction, but the principal was the same, it could have easily been about the positives in Dustin's life instead. That's just my thoughts in general though and with Dustin's religious background that element was probably very relevant to everything else in this case. Even the smallest coming out stories are relevant and important to the individual coming out, but not all of them will have such an impact on a family, town or the world.

Funnily enough, my Mother actually enjoyed this film a lot, she even made me pause it every time she went to the loo, which was unprecedented. And that's not to say that I didn't like it, because I did, but I noted these points as I watched and so few were anything that could be seen as positives, yet all of them seemed to be connected.

I suppose overall that the two stories combined did make it worthy of being produced, as a piece that was poignant to the world we still live in and as a history of this young and talented writer, because 'Milk' was very good, but I still believe that there should have been more of a focus on Dustin's campaign work, despite his Mum's fantastic lust for life.

640.93/1000.