‘Primetime mother’ - Review
Crowned as the winner of the Golden Hypatia Award for Best International Fiction Film at the 10th edition of the Alexandria Short Film Festival, Sonny Calvento's 2023 haunting satirical short titled Primetime Mother opens an enthralling portal into the realm of motherhood and its blatant exploitation under capitalism and patriarchy.
The 15 minute short opens with a shot of our protagonist Minda (Meryll Soriano), a devoted mother whose sick child awaits at home while she along with other women wearing flower patterned dresses and wreaths of flowers on their heads are waiting for days to grasp a part of their dream; the chance to audition in a TV game show called ‘My Amazing Mama’ and win a cash prize. As soon as the announcement booms from the speakers, Minda and the other characters rush in a Herculean frenzy to reach the studio's door. Informed that they’re only accepting seven auditionees to participate in a process of elimination that will eventually leave three of them to star in the day's episode, Minda narrowly makes it. Inside the studio, the stakes are high and Minda initially finds herself enamoured by hesitation while the other contestants give it their all. A sick contestant collapses, with no one intending to help her resulting in her exclusion. Another one is quickly rejected because she's ‘boring’. One contestant who utilises martial arts while narrating her dire situation becomes the first to garner the director's approval.
The other contestants begin to understand that spectacle seems to be required, that the key to winning is wrapping up your suffering as digestible entertainment, so they follow suit and dramatise the telling of their struggles in an absurd fashion in hopes of pleasing the director and later on the audience. Minda redirects her focus on her ill son, and sets out to conquer these ridiculous trials with courage and tenacity despite the humiliation.
In Primetime Mother Calvento brilliantly resorts to satire and beautiful eclectic visuals in a brief yet bold attempt to criticise society’s views of motherhood. Starting by questioning the ‘good mother’ archetype and dissecting the correlation between putting mothers on a pedestal and their ability to withstand the suffering inflicted upon them by some of life’s cruel circumstances. The more the mothers offer in sacrifice for their families, and forcefully neglect their individualism and identity outside of motherhood, the more they are applauded by society for adhering to their ‘maternal nature’ and the celebration extends even further to include encouraging young daughters to tread the same steps as their mothers.
Primetime Mother delivers its critiques in a light manner while simultaneously uncovering that under the umbrella of capitalism and patriarchy, the struggles of many poor and working class women are exploited by the media, instead of their governments providing financial and social support, cleverly embodying these oppressive structures as the director whose role is to create a culture of competition among these women, and portraying society as the ever eager audience which continues to be complicit in upholding these structures.
Calvento's creation recognizes the audience's echoing laughter in the room as the mothers perform but urges us to reflect, to be concerned and horrified when the laughter grows louder.
Primetime Mother's message is universal, successfully travelling beyond the borders of the Philippines, and cemented here in Alexandria by the well deserved recognition of the jurors of the Short International Fiction panel which consisted of all female creatives from across the MENA region.