Iris K. Shim’s non-documentary directorial debut possesses every necessary component for an elevated horror movie, but the film stalls out before it effectively accomplishes its vision. Regardless of Sandra Oh’s spectacular lead performance, Umma is a lackluster horror film that gets caught between jump-scare tactics and a moving chronicle of generational trauma. The ambitious film’s key shortcoming is its imbalance between styles of horror movies. Umma explores dense themes including cultural assimilation, generational rituals, and how one must contend with the past to stay alive. Meant to stand among movies such as Hereditary and The Babadook, Shim’s inaugural film oversimplifies and finds itself reduced to overplayed, straightforward scare techniques.
Umma—meaning “mom” in Korean—follows a first-generation Korean immigrant who left South Korea to escape her demanding and tortuous mother. Amanda (Oh) lives outside a rural town on American farmland with her homeschooled daughter, Chris (Fivel Stewart). Amanda and her daughter work together as beekeepers peacefully until Amanda’s uncle (Tom Yi) arrives to deliver her estranged mother’s ashes. Her uncle lectures her for leaving Korea and renouncing her family before promptly leaving her with her mother’s remains. By ignoring her past, Amanda is confronted with the inability to escape her mother both internally and supernaturally. Beyond the suffocating paranormal terror, Umma presents an intelligent narrative that at its core scrutinizes improper coping.
Umma’s curse is an imperfect blend of talent that may shine occasionally but mostly trips over itself. Producer Sam Raimi’s horror credentials will attract people to the theaters, but where his horror extravagance is obvious, Umma required subtlety instead. Even though the film is diluted by generic horror tropes, Oh’s strong performance and Shim’s screenplay offer glimpses of the most striking fear examined in the movie: unsuccessfully dealing with trauma and passing it along to a new generation. PG-13, 83 min.
The post Umma appeared first on Chicago Reader.