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Movies & TV

Ma Ma

MA MA

SPECIAL PRESENTATION D: Julio Medem. Spain/France. 111 min. Sep 15, 3 pm, Sep 16, 2 pm Elgin. See tiff.net. Rating: NNN


Penélope Cruz is producer and star in this showcase for her wide-ranging talents. She’s comical one-minute and devastating the next in a role she rides like an emotional elliptical machine.

Her Magda is separating from her husband while cherishing the moments with her son when she finds out she has breast cancer. She grapples with the grave circumstances with humour, mostly concerned about losing her nipple, and charges through chemo with infinite optimism, if only to keep everyone around her happy.

The flighty and weirdly uplifting take on terminal illness doesn’t negate the hurt Magda keeps trying to bury. The film does drag along too long, its quirky outlook giving way to tedium. Cruz keeps us charmed throughout. 

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