Movie Review: MOTHERLAND

There is one-and only one-reason why the fictional world of Motherland exists: incompetent police officers. When Raffi Tang (Francoise Yip) is called home following the murder of her mother, she is reunited with a family she ran away from. But what happens when Raffi begins to uncover information about her divorced parents legal wrangling and shockingly shoddy police work?

Doris Yeung's freshman feature is a slow burn, ramping up over the course of 90 minutes without a shred of pretension or overt agenda. It's not in a rush to get all the information onto the screen; instead, it all trickles out when the script is good and ready. For instance, Raffi receives a phone call from someone named Rachel very early on which sets the story in motion. Who is Rachel? The relationship isn't mentioned again for another fifteen minutes and, even then, without fanfare.

One of the key revelations about Raffi-at least in relation to the movie playing at Outfest-is that she is a lesbian and Rachel is a former partner. This piece of the backstory is handled matter-of-factly, as if in this universe homosexuality is not an issue. Curiously, the only people who seem to have had a problem with it are Raffi's deceased mother-the cause for her running to Mexico-and the cop investigating the murder. He is initially taken aback by the information, which is curious in and of itself considering the story takes place in the San Francisco Bay area.

I've mentioned the police in the film twice now without getting into specifics. To be blunt, the handful of scenes featuring the investigator tend to be the only unrealistic portion of the production. Why is that? There seems to be a clue buried in an exchange he and Raffi have late in the film. A veteran of the force with a dozen years experience, this is his first murder case. Is it simply a case of not knowing proper etiquette? (He tries to give information to the family during the funeral.) Are his detective chops lacking? (Two key pieces of evidence are brazenly overlooked until Raffi points them out.) Or is it simply a way to turn Raffi into a cop by default? The film isn't necessarily sure and, therefore, neither is the audience.

The story itself isn't so much about Raffi uncovering family secrets as it is her coming to terms with the people who she called Mom and Dad. On the surface, Motherland is about a parent dying and the other not being the person you expect, yet can also be seen as a child maturing, growing up and realizing her place in the greater world. As with the overall story, this maturation takes a long time to get going but, by the third act, Raffi is fully her own person, unafraid of confronting the situation she finds herself in.

That particular sequence of two scenes-one with a cop and the other with her father-showcase Yip's acting ability in such ferocious intensity we realize her calm demeanor earlier in the film is simply her way of dealing with the situation. At first, it's easy to misunderstand how she plays the character as cold, detached and unemotional. It is a turn-off in the beginning, making it tough to sympathize with Raffi and makes complete sense by the end of the film.

In addition to showing a woman completely growing up, Motherland is also a indictment against the so-called American Dream. As the plot expands, the source of contention in the family is money and other wealth, the symbols of "making it" in America. Yeung makes the point and then quickly moves away from it. Smaller hints are strewn about the picture before this idea is fully fleshed out; notice the funeral home assistant continuously mentioning money to Raffi, as do the lawyers. It is a harbinger of things to come as well as another example of people buying into the idea of the American Dream.