Examining Max and Mona, Movie Review Example

The film Max and Mona is a South African comedy that has the direct story line and lots of fun that many comedies have, but there is a simple, direct method of storytelling that makes it stand out from the normal American fare.  We meet the main character, Max, at a funeral where he displays his talent for moving people as the town mourner.  He is planning to travel to Johannesburg to study medicine, but when he becomes saddled with delivering a goat on the way, he and his new friend – Mona – are set on a path of adventures that include his scheming uncle, a ruthless drug dealer, and a transvestite makeup artist for the dead.  Essentially, this movie is a slapstick comedy with zany characters caught up in unlikely situations.  But the movie also portrays the importance of family and duty.  As we follow Max on the various funerals he mourns, we see that every family – in its on way – simply wants to connect with the deceased and honor their memory.  Moreover, when Uncle Norman discovers that the kidnapped goat is his home village’s sacred goat, he forgets that he is as a selfish con man and becomes determined to get it back.  As the film journeys through moments like these, it becomes apparent that the story moves along at a brisk pace.  It also seems that a lot of the “fluff” that you see in many American movies is gone; there are no swelling orchestrations between the scenes or tons of extras in the backgrounds.  In taking those types of things away, we focus on the story and its central characters more intensely.  Thanks to small sets and tight shots, the only things on the screen at most times are the actors, and there is a pressure that you feel to keep the storytelling on pace.  With many recent American movies clocking in at 2 – 3 hours, it is refreshing to be engrossed in a fun, poignant comedy that runs only 98 minutes.  Max and Mona gets to its point quickly and does so on the strength of its performers and not its production value.