VERDICT: A mother and her young son’s relationship is pushed to the limit in this unnerving psychological horror with disquieting, supernatural overtones.
It’s clear from early on in Ahmed Samir’s short film that Mickey misses his grandmother – or “Teta”.
Laying with his head against the stomach of his mother (Mona Hala), who is expecting her second child, Mickey (Shams Hegab) insistently speaks to his unborn sister as if she is his deceased granny. It’s an odd behaviour that feels initially uncomfortable but begins to take on even more sinister connotations as he becomes increasingly insistent and erratic and his relationship with his mother is stretched to breaking point. Teta repeatedly hints at the supernatural, but it is the claustrophobic mundanity of the scenario that makes it so perturbing.
The action takes place over the course of a couple of days and never leaves the confines of their relatively small apartment. Mickey is often depicted clutching on to his mother’s bulging stomach, listening as if the spirit of his grandmother is pouring poison in his ear. Samir and his cinematographer Nohad Nour emphasise the restricted space of their home, so that even when Mickey is not physically within touching distance, his presence – or perhaps, even, the presence of his grandmother – is continuously felt. The pair are often framed in tight spaces; navigating the narrow hallway or captured through the off-kilter frame of the kitchen doorway.
Hala’s mother is also heavily pregnant which heightens the sense of her difficulty in moving around and, thus, her own vulnerability. Hala performs the role expertly, balancing a rational frustration with her irrational son with her own underlying anger and her grief at no longer having her mother there for support. The grandmother’s old rocking chair sits in the corner of the bedroom, only ostensibly unoccupied. Hegab also performs his role well, developing into a progressively menacing presence until his mother must decide if her resistance to his supposed otherworldly connection is causing more harm than good – and if accepting her mother’s return would be advisable. The result is a tightly constructed chiller, whose ambiguity makes it feel all the more threatening.
Director, screenplay editing: Ahmed Samir
Cast: Mona Hala, Shams Hegab
Producers: Ahmed Samir, Saad Hendawy, Mona Hala, Nohad Nour Cinematography: Nohad Nour
Sound: Ramiro Diego
Music: Andre Matthias Production design: Bassem Hany, Fatima Sameh
Makeup: Eman Ahmed
Production Company: I Am A Film (Egypt)
Venue: Cairo International Film Festival (Panorama of Egyptian Short Films)
In Arabic 23 minutes
