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Mouthpiece (film)

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Mouthpiece
Directed byPatricia Rozema
Written byPatricia Rozema
Amy Nostbakken
Norah Sadava
Produced byChristina Piovesan
Jennifer Shin
StarringAmy Nostbakken
Norah Sadava
CinematographyCatherine Lutes
Edited byLara Johnston
Music byAmy Nostbakken
Production
company
First Generation Films
Release date
  • September 6, 2018 (2018-09-06) (TIFF)
Running time
91 minutes[1]
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

Mouthpiece is a 2018 Canadian drama film directed by Patricia Rozema, from a screenplay by Rozema, Amy Nostbakken and Norah Sadava,[2] and based on the theatrical play by Nostbakken and Sadava.[3] The film centres on Cassandra, a woman who is making arrangements for her mother's funeral. Cassandra is played by both Nostbakken and Sadava, as a dramatization of her inner conflict.[2]

It premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival.[4]

Plot

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A young writer, Cassandra, struggles to write a eulogy for her late mother, Elaine, who gave up her career to raise her children.

Cast

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Reception

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On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 91% based on 32 reviews, and an average rating of 7.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Mouthpiece interrogates gender norms with wit and ingenuity, portraying its main character's inner conflict through a pair of separate performances."[6]

Glenn Sumi of Now gave the film a 4/5 rating, writing, "[Patricia] Rozema's version of Amy Nostbakken and Norah Sadava's award-winning stage play does more than just open the work up; it fills in key bits of information, shows us Cassandra out and about in Toronto and gives everything an affecting emotional resonance."[7] Scott Tobias of Variety called it "a thoughtful interrogation of modern womanhood, leavened by gallows humor."[8] Pamela Hutchinson of Sight & Sound wrote: "While the script's cleverness and wordplay betray its stage origins, it's bracingly sharp, and explicitly a feminist text."[9]

In December 2018, the Toronto International Film Festival named the film to its annual year-end Canada's Top Ten list.[10]

References

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  1. ^ Sumi, Glenn (August 29, 2018). "TIFF preview: giving women's stories a Mouthpiece". Now. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
  2. ^ a b "Patricia Rozema goes back to producing roots with Mouthpiece". Playback, February 5, 2018.
  3. ^ "Jodie Foster Liked This Canadian Play So Much She Brought It to L.A.". LA Weekly, June 9, 2017.
  4. ^ "Lady Gaga, Julia Roberts, and Hugh Jackman lead TIFF’s 2018 lineup". The Globe and Mail, July 24, 2018.
  5. ^ Houpt, Simon (September 6, 2018). "TIFF 2018: Patricia Rozema's Mouthpiece is her most directly political film yet". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
  6. ^ "Mouthpiece (2018)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
  7. ^ Sumi, Glenn (September 6, 2018). "TIFF review: Mouthpiece". Now. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
  8. ^ Tobias, Scott (September 6, 2018). "Toronto Film Review: 'Mouthpiece'". Variety. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
  9. ^ Hutchinson, Pamela (September 11, 2018). "Toronto first look: Mouthpiece puzzles the pieces of a mother's legacy". Sight & Sound. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
  10. ^ "TIFF's Canada's Top Ten list skews a lot younger this year". Now, December 5, 2018.
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