This review was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the film being covered here wouldn’t exist.One of the most powerful feelings that a movie can cause in viewers is the sensation of coming out of a screening with a complete understanding of who the characters are, their struggles, and why you should care about them. Even though it has a short running time, Mountains paints a vibrant picture of its main trio of characters without ever feeling rushed or slow-paced. It’s a perfect balance that many filmmakers can only dream of pulling off and one that director Monica Sorelle manages to achieve in her first feature film.

Mountains centers around an immigrant family that settled in Little Haiti, Miami. While Xavier (Atibon Nazaire) pulls daily shifts in a demolition company, he struggles with coming to terms with the fact that his adult son Junior (Chris Renois) doesn’t seem to want to find a goal in life. Meanwhile, Esperance (Sheila Anozier) tries to hold the family together by finding a balance between Xavier’s expectations and understanding Junior’s right to make decisions about his own life.

With a careful and delicate approach to the story, Sorelle lets you immerse yourself in Mountains by barely moving the camera and avoiding jump cuts in family moments, which invites you in for both uncomfortable and tender moments. At the same time, Sorelle manages to convey the boredom of a routine, especially when it comes to Xavier’s. In its first half hour, Mountains does an excellent job of illustrating the repetitiveness of Xavier’s week (right down to the neighbor who strolls through his front yard every afternoon) while crafting an important parallel with the man’s longing for a bigger and fancier house and his witnessing the carelessness with which several homes get torn down like paper.

Nuance Is Where ‘Mountains’ Shines
Image via TIFF

Mountains is also great in showcasing the two conflicting aspects of Xavier’s personality. While he’s a loving and dependable husband who clearly wants to be able to provide the best for his wife, the man is in a terrible moment parenthood-wise, with communication with his son reduced to the bare minimum. Xavier’s disappointment with Junior’s lack of direction is palpable, and a nice touch to the story is Sorelle and Robert Colom’s screenplay making father and son share a name, which underscores the fact that Xavier had hopes for his kid and wanted him to be the same man in essence.

At the same time, Mountains is also able to give us a nuanced view of Junior. Fully aware that he is a huge disappointment to his family, the young man uses comedy to vent – and this ends up treating viewers to an excellent stand-up comedy routine in which Junior blabs about his insecurities. Junior’s stand-up is a peak moment for Mountains, not only because it’s funny, but also because the movie takes the time to show us Junior’s relationship with his parents prior to his set. So, when the time finally comes for him to tell his jokes, we just understand them on a whole deeper level that makes us laugh but easily shed a tear as well.

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Last but certainly not least, Mountains is a strong showcase for Sheila Anozier. Even with less screen time and not much of a storyline to call her own, which is a shame, Anozier’s performance is still the kind that gives you chills. The actor is able to convey so much with silence and looks that you have a hard time looking anywhere else when she’s on the screen. Not that her acting is limited to that. In a dinner scene in particular, Anozier is able to let us see in a short period that she understands the type of future that Xavier expects from their son but she never makes us question her love and affection for her kid. She also lets us see how Esperance is divided between being a “motherly” figure, just letting her son be, and making her husband understand that not all mountains need to be climbed.

Is Every Mountain Worth Climbing?
Image via TIFF

Which brings us to the deeper layer of Mountains. Xavier’s life is dictated by the expectations he put on himself after he decided to leave Haiti. By assuming that his role in a family is to provide, Xavier crunches overtime, sticks to his routine, and deals with casual and sometimes even blatant racism because he feels this is the price he has to pay to achieve a better life for him and his wife. However, what he fails to understand is that, not only is he projecting this on his son, but also that the dream that he so desperately wants to achieve – buying a new house – is keeping him from actually living his life.

A house is just a house, and Mountains makes it absolutely clear that bricks and wood can be destroyed in the blink of an eye. Why are we always in pursuit of more things when what we have is perfectly acceptable? The movie doesn’t romanticize poverty or conformism, it’s important to say. But it makes a pretty clear distinction between what you should be working toward and what actually matters.

In another great moment of Mountains, Xavier sits down and has a conversation with his son. The content of the conversation is a bit spoilery, but it showcases yet another ability of Sorelle as a director. Father-son heart-to-hearts are uncommon both in movies and in real life, and this one puts up a perfect contrast to the relationship between both men throughout the movie, in addition to answering several questions about Xavier’s behavior and how he sees life.

Mountains is the kind of movie that reminds us why we love to sit in the dark and peek at other people’s lives. It’s a three-way character study that teaches us about life, parenthood, marriage, and expectations without ever feeling preachy, boring, or flimsy. If Sorelle is able to build this kind of experience in a first-time feature film, the filmmaker is definitely one whose career we should follow.

Rating: A-

The Big Picture

Mountains is a powerful and immersive film that effectively portrays the struggles and complexities of its main characters without feeling rushed or slow-paced. Director Monica Sorelle skillfully creates both uncomfortable and tender moments, allowing viewers to deeply experience the characters’ emotions and relationships. The film explores themes of parenthood, expectations, and the pursuit of material possessions, reflecting on what truly matters in life.

Mountains had its International Premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival.