Mother Goose

Bluesky

Mum's alone now, on the family farm. Well, apart from the goose. She's got a significant change of lifestyle to cope with, with nobody there to help. Apart from, admittedly, the goose. The worry on the phone call is that she'll have nobody there to talk to. That is to say, apart from the goose. It's helpful to have someone to offer advice and words of comfort at home. Unless it's a goose.

In the traditional model of many a short film, set-up, subversion, punchline, Mother Goose would be an entertaining piece of traditional craft even without solid central performances from its eponymous protagonists. That's in the plural as opposite Sophie Thompson are a succession of geese, who'd be uncanny enough reflecting her various states of depression, desperation, and dedication without Ralph Ineson's voice-work.

Industry veterans abound, writer Hugh Stubbins is new behind the keyboard but has on-screen credits going back a decade. Joanna Vymeris has directed a few shorts and Mother Goose is perhaps more traditional than her others, a single location, a single time-period, a single human on screen and a singular look. In crisp black and white, lensed by Toby Lloyd and soundtracked by Umberto Gaudino, phrases like "old-fashioned" feel like they might be faint praise but aren't intended as such. This is a solid piece of craft, simple in its intent and payoff but as with furniture the cleaner the lines the more work that's hidden.

In Q&A at Edinburgh's 2025 Film Festival, where Mother Goose deservedly took home the audience prize, Joanna talked about Hugh's script as a "modern day Brothers Grimm-esque" piece, and the sinister sing-song or near-melodic macabre of much of their versions of older stories is well evidenced here. A "stylised surreal edge" is present even in the cultural references, the Goose is named Maverick but as fighters go this one seems more intent on breaking hearts than arms.

Shot on film, this led to several difficulties as actual geese are often less cooperative than one would hope. Describing them alternating between wild aggression and a passivity that made them look puppet-like, Vymeris outlined circumstances that would be frustrating enough on digital but doubly so where like cranberry sauce there's only so much to come out of the can. She was one of several filmmakers at EIFF whose works included significant contributions from animal actors. The experiences here will hopefully stand her in good stead as when asked about future plans she explained that she's off to the American Film Institute (AFI) to study directing.

Given the records of that body's alumni I doubt I'm alone in looking forward to more from Vymeris in future. Mother Goose is an excellent piece of work, a satisfying appetiser for a talent that one can only hope will get the chance to produce future work for us to feast upon. I'm not entirely sure what the cinematographic equivalent of roast potatoes will be, but I am confident that having demonstrated such a solid grasp of crisp fundamentals here I'll need flowery language for what she cooks up next.

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