August 6, 2022 • 30 mins
In this episode we talk about Umma, a 2022 film directed by first time full length film director Iris K. Shim, Umma stars veteran actor Sandra Oh as Amanda and Fivel Stewart as her daughter Chris with appearances from MeeWha Alana Lee as Amanda’s mother or Umma. Content warning: we discuss difficult subjects including child abuse.
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Episode Transcript
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Sage (00:00):
The film is set in the lush desolation of a rural farm.
I feel like I'm saying that wordwrong. Rural rural.
Ethan (00:08):
Do you remember in 30 Rock? There's a there's a show
or no, there's a movie thatJenna does called Rural Juror.
And there's a lot of gags aroundlike saying rural juror. It's
hard to say. Yeah, rural juror.
Sage (00:45):
Hello, and welcome to Episode Eight of the teen horror
podcast where we watch anddiscuss horror movies from a
teens perspective. I'm your hostsage and I'm joined by my co
host and unpaid intern, my dad,hi everybody, Ethan here. This
week, we watched the 2022 filmUmma.
Ethan (01:03):
As always, we're going to spoil this film and you'll
probably want to watch it beforewe do. We'll be here when you're
done. In terms of content pleasealso note that this movie
touches on sensitive subjectsincluding child abuse. Directed
by first time full length filmdirector Iris K. Shim Umma stars
veteran actor Sandra Oh asAmanda and Fivel Stewart as her
(01:25):
daughter Chris with appearancesfrom MeeWha Alana Lee as
Amanda's mother or Umma.
Sage (01:30):
The film is set in the lush desolation of a rural farm.
Trees and bees rustle and buzzlike a shroud surrounding an
isolated farmhouse guarded by asign prohibiting electronics
"past this point." Amanda andher daughter Chris live a life
of intentional seclusion, devoidof outside contact and
technology. Together they raisebees and harvest honey to
(01:53):
deliver to their only visitorand only friend: Danny.
Movie audio - Danny (02:06):
Here's your fluffy little friends.
Movie audio - Amanda (02:08):
See here our last quarters statements.
Movie audio - Danny (02:12):
What do you see this quarter? Remember, I've
been trying to sell your honeyonline that I can sell every
drop of this you make and more.
Sage (02:21):
Played by Dermot Mulroney.
Danny is a shopkeeper from anearby town who sells their
honey for them.
Ethan (02:28):
While Chris and Amanda seem happy in their unusual and
electricity free life, this calmis up-ended when Amanda's uncle
arrives from Korea to give herthe ashes of her mother, her
Umma in Korean.
Movie audio - Amanda (02:42):
Stop, stop, don't come any closer!
Shut the car off! Turn it off!Who are you?
Movie audio - Mr. Kang (02:51):
(in Korean) Soo-Hyun.
(inKorean) Don't you recognize your
uncle?
Movie audio - Amanda (02:59):
(in Korean) Uncle?
Movie audio - Mr. Kang (02:59):
(in Korean) I flew halfway across
the world to come see you.
Aren't you going to offer me acup of coffee?
Ethan (03:09):
the uncle departs with a warning that if she fails to put
her mother's spirit to rest,there will be trouble.
Sage (03:15):
Strange and ghostly events begin to break apart the placid
life of the mother and daughter.
Movie audio - Chris (03:21):
Mom
Movie audio - Amanda (03:25):
She's here,
Movie audio - Chris (03:27):
What?
Movie audio - Amanda (03:28):
She's the one who did this to your
application
Movie audio - Chris (03:32):
Who?
Movie audio - Amanda (03:37):
She thinks you're running away from us.
Sage (03:39):
Chris's desire to break free from the confines of her
life at the farm intensifies andboth she and her mother seemed
to be under the shadow of Ummahaunting them. And, as the film
reaches its peak, possessingthem.
Ethan (03:52):
Amanda seems to be taken over by the spirit of her mother
and Chris's life seems to be atrisk at the hands of her own
Umma, Amanda herself. In a finalconfrontation with her past.
Amanda forgives her mother andby accepting the past also puts
it to rest.
Sage (04:09):
Okay, so overall impressions. First, I think just
general ideas about the movie.
Personally, I really like thethemes that this movie explores,
like immigration being thedaughter to an immigrant
generation, something you canconnect with. Yeah. And Asian
culture, things like that. Yeah,I really liked that part because
(04:33):
it was something that I couldidentify with. We actually
watched Umma right before goingon a big trip to Southeast Asia,
all over it, but specifically toPenang because that's where my
family on my mother's sidelives. And we saw a lot of our
family that we hadn't seen in awhile and we also went to some
(04:58):
ceremonies for my grandmother,who passed a little while ago.
And I think that was reallyimportant. Because connecting
with your culture, when you arenot even in the continent that
the culture is from can be hard.
And going back there, and seeingyour family, and being able to
(05:22):
do those things with them isreally important. And I'm very
grateful to have had thatexperience because I know that
not everyone is able to do that.
So I also think that was reallyimportant for the film because
it does touch on things like,you know, Chrissy doesn't really
know anything about her Koreanculture, because her mother
Amanda kind of locked all thataway, and, you know, doesn't
(05:43):
show her anything about it likeher hanbok or even pictures of
her grandmother.
Movie audio - Amanda (05:50):
What do you want to know
Movie audio - Chris (05:53):
Was this hers?
Movie audio - Amanda (05:54):
It's called a hanbok. She made it
herself. She's very proud of herwork. She hoped to pass it down
to me.
Ethan (06:10):
Yeah, it was a very interesting parallel, because we
actually, you know, we pickedthis movie, I don't, there was
no conscious intention to pickit. And we you know, your
grandmother passed away, it wasthe ceremonies that we that you
attended in Penang, were the 100Day ceremonies. And, you know,
this is to honor her spirit andto give her offerings and which
(06:34):
is something that we also seehappening in the film.
Sage (06:36):
Yeah, right. Yeah. At the end of the film, um, the way
that they set Umma's spirit torest is they have a ceremony
that's intended to settle thespirit, you can let it rest.
Movie audio - Amanda (06:55):
Time to pay our respects.
Movie audio - Chris (06:56):
What is all this?
Movie audio - Amanda (07:00):
This is a jesa. This is what we do to
honor our ancestors, to be withthem. So they're not alone in
the afterlife,
Ethan (07:09):
...and honor her. And they provide offerings to her.
Sage (07:12):
Yes, offerings are a really big thing in Asian
culture. And there's veryspecific ways to do it. Like the
ceremony that I attended.
Everything had to be in pairs ofsixes, six types of fruit, six
bowls, you know, things likethat. You know, that's just the
way it's done for the 100 Dayceremony. Do you, do you have
any overall impressions?
Ethan (07:34):
Yeah, sure. My overall impressions for this movie. I
liked it. I enjoyed it. I'm ahuge Sandro Oh fan. I have been
since I saw her the first film Iever saw her and was a movie
called last night, which Ishould introduce you to at some
point, but it's she's just sucha stunning actor. I just never
(07:54):
tire of watching herperformances. Fivel Stewart was
great in this. Yeah, well, yeah.
I'd never seen her and anythingbefore Dermot Mulroney. But I
thought, you know, it's a smallcast. Yeah, very small. I don't
you know, sometimes I look atthese movies that are coming out
now. And I don't know if they'resmall because they were filmed
during COVID Yeah, I certainlycan see that being the case, you
know, like, there's, they'reisolated. Like, literally, the
(08:15):
whole movie is to people. Yeah.
You know, that didn't none ofthat bother me. I liked all of
that. I liked the settings, Ithought that the subject matter,
like I, it's obviously veryrelated to our family, in some
ways, where the idea of tryingto stay in touch with their
culture or being cut off from itand what that means and what
that means to differentgenerations. The overall I kind
(08:37):
of felt like the there were someloose ends in the movie that
didn't get wrapped up nicely.
You know, I didn't feel likethere any plot holes, but I just
felt like some things got kindof like jumped past or skipped
over a little bit. Maybe it'sjust hard to tell that story in
an hour and a half.
Sage (08:51):
So actually, this is kind of moving on to the what would I
change section, but afterwatching the movie, I was
reading some reviews of it.
Yeah. And there were some thingsthat people said that really
made sense to me. For example,one person said something about
how it is really hard to exploreall of the themes that the movie
(09:11):
talked about in just one movie,right like they talked about
Asian culture, childhood trauma,immigrants, heritage, you know,
things like that. Isolation youknow, a lot of things and it it
could have been kind of hard toexplore all of those in a movie
and I also saw someone say thatthis movie is the first draft to
(09:34):
an excellent movie which I agreewith I can see that because I
really like all the things ittalks about but there are there
are just some parts in the moviethat don't seem super tight.
Yeah, things like that. Yeah,you can I know you had a
specific
Ethan (09:49):
yeah, there's there's like one theme that really
like... it very early on in themovie we were introduced the the
idea that she's allergic toelectricity. Yeah, Amanda, the
mom
Movie audio (10:11):
(sounds of thunderstorm, Chris calling for
her mom, mom wimpering)
Ethan (10:34):
Okay, so so again, just to clarify this scenario, Sandra
Oh, Amanda, and her daughter,Chris, who's played by Fivel
Stewart, they live alone.
They're surrounded by this,like, we're where are they in
the country? It looks likeSouthern California to me. So
yeah, something like, you know,it's like very arid, but they're
growing. They're growing fruittrees, maybe around their
(10:55):
orchard. Yeah, there's anorchard around there. And then
there's, and then they raisebees. There's no electricity,
you know, it's kerosene lanternsand whatever else they're doing
for light, I guess. There's noelectricity in the farmhouse.
It's wired, but it's never used.
And there's this sign. So youknow, very first scene German.
(11:16):
German character writtenMulroney German is I'll just
call him. Yeah. Mulroney. He,his character drives up Danny.
Yeah, he's very conscientious.
He stops at the sign that saysno electronics past this point.
No electricity. So obviously thecar that includes the car, his
truck, that's a nice thing, too,because it shows his respect for
this woman. Yes. At that point,you know, you're like, Whoa,
(11:36):
this is a big thing. You know,and it happens throughout the
film, like there's moments whereyou're like, oh, this no
electricity situation is odd,and, you know, has a huge impact
on them. And it means like, theydon't have phones, smartphones,
they don't have computers,they're totally cut off. And
that gets explored a little bit.
(11:59):
Chris, you know, is trying toapply to college and things like
this, right? Just use like atypewriter and right, and Danny
is trying to help them selltheir honey as well. And he's
like, it's really big on theinternet. And they're like, oh,
what? Yeah, I mean, practically,right. Yeah. Just like, Oh,
okay. You know, we and we findout why it is. It's because she
was abused by her Umma with likea lamp cord. She was like,
(12:19):
shocked, right? And so she'slike, afraid of electricity. But
there's a bunch of stuff thatjust didn't come together around
that whole theme for me. At onepoint, we see her throwing,
turning off the electricity, youknow, like, in a flashback. And
Amanda is already an adult whenshe does that. And I wasn't
quite sure. Like, how is it likeif she was so afraid of
electricity? I mean, she waittill she was an
Sage (12:41):
She felt that either I think maybe they mentioned this,
or maybe I just interpreted itthat way. But I think it might
have been when she had Chris,
Movie audio - Chris (12:49):
You're delusional. You're just hiding
something. It doesn't reallyhurt you does it? The
electricity? What? Yoursickness. It's not real. Yes, it
is just because you can't see.
Ethan (13:06):
Yeah, right. Like, okay, now I have a daughter. So I'm,
I'm gonna turn off the scarythings
Sage (13:12):
Well I don't know. I think she was also scared of like
becoming Umma.
Ethan (13:16):
Okay. And that's the key, I think, right? Like, I know, so
I just felt like it wasn't like,really well wrapped up or it
wasn't as tight as it could havebeen. I mean, it still works. So
like, you know, I still getwhere they're coming from with
that, which is the idea of likefamily trauma being passed down
generation to generation andyour desire, your fear of
turning into your mama, yourfear of turning into your
(13:36):
parents. Believe me, this islike, a fear that everybody has,
I think, especially when youhave children, you're like, the
things that my parents did,right? I want to reproduce and
the things that maybe I wantedto avoid, like I like to, you
know, I'm always scared. Like, Ishouldn't say scared, but you
know, you don't want to becomethe worst parts of your past.
And those those things may notbe from your parents and maybe
(13:57):
from your grandparents, yourgreat grandparents, you know,
those things travel like a echothrough a family.
Sage (14:02):
Yeah. And a part where that theme comes in is there's a
time kind of later in the moviewhere, um, a spirit kind of goes
into Amanda and Amanda is just avessel for her Amma and she
finds Chrissy and Amma has laidout all of these Korean
(14:22):
possessions that came with herashes. And she has kind of an
honoring like a ceremony set outor maybe for herself, but she's
showing Chrissy and Chrissy islike, what is all this stuff?
Right? She doesn't know muchabout her Korean culture. But
then a mom kind of startstalking about the things that
she had done to Amanda but it'sAmanda saying it right. So it's
(14:46):
kind of like she has become
Movie audio - Amanda (14:48):
(possessed by Umma) She was scared too.
Because she couldn't see howmuch it hurt me. Every time she
ran away. I needed her ToBelieve me, she needed to
understand my pain was real. Wehad an old lamp broken wire so I
(15:14):
made her hold it until my painbecame hers. And we could feel
it together.
Ethan (15:22):
Yeah, that's the other thing too is, you know, it
starts off first of all I'm a isnot present at all in the house.
Yeah, no pictures. There's noobviously there's no like
shrine. Yeah, there's no nomemory of her. She's kind of
been eliminated from the house.
And so we haven't talked aboutthis, but Amanda actually lies
to Chris about her grandparents.
Yeah. Right. She makes up like,does she make up being adopted
(15:43):
or something?
Sage (15:44):
I'm not sure. But I think she said that they were both
dead
Ethan (15:48):
And has some names for them that are like not really
like they're just likefictional,
Sage (15:52):
yeah, like definitely not Korean.
Movie audio - Amanda (15:55):
Grandma Gloria and Grandpa Bill aren't
my real parents. I made them up.
I was raised by my mother. Myreal mother.
Ethan (16:04):
And in fact, I don't think we know anything about do
we know about him and his dad?
Really? He's not he doesn'treally figure into the story too
much.
Sage (16:11):
No, just that he we don't know anything about Chris's dad.
Yeah, I don't think they I don'tknow if they mentioned him at
all, but I don't mention him.
Amanda's Amanda's father. Theydo mention in the end.
Ethan (16:21):
Okay, let's let's jump back for a moment. Start off the
movie. Alma doesn't exist.
Basically. She has been wipedfrom memory. And when we first
learned about Amma, it's whenthe uncle comes. I should
probably hold on to this nuggetfor later on when we talk about
favorite scenes, but I just wantto say that the scene with the
uncle I really like he's areally powerful actor. I don't
know who he is. I don't knowwhat he's saying. Practically.
Speaking Korean,
Unknown (16:46):
(Uncle speaking in Korean with Amanda) Her anger
will grow as long as she remainsin this box. That's why you
must...
Movie audio - Amanda (16:54):
Get out of my house.
Unknown (17:00):
(in Korean) Each day, her pain will turn to poison,
and seep into you. Your motheralways gets what she wants.
Ethan (17:06):
He's really intense.
Yeah. And it's a surprisingscene because he's bringing her
mother's ashes to her all theway from Korea. Yeah, he is
pissed off. He's like, so angry
Sage (17:17):
Yeah, like, I felt that anger. And so basically what he
with her.
was saying is, how do you thinkyour mama felt that you left
Ethan (17:23):
It kind of catches the viewer off guard a little bit, I
her? Because every day... hesays something like, every day
she would call for you? Or likewhen she died? She was calling
your name. But you weren'tthere, were you? And you know,
you can kind of see where he'scoming from, even though like
there's two. There's two sides.
I think like, yeah, she was, youknow, she was an abusive mother
(17:44):
and Amanda left and started herown life. In Asian culture.
Being there for your parents,and respecting your parents is a
huge thing. Like one ofConfucius's core teachings was
like, do what your parents tellyou, basically. And that's
really important in Asianculture. And he was... he seemed
really upset that she had leftthink, because you're expecting
(18:10):
it to be kind of this tenderreunion moment, but anything,
but you know, yeah. And hedoesn't even stick around very
long. He's like, here's thestuff, you know, like a ceramic
urn full of ashes, and like abunch of personal effects.
Sage (18:24):
Yeah. And a mask, as well, specifically.
Ethan (18:26):
That's right. It also sort of has this symbolic role
in the movie where Sandra wascharacter, Amanda, kind of does
she put it on at one point, Ithink, um, or does it sort of
like, come on to her face orsomething?
Sage (18:40):
It's a tal. It's called a tal. Um, how do you spell that?
T A L tal. Yep. And so she'sexplaining to Chrissy. So once
Chrissy kind of goes venturingdown into this basement cellar
that Amanda has used to storeeverything that she wants to
keep secret, kind of like shehas all of the electrical
(19:03):
appliances, that picture of Ammaher hanbok. And for people who
don't know, hanbok is like atraditional Korean dress almost.
Yeah, it's kind of like that.
And she has all that stuff downthere. And at one point, Chris,
he goes down there and looksaround and she finds a picture
of Obama as well as thesuitcase, I think.
Movie audio - Chris (19:24):
What's this?
Movie audio - Amanda (19:27):
That's a tal. It's a family heirloom.
It's been worn by the women inour family for generations.
Movie audio - Chris (19:35):
Why is all this stuff in here?
Movie audio - Amanda (19:38):
She always said she take her favorite
things with her into theafterlife. She probably left
them for her ceremony.
Movie audio - Chris (19:44):
What kind of ceremony?
Movie audio - Amanda (19:46):
Well, some Koreans believe that life's
hardships are caused by thetormented spirits of their
ancestors, so they makeofferings to appease or tortured
souls.
Movie audio - Chris (19:57):
Is that what you believe?
Movie audio - Amanda (20:01):
I don't believe in superstition.
Sage (20:04):
Amanda is showing Chrissy the suitcase and a picture of
Umma and the urn and things likethat. And then Chris, he's like,
What is this mask and Amandaexplains that it's a tal and it
has been passed down from thewoman in the family for
generations. And once that kindof happens, these creepy
encounters start to occur. Oneof them specifically is when
(20:27):
Amanda is outside at nightbecause I think she heard
Chrissy yelling for help. Andshe goes outside at night, and
she basically encounters Umma.
It's this figure, with the talon the mask and with the hanbok
on because it's kind of like amenacing figure and there's more
encounters with that menacingfigure. Chrissy I think tries on
(20:49):
the hanbok in the attic at onepoint and Amanda goes up there
to try to find Chrissy and sheencounters Umma
Movie audio - Amanda (21:03):
Chrissy?
Why are you wearing that?
Movie audio - Chris (21:05):
Sorry, Mommy, I was just trying it on.
I found it up here.
Movie audio - Amanda (21:10):
Take it off.
Movie audio - Chris (21:11):
Why.
Sage (21:14):
But then it turns out that it was kind of maybe just like a
vision she was seeing or asomeone is messing with her
head. And it was actuallyChrissy the whole time just in
the hanbok. So you know, thingslike that start to happen. And
it's interesting, because she'salways wearing a hanbok Yeah,
and the tal, like the thetraditional Korean things. And
(21:35):
it's kind of framed as like ascary thing, you know?
Ethan (21:38):
Yeah, it reminds me there's other stuff in that
scene where Chris finds thepossessions in the basement.
There's something that has apainting of... and I'm going to
say this wrong, probably. Butthe Kumiho. The nine tailed fox,
Sage (21:52):
Yes, so on the suitcase there's a scarf
Ethan (21:55):
A traditional kind of spirit or demon, I'm not sure
exactly. What's interesting iswhen we see that we see Chris
discovering that that imagery,and she doesn't really pay a lot
of attention to it, but it'sthere. And I really was kind of
expecting I was like, Oh, the Ithought oh, okay, Umma is
actually a Kumiho. Or, or we'regoing to see something more
(22:17):
about this. And we do see theKumiho at one point at night
when there's just like wildstuff happening on the farm, but
I feel like it doesn't get usedvery much.
Sage (22:25):
It doesn't. You see the Kumiho, like, once, and then...
Ethan (22:30):
I really thought that there was a lot of stuff being
kind of telegraphed, like, oh,maybe there's a connection here.
Or maybe there is somethingsupernatural.
Sage (22:37):
Yeah, that that part, I wish they had done more,
Ethan (22:40):
You know, because ultimately, I don't lie. Okay,
the movie presents Amma as sortof this entity that is
possessing Amanda and Chris.
Right. And, and there and itseems to be this like a shadowy
malevolent force, sometimes thatis very real in their lives.
Yeah. But at the same time, italso is presented sort of as a
(23:01):
purely metaphorical, you know,aspect of their family history
being kind of suppressed. Right.
And, and at the end of themovie, I don't really know like,
was there a real possessionhappening? Or was that just sort
of a metaphor for her experienceof this family trauma this
(23:28):
family? Actually, one thing Iwant to mention really quick is
the idea of family ghosts. Youknow, I used to work with.. or
families that are haunted. Iused to work, right out of
college, at a treatment facilityfor juveniles and...
juveniles... for kids. We hadtherapists on staff there, and
there's this one therapist who'sa big bear of a guy, big beard,
(23:50):
and very gruff, very nice guy.
And he and I were talking aboutone of my primary case loads at
one point, and you know, we'retalking about the impact of
family trauma and, you know,families where abuse is passed
down generation to generation.
And he said, you know, therereally is such a thing as a
(24:10):
family ghost. Families reallycan be haunted and it is it is
trauma that haunts families. Hesays, but you kind of really
almost experienced it as ahaunting, you know, something so
scary. And that always stuckwith me. And this movie is kind
of a perfect encapsulation,right? Like this drama. And
(24:31):
later on we see that trauma isalso experienced by Umma herself
as she is abandoned in thiscountry that she doesn't know
when doesn't speak the languagein, you know.
Sage (24:41):
That actually... I really liked that scene at the end of
the movie where, what happens isAmanda is kind of like, dragged
into the dirt. So she buries...
she buries Umma's ashes in avery non ceremonial or
respectful way because she'skind of mad. And so then later
Amma kind of appears on thatspot where she her ashes have
(25:06):
been buried and drags Amandainto the dirt. And then there's
kind of a maybe a dream like,it's not... it's not dream like,
the scene, but I interpret it assome sort of vision or dream,
where Amanda is talking to herUmma, that's when you kind of
realize that she's not just abad person for no reason.
Movie audio (25:32):
(Amanda confronting Umma, crying)
Sage (25:42):
Where Amanda is kind of talking about how a mother
emigrated to the US with herhusband because she was expected
to to be a good wife. And sheyou know, she didn't know
English. She didn't know anyone.
She knows the custom. And shewas kind of left on her own.
Ethan (26:00):
Yeah, she had her own goals in life. But this sort of
derailed all that. And yeah, shehad a hard time. In the movies
defense. The one thing I reallywant to say that I liked in
particular, is that at the endof the movie, it did not feel
like they just forgive Obama,that it didn't feel like a pure
like, okay, it's all light andsunshine now. You know, it felt
(26:23):
like an acknowledgment of thetrauma that Amanda experienced,
and it felt like she did... Idon't know if forgive is the
right word. Right? Maybe shedidn't forgive. But she accepted
that Alma was right. Whereas atthe beginning of the movie,
Ahmad does not exist for her.
Yeah, she has been erased. Bythe end of the film. They accept
(26:43):
that Emma was and that Emma hadher own experience and trauma
and life. And I don't think itwas a forgiveness of the the
abuse that Amanda suffered.
Yeah. But I felt like it was anacknowledgment of Obama just as
a person. Yeah, exactly. It wasYeah. And and also, as a person
(27:04):
that is in their family.
Sage (27:05):
Yeah. And she, Amanda mentions that her father had
left her and she was left withUmma and Umma would take out her
anger and her rage at this kindof foreign place that she was in
on Amanda. She was left to kindof bear that emotional burden,
which I think is really... it'srealistic. You know, that
(27:30):
happens a lot when you know,people, especially parents,
because their kids are justthere, you know.
Ethan (27:46):
Do you want to talk about your favorite scenes?
Sage (27:48):
Yeah. So personally, my favorite scene... well
definitely the dreamconfrontation was one of them.
But also there's one that wedidn't... We haven't talked
about this at all. But Dannyhas, I think, a niece who is in
(28:09):
town for a little while, right.
Movie audio - Danny (28:12):
This is my niece, who will be staying with
me a few weeks while our folksare out of town. River. This is
Chris.
Movie audio - River (28:19):
Hey
Movie audio - Chris (28:20):
I like your makeup.
Movie audio - River (28:22):
Thanks. I really like your freckles. Wish
I had them.
Sage (28:28):
Chrissy hangs out with her a few times. One of my favorite
scenes is when Denise knees ishanging out with Chrissy after
she's kind of run away fromAmanda because her college
application had been typed allover. Yeah. And Amanda denies
that she's done it and it's kindof implied that Umma did it.
(28:50):
Chrissy bikes off and goes intotown and she runs into Danny's
niece. In the back of Danny'struck. They have a little talk
and Danny's niece gives Chrissya planner, like a college
planner. I don't know I just Ireally liked their dynamic
because at first you kind ofthink that she's gonna make fun
(29:12):
of Chrissy, like all the otherkids in town do because you know
that she's weird. She doesn'thave a phone. She's isolated.
But then you kind of you realizethat she's not like that and
that she really does care aboutChrissy and she really wants her
to do what she was trying to do,which is go to college. Yeah.
And I don't know. I think that'sreally nice. Yeah,
Ethan (29:34):
Yeah, she supports her doing that in her own way and
she gets her a paper planner.
Yeah, that was neat.
All right. I think that prettymuch wraps up our review of
Umma.
Sage (29:47):
Thanks again for joining us on this episode of the Teen
Horror Cast. You can follow uson Twitter and Instagram at
@teenhorrorcast where we'd loveto hear from you. Let us know
what films you'd like to hear usreview. See you next episode!
Ethan (30:00):
See you then! Bye
Sage (30:01):
Bye
Ethan (30:14):
Rural. You just say rural. Rural. Rural. Okay.
Rural. but not It's not Earl.
Earl Rural would be an awesomename, though. Earl Rural and his
wife Pearl. Pearl Rural and EarlRural. Do they have any kids?
Merle.
The film is set in the lush desolation of a rural farm.
I feel like I'm saying that wordwrong. Rural rural.
Ethan (00:08):
Do you remember in 30 Rock? There's a there's a show
or no, there's a movie thatJenna does called Rural Juror.
And there's a lot of gags aroundlike saying rural juror. It's
hard to say. Yeah, rural juror.
Sage (00:45):
Hello, and welcome to Episode Eight of the teen horror
podcast where we watch anddiscuss horror movies from a
teens perspective. I'm your hostsage and I'm joined by my co
host and unpaid intern, my dad,hi everybody, Ethan here. This
week, we watched the 2022 filmUmma.
Ethan (01:03):
As always, we're going to spoil this film and you'll
probably want to watch it beforewe do. We'll be here when you're
done. In terms of content pleasealso note that this movie
touches on sensitive subjectsincluding child abuse. Directed
by first time full length filmdirector Iris K. Shim Umma stars
veteran actor Sandra Oh asAmanda and Fivel Stewart as her
(01:25):
daughter Chris with appearancesfrom MeeWha Alana Lee as
Amanda's mother or Umma.
Sage (01:30):
The film is set in the lush desolation of a rural farm.
Trees and bees rustle and buzzlike a shroud surrounding an
isolated farmhouse guarded by asign prohibiting electronics
"past this point." Amanda andher daughter Chris live a life
of intentional seclusion, devoidof outside contact and
technology. Together they raisebees and harvest honey to
(01:53):
deliver to their only visitorand only friend: Danny.
Movie audio - Danny (02:06):
Here's your fluffy little friends.
Movie audio - Amanda (02:08):
See here our last quarters statements.
Movie audio - Danny (02:12):
What do you see this quarter? Remember, I've
been trying to sell your honeyonline that I can sell every
drop of this you make and more.
Sage (02:21):
Played by Dermot Mulroney.
Danny is a shopkeeper from anearby town who sells their
honey for them.
Ethan (02:28):
While Chris and Amanda seem happy in their unusual and
electricity free life, this calmis up-ended when Amanda's uncle
arrives from Korea to give herthe ashes of her mother, her
Umma in Korean.
Movie audio - Amanda (02:42):
Stop, stop, don't come any closer!
Shut the car off! Turn it off!Who are you?
Movie audio - Mr. Kang (02:51):
(in Korean) Soo-Hyun.
(inKorean) Don't you recognize your
uncle?
Movie audio - Amanda (02:59):
(in Korean) Uncle?
Movie audio - Mr. Kang (02:59):
(in Korean) I flew halfway across
the world to come see you.
Aren't you going to offer me acup of coffee?
Ethan (03:09):
the uncle departs with a warning that if she fails to put
her mother's spirit to rest,there will be trouble.
Sage (03:15):
Strange and ghostly events begin to break apart the placid
life of the mother and daughter.
Movie audio - Chris (03:21):
Mom
Movie audio - Amanda (03:25):
She's here,
Movie audio - Chris (03:27):
What?
Movie audio - Amanda (03:28):
She's the one who did this to your
application
Movie audio - Chris (03:32):
Who?
Movie audio - Amanda (03:37):
She thinks you're running away from us.
Sage (03:39):
Chris's desire to break free from the confines of her
life at the farm intensifies andboth she and her mother seemed
to be under the shadow of Ummahaunting them. And, as the film
reaches its peak, possessingthem.
Ethan (03:52):
Amanda seems to be taken over by the spirit of her mother
and Chris's life seems to be atrisk at the hands of her own
Umma, Amanda herself. In a finalconfrontation with her past.
Amanda forgives her mother andby accepting the past also puts
it to rest.
Sage (04:09):
Okay, so overall impressions. First, I think just
general ideas about the movie.
Personally, I really like thethemes that this movie explores,
like immigration being thedaughter to an immigrant
generation, something you canconnect with. Yeah. And Asian
culture, things like that. Yeah,I really liked that part because
(04:33):
it was something that I couldidentify with. We actually
watched Umma right before goingon a big trip to Southeast Asia,
all over it, but specifically toPenang because that's where my
family on my mother's sidelives. And we saw a lot of our
family that we hadn't seen in awhile and we also went to some
(04:58):
ceremonies for my grandmother,who passed a little while ago.
And I think that was reallyimportant. Because connecting
with your culture, when you arenot even in the continent that
the culture is from can be hard.
And going back there, and seeingyour family, and being able to
(05:22):
do those things with them isreally important. And I'm very
grateful to have had thatexperience because I know that
not everyone is able to do that.
So I also think that was reallyimportant for the film because
it does touch on things like,you know, Chrissy doesn't really
know anything about her Koreanculture, because her mother
Amanda kind of locked all thataway, and, you know, doesn't
(05:43):
show her anything about it likeher hanbok or even pictures of
her grandmother.
Movie audio - Amanda (05:50):
What do you want to know
Movie audio - Chris (05:53):
Was this hers?
Movie audio - Amanda (05:54):
It's called a hanbok. She made it
herself. She's very proud of herwork. She hoped to pass it down
to me.
Ethan (06:10):
Yeah, it was a very interesting parallel, because we
actually, you know, we pickedthis movie, I don't, there was
no conscious intention to pickit. And we you know, your
grandmother passed away, it wasthe ceremonies that we that you
attended in Penang, were the 100Day ceremonies. And, you know,
this is to honor her spirit andto give her offerings and which
(06:34):
is something that we also seehappening in the film.
Sage (06:36):
Yeah, right. Yeah. At the end of the film, um, the way
that they set Umma's spirit torest is they have a ceremony
that's intended to settle thespirit, you can let it rest.
Movie audio - Amanda (06:55):
Time to pay our respects.
Movie audio - Chris (06:56):
What is all this?
Movie audio - Amanda (07:00):
This is a jesa. This is what we do to
honor our ancestors, to be withthem. So they're not alone in
the afterlife,
Ethan (07:09):
...and honor her. And they provide offerings to her.
Sage (07:12):
Yes, offerings are a really big thing in Asian
culture. And there's veryspecific ways to do it. Like the
ceremony that I attended.
Everything had to be in pairs ofsixes, six types of fruit, six
bowls, you know, things likethat. You know, that's just the
way it's done for the 100 Dayceremony. Do you, do you have
any overall impressions?
Ethan (07:34):
Yeah, sure. My overall impressions for this movie. I
liked it. I enjoyed it. I'm ahuge Sandro Oh fan. I have been
since I saw her the first film Iever saw her and was a movie
called last night, which Ishould introduce you to at some
point, but it's she's just sucha stunning actor. I just never
(07:54):
tire of watching herperformances. Fivel Stewart was
great in this. Yeah, well, yeah.
I'd never seen her and anythingbefore Dermot Mulroney. But I
thought, you know, it's a smallcast. Yeah, very small. I don't
you know, sometimes I look atthese movies that are coming out
now. And I don't know if they'resmall because they were filmed
during COVID Yeah, I certainlycan see that being the case, you
know, like, there's, they'reisolated. Like, literally, the
(08:15):
whole movie is to people. Yeah.
You know, that didn't none ofthat bother me. I liked all of
that. I liked the settings, Ithought that the subject matter,
like I, it's obviously veryrelated to our family, in some
ways, where the idea of tryingto stay in touch with their
culture or being cut off from itand what that means and what
that means to differentgenerations. The overall I kind
(08:37):
of felt like the there were someloose ends in the movie that
didn't get wrapped up nicely.
You know, I didn't feel likethere any plot holes, but I just
felt like some things got kindof like jumped past or skipped
over a little bit. Maybe it'sjust hard to tell that story in
an hour and a half.
Sage (08:51):
So actually, this is kind of moving on to the what would I
change section, but afterwatching the movie, I was
reading some reviews of it.
Yeah. And there were some thingsthat people said that really
made sense to me. For example,one person said something about
how it is really hard to exploreall of the themes that the movie
(09:11):
talked about in just one movie,right like they talked about
Asian culture, childhood trauma,immigrants, heritage, you know,
things like that. Isolation youknow, a lot of things and it it
could have been kind of hard toexplore all of those in a movie
and I also saw someone say thatthis movie is the first draft to
(09:34):
an excellent movie which I agreewith I can see that because I
really like all the things ittalks about but there are there
are just some parts in the moviethat don't seem super tight.
Yeah, things like that. Yeah,you can I know you had a
specific
Ethan (09:49):
yeah, there's there's like one theme that really
like... it very early on in themovie we were introduced the the
idea that she's allergic toelectricity. Yeah, Amanda, the
mom
Movie audio (10:11):
(sounds of thunderstorm, Chris calling for
her mom, mom wimpering)
Ethan (10:34):
Okay, so so again, just to clarify this scenario, Sandra
Oh, Amanda, and her daughter,Chris, who's played by Fivel
Stewart, they live alone.
They're surrounded by this,like, we're where are they in
the country? It looks likeSouthern California to me. So
yeah, something like, you know,it's like very arid, but they're
growing. They're growing fruittrees, maybe around their
(10:55):
orchard. Yeah, there's anorchard around there. And then
there's, and then they raisebees. There's no electricity,
you know, it's kerosene lanternsand whatever else they're doing
for light, I guess. There's noelectricity in the farmhouse.
It's wired, but it's never used.
And there's this sign. So youknow, very first scene German.
(11:16):
German character writtenMulroney German is I'll just
call him. Yeah. Mulroney. He,his character drives up Danny.
Yeah, he's very conscientious.
He stops at the sign that saysno electronics past this point.
No electricity. So obviously thecar that includes the car, his
truck, that's a nice thing, too,because it shows his respect for
this woman. Yes. At that point,you know, you're like, Whoa,
(11:36):
this is a big thing. You know,and it happens throughout the
film, like there's moments whereyou're like, oh, this no
electricity situation is odd,and, you know, has a huge impact
on them. And it means like, theydon't have phones, smartphones,
they don't have computers,they're totally cut off. And
that gets explored a little bit.
(11:59):
Chris, you know, is trying toapply to college and things like
this, right? Just use like atypewriter and right, and Danny
is trying to help them selltheir honey as well. And he's
like, it's really big on theinternet. And they're like, oh,
what? Yeah, I mean, practically,right. Yeah. Just like, Oh,
okay. You know, we and we findout why it is. It's because she
was abused by her Umma with likea lamp cord. She was like,
(12:19):
shocked, right? And so she'slike, afraid of electricity. But
there's a bunch of stuff thatjust didn't come together around
that whole theme for me. At onepoint, we see her throwing,
turning off the electricity, youknow, like, in a flashback. And
Amanda is already an adult whenshe does that. And I wasn't
quite sure. Like, how is it likeif she was so afraid of
electricity? I mean, she waittill she was an
Sage (12:41):
She felt that either I think maybe they mentioned this,
or maybe I just interpreted itthat way. But I think it might
have been when she had Chris,
Movie audio - Chris (12:49):
You're delusional. You're just hiding
something. It doesn't reallyhurt you does it? The
electricity? What? Yoursickness. It's not real. Yes, it
is just because you can't see.
Ethan (13:06):
Yeah, right. Like, okay, now I have a daughter. So I'm,
I'm gonna turn off the scarythings
Sage (13:12):
Well I don't know. I think she was also scared of like
becoming Umma.
Ethan (13:16):
Okay. And that's the key, I think, right? Like, I know, so
I just felt like it wasn't like,really well wrapped up or it
wasn't as tight as it could havebeen. I mean, it still works. So
like, you know, I still getwhere they're coming from with
that, which is the idea of likefamily trauma being passed down
generation to generation andyour desire, your fear of
turning into your mama, yourfear of turning into your
(13:36):
parents. Believe me, this islike, a fear that everybody has,
I think, especially when youhave children, you're like, the
things that my parents did,right? I want to reproduce and
the things that maybe I wantedto avoid, like I like to, you
know, I'm always scared. Like, Ishouldn't say scared, but you
know, you don't want to becomethe worst parts of your past.
And those those things may notbe from your parents and maybe
(13:57):
from your grandparents, yourgreat grandparents, you know,
those things travel like a echothrough a family.
Sage (14:02):
Yeah. And a part where that theme comes in is there's a
time kind of later in the moviewhere, um, a spirit kind of goes
into Amanda and Amanda is just avessel for her Amma and she
finds Chrissy and Amma has laidout all of these Korean
(14:22):
possessions that came with herashes. And she has kind of an
honoring like a ceremony set outor maybe for herself, but she's
showing Chrissy and Chrissy islike, what is all this stuff?
Right? She doesn't know muchabout her Korean culture. But
then a mom kind of startstalking about the things that
she had done to Amanda but it'sAmanda saying it right. So it's
(14:46):
kind of like she has become
Movie audio - Amanda (14:48):
(possessed by Umma) She was scared too.
Because she couldn't see howmuch it hurt me. Every time she
ran away. I needed her ToBelieve me, she needed to
understand my pain was real. Wehad an old lamp broken wire so I
(15:14):
made her hold it until my painbecame hers. And we could feel
it together.
Ethan (15:22):
Yeah, that's the other thing too is, you know, it
starts off first of all I'm a isnot present at all in the house.
Yeah, no pictures. There's noobviously there's no like
shrine. Yeah, there's no nomemory of her. She's kind of
been eliminated from the house.
And so we haven't talked aboutthis, but Amanda actually lies
to Chris about her grandparents.
Yeah. Right. She makes up like,does she make up being adopted
(15:43):
or something?
Sage (15:44):
I'm not sure. But I think she said that they were both
dead
Ethan (15:48):
And has some names for them that are like not really
like they're just likefictional,
Sage (15:52):
yeah, like definitely not Korean.
Movie audio - Amanda (15:55):
Grandma Gloria and Grandpa Bill aren't
my real parents. I made them up.
I was raised by my mother. Myreal mother.
Ethan (16:04):
And in fact, I don't think we know anything about do
we know about him and his dad?
Really? He's not he doesn'treally figure into the story too
much.
Sage (16:11):
No, just that he we don't know anything about Chris's dad.
Yeah, I don't think they I don'tknow if they mentioned him at
all, but I don't mention him.
Amanda's Amanda's father. Theydo mention in the end.
Ethan (16:21):
Okay, let's let's jump back for a moment. Start off the
movie. Alma doesn't exist.
Basically. She has been wipedfrom memory. And when we first
learned about Amma, it's whenthe uncle comes. I should
probably hold on to this nuggetfor later on when we talk about
favorite scenes, but I just wantto say that the scene with the
uncle I really like he's areally powerful actor. I don't
know who he is. I don't knowwhat he's saying. Practically.
Speaking Korean,
Unknown (16:46):
(Uncle speaking in Korean with Amanda) Her anger
will grow as long as she remainsin this box. That's why you
must...
Movie audio - Amanda (16:54):
Get out of my house.
Unknown (17:00):
(in Korean) Each day, her pain will turn to poison,
and seep into you. Your motheralways gets what she wants.
Ethan (17:06):
He's really intense.
Yeah. And it's a surprisingscene because he's bringing her
mother's ashes to her all theway from Korea. Yeah, he is
pissed off. He's like, so angry
Sage (17:17):
Yeah, like, I felt that anger. And so basically what he
with her.
was saying is, how do you thinkyour mama felt that you left
Ethan (17:23):
It kind of catches the viewer off guard a little bit, I
her? Because every day... hesays something like, every day
she would call for you? Or likewhen she died? She was calling
your name. But you weren'tthere, were you? And you know,
you can kind of see where he'scoming from, even though like
there's two. There's two sides.
I think like, yeah, she was, youknow, she was an abusive mother
(17:44):
and Amanda left and started herown life. In Asian culture.
Being there for your parents,and respecting your parents is a
huge thing. Like one ofConfucius's core teachings was
like, do what your parents tellyou, basically. And that's
really important in Asianculture. And he was... he seemed
really upset that she had leftthink, because you're expecting
(18:10):
it to be kind of this tenderreunion moment, but anything,
but you know, yeah. And hedoesn't even stick around very
long. He's like, here's thestuff, you know, like a ceramic
urn full of ashes, and like abunch of personal effects.
Sage (18:24):
Yeah. And a mask, as well, specifically.
Ethan (18:26):
That's right. It also sort of has this symbolic role
in the movie where Sandra wascharacter, Amanda, kind of does
she put it on at one point, Ithink, um, or does it sort of
like, come on to her face orsomething?
Sage (18:40):
It's a tal. It's called a tal. Um, how do you spell that?
T A L tal. Yep. And so she'sexplaining to Chrissy. So once
Chrissy kind of goes venturingdown into this basement cellar
that Amanda has used to storeeverything that she wants to
keep secret, kind of like shehas all of the electrical
(19:03):
appliances, that picture of Ammaher hanbok. And for people who
don't know, hanbok is like atraditional Korean dress almost.
Yeah, it's kind of like that.
And she has all that stuff downthere. And at one point, Chris,
he goes down there and looksaround and she finds a picture
of Obama as well as thesuitcase, I think.
Movie audio - Chris (19:24):
What's this?
Movie audio - Amanda (19:27):
That's a tal. It's a family heirloom.
It's been worn by the women inour family for generations.
Movie audio - Chris (19:35):
Why is all this stuff in here?
Movie audio - Amanda (19:38):
She always said she take her favorite
things with her into theafterlife. She probably left
them for her ceremony.
Movie audio - Chris (19:44):
What kind of ceremony?
Movie audio - Amanda (19:46):
Well, some Koreans believe that life's
hardships are caused by thetormented spirits of their
ancestors, so they makeofferings to appease or tortured
souls.
Movie audio - Chris (19:57):
Is that what you believe?
Movie audio - Amanda (20:01):
I don't believe in superstition.
Sage (20:04):
Amanda is showing Chrissy the suitcase and a picture of
Umma and the urn and things likethat. And then Chris, he's like,
What is this mask and Amandaexplains that it's a tal and it
has been passed down from thewoman in the family for
generations. And once that kindof happens, these creepy
encounters start to occur. Oneof them specifically is when
(20:27):
Amanda is outside at nightbecause I think she heard
Chrissy yelling for help. Andshe goes outside at night, and
she basically encounters Umma.
It's this figure, with the talon the mask and with the hanbok
on because it's kind of like amenacing figure and there's more
encounters with that menacingfigure. Chrissy I think tries on
(20:49):
the hanbok in the attic at onepoint and Amanda goes up there
to try to find Chrissy and sheencounters Umma
Movie audio - Amanda (21:03):
Chrissy?
Why are you wearing that?
Movie audio - Chris (21:05):
Sorry, Mommy, I was just trying it on.
I found it up here.
Movie audio - Amanda (21:10):
Take it off.
Movie audio - Chris (21:11):
Why.
Sage (21:14):
But then it turns out that it was kind of maybe just like a
vision she was seeing or asomeone is messing with her
head. And it was actuallyChrissy the whole time just in
the hanbok. So you know, thingslike that start to happen. And
it's interesting, because she'salways wearing a hanbok Yeah,
and the tal, like the thetraditional Korean things. And
(21:35):
it's kind of framed as like ascary thing, you know?
Ethan (21:38):
Yeah, it reminds me there's other stuff in that
scene where Chris finds thepossessions in the basement.
There's something that has apainting of... and I'm going to
say this wrong, probably. Butthe Kumiho. The nine tailed fox,
Sage (21:52):
Yes, so on the suitcase there's a scarf
Ethan (21:55):
A traditional kind of spirit or demon, I'm not sure
exactly. What's interesting iswhen we see that we see Chris
discovering that that imagery,and she doesn't really pay a lot
of attention to it, but it'sthere. And I really was kind of
expecting I was like, Oh, the Ithought oh, okay, Umma is
actually a Kumiho. Or, or we'regoing to see something more
(22:17):
about this. And we do see theKumiho at one point at night
when there's just like wildstuff happening on the farm, but
I feel like it doesn't get usedvery much.
Sage (22:25):
It doesn't. You see the Kumiho, like, once, and then...
Ethan (22:30):
I really thought that there was a lot of stuff being
kind of telegraphed, like, oh,maybe there's a connection here.
Or maybe there is somethingsupernatural.
Sage (22:37):
Yeah, that that part, I wish they had done more,
Ethan (22:40):
You know, because ultimately, I don't lie. Okay,
the movie presents Amma as sortof this entity that is
possessing Amanda and Chris.
Right. And, and there and itseems to be this like a shadowy
malevolent force, sometimes thatis very real in their lives.
Yeah. But at the same time, italso is presented sort of as a
(23:01):
purely metaphorical, you know,aspect of their family history
being kind of suppressed. Right.
And, and at the end of themovie, I don't really know like,
was there a real possessionhappening? Or was that just sort
of a metaphor for her experienceof this family trauma this
(23:28):
family? Actually, one thing Iwant to mention really quick is
the idea of family ghosts. Youknow, I used to work with.. or
families that are haunted. Iused to work, right out of
college, at a treatment facilityfor juveniles and...
juveniles... for kids. We hadtherapists on staff there, and
there's this one therapist who'sa big bear of a guy, big beard,
(23:50):
and very gruff, very nice guy.
And he and I were talking aboutone of my primary case loads at
one point, and you know, we'retalking about the impact of
family trauma and, you know,families where abuse is passed
down generation to generation.
And he said, you know, therereally is such a thing as a
(24:10):
family ghost. Families reallycan be haunted and it is it is
trauma that haunts families. Hesays, but you kind of really
almost experienced it as ahaunting, you know, something so
scary. And that always stuckwith me. And this movie is kind
of a perfect encapsulation,right? Like this drama. And
(24:31):
later on we see that trauma isalso experienced by Umma herself
as she is abandoned in thiscountry that she doesn't know
when doesn't speak the languagein, you know.
Sage (24:41):
That actually... I really liked that scene at the end of
the movie where, what happens isAmanda is kind of like, dragged
into the dirt. So she buries...
she buries Umma's ashes in avery non ceremonial or
respectful way because she'skind of mad. And so then later
Amma kind of appears on thatspot where she her ashes have
(25:06):
been buried and drags Amandainto the dirt. And then there's
kind of a maybe a dream like,it's not... it's not dream like,
the scene, but I interpret it assome sort of vision or dream,
where Amanda is talking to herUmma, that's when you kind of
realize that she's not just abad person for no reason.
Movie audio (25:32):
(Amanda confronting Umma, crying)
Sage (25:42):
Where Amanda is kind of talking about how a mother
emigrated to the US with herhusband because she was expected
to to be a good wife. And sheyou know, she didn't know
English. She didn't know anyone.
She knows the custom. And shewas kind of left on her own.
Ethan (26:00):
Yeah, she had her own goals in life. But this sort of
derailed all that. And yeah, shehad a hard time. In the movies
defense. The one thing I reallywant to say that I liked in
particular, is that at the endof the movie, it did not feel
like they just forgive Obama,that it didn't feel like a pure
like, okay, it's all light andsunshine now. You know, it felt
(26:23):
like an acknowledgment of thetrauma that Amanda experienced,
and it felt like she did... Idon't know if forgive is the
right word. Right? Maybe shedidn't forgive. But she accepted
that Alma was right. Whereas atthe beginning of the movie,
Ahmad does not exist for her.
Yeah, she has been erased. Bythe end of the film. They accept
(26:43):
that Emma was and that Emma hadher own experience and trauma
and life. And I don't think itwas a forgiveness of the the
abuse that Amanda suffered.
Yeah. But I felt like it was anacknowledgment of Obama just as
a person. Yeah, exactly. It wasYeah. And and also, as a person
(27:04):
that is in their family.
Sage (27:05):
Yeah. And she, Amanda mentions that her father had
left her and she was left withUmma and Umma would take out her
anger and her rage at this kindof foreign place that she was in
on Amanda. She was left to kindof bear that emotional burden,
which I think is really... it'srealistic. You know, that
(27:30):
happens a lot when you know,people, especially parents,
because their kids are justthere, you know.
Ethan (27:46):
Do you want to talk about your favorite scenes?
Sage (27:48):
Yeah. So personally, my favorite scene... well
definitely the dreamconfrontation was one of them.
But also there's one that wedidn't... We haven't talked
about this at all. But Dannyhas, I think, a niece who is in
(28:09):
town for a little while, right.
Movie audio - Danny (28:12):
This is my niece, who will be staying with
me a few weeks while our folksare out of town. River. This is
Chris.
Movie audio - River (28:19):
Hey
Movie audio - Chris (28:20):
I like your makeup.
Movie audio - River (28:22):
Thanks. I really like your freckles. Wish
I had them.
Sage (28:28):
Chrissy hangs out with her a few times. One of my favorite
scenes is when Denise knees ishanging out with Chrissy after
she's kind of run away fromAmanda because her college
application had been typed allover. Yeah. And Amanda denies
that she's done it and it's kindof implied that Umma did it.
(28:50):
Chrissy bikes off and goes intotown and she runs into Danny's
niece. In the back of Danny'struck. They have a little talk
and Danny's niece gives Chrissya planner, like a college
planner. I don't know I just Ireally liked their dynamic
because at first you kind ofthink that she's gonna make fun
(29:12):
of Chrissy, like all the otherkids in town do because you know
that she's weird. She doesn'thave a phone. She's isolated.
But then you kind of you realizethat she's not like that and
that she really does care aboutChrissy and she really wants her
to do what she was trying to do,which is go to college. Yeah.
And I don't know. I think that'sreally nice. Yeah,
Ethan (29:34):
Yeah, she supports her doing that in her own way and
she gets her a paper planner.
Yeah, that was neat.
All right. I think that prettymuch wraps up our review of
Umma.
Sage (29:47):
Thanks again for joining us on this episode of the Teen
Horror Cast. You can follow uson Twitter and Instagram at
@teenhorrorcast where we'd loveto hear from you. Let us know
what films you'd like to hear usreview. See you next episode!
Ethan (30:00):
See you then! Bye
Sage (30:01):
Bye
Ethan (30:14):
Rural. You just say rural. Rural. Rural. Okay.
Rural. but not It's not Earl.
Earl Rural would be an awesomename, though. Earl Rural and his
wife Pearl. Pearl Rural and EarlRural. Do they have any kids?
Merle.
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