Umma
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Iris K. Shim
Written by	Iris K. Shim
Produced by	Sam Raimi Zainab Azizi
Starring	Sandra Oh Fivel Stewart MeeWha Alana Lee Tom Yi Odeya Rush Dermot Mulroney
Cinematography	Matt Flannery
Edited by	Louis Cioffi
Music by	Roque Baños
Production companies	Stage 6 Films Raimi Productions Starlight Media
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Releasing
Release dates	March 15, 2022 (2022-03-15) (Koreatown) March 18, 2022 (2022-03-18) (United States)
Running time	83 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$2.1 million[2][3]

Umma^{[Note 1]} (Korean: 엄마) is a 2022 American supernatural horror film, written and directed by Iris K. Shim. The film stars Sandra Oh, Fivel Stewart, MeeWha Alana Lee, Tom Yi, Odeya Rush, and Dermot Mulroney. Sam Raimi serves as a producer on the film. The film follows Amanda (Oh), a single mother who lives with her daughter in a isolated farm being haunted by her mother's ghost.

Umma was released in the United States on March 18, 2022 by Sony Pictures Releasing. The film received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics, who praised Oh's performance and the film's themes, but criticized its formulas as clichéd, its screenplay, over-reliance on jump scares and lack of tension.

Plot[edit]

Korean immigrant Amanda and her homeschooled daughter Chrissy “Chris” live on a rural farm, raising bees, selling honey, raising chickens, and living without modern technology as Amanda has an “allergic reaction” to electronics and electricity. She's upset to learn that Chrissy wants to leave the farm in order to pursue college, as Amanda had wanted her to remain on the farm. When Amanda receives the cremated ashes of her recently deceased estranged mother, who she called Umma, in a suitcase from her uncle visiting her from Korea, she is confronted with memories of her abusive childhood.

Umma had been left to raise Amanda alone in the United States, unable to speak English and surrounded by those who did not understand or practice her culture. It is revealed that Amanda fabricated her “allergy” to electronics after being electrocuted multiple times by Umma as punishment. When Amanda cut ties with her mother she also cut ties with her Korean heritage as a whole, including giving up her family name. As her uncle left, he shamed Amanda for abandoning her own mother and heritage, and for not teaching Chrissy Korean language and culture.

Soon after the ashes arrive a vicious spirit appears, intent on claiming Amanda's body for itself. As the supernatural phenomena following the delivery of her mother’s ashes progress, from visions of tormented Korean spirits (including Umma’s spirit) to an encounter with a kumiho that was eating her chickens, Amanda suddenly becomes more paranoid and fearful that she’s slowly becoming her own mother. This fear becomes realized when Umma successfully possesses her daughter when Amanda tries to bury the ashes.

Chrissy finds her mother performing the Jesa and wearing a mask and hanbok. She's attacked by Amanda, but manages to avoid being killed after pleading for her life. Amanda decides to confront her mother. She forgives her for the abuse. Amanda acknowledges that it was unfair that Umma had been expected to raise a child all alone in a country far from home and in her circumstances, but that it was not an excuse for the abuse. This compassion and understanding allows Umma to finally move on and be at peace, as she had also come to understand that what she did to Amanda was unfair. The film ends with Amanda rediscovering her family heritage and sharing it with her daughter, as well as coming to terms with Chrissy’s need to live her own life.

Cast[edit]

• Sandra Oh as Amanda
• Fivel Stewart as Chris
• Dermot Mulroney as Danny
• Odeya Rush as River
• MeeWha Alana Lee as Amanda’s Mom / Umma
• Tom Yi as Amanda’s Uncle

Production[edit]

In January 2020, it was announced Sandra Oh had joined the cast of the film, with Iris K. Shim, directing from a screenplay she wrote, with Sam Raimi producing under his Raimi Productions banner.^[4] Originally filming began in Vancouver on April 2020, but the month-long shutdown because of COVID-19 Pandemic. In October 2020, Fivel Stewart, Dermot Mulroney, Odeya Rush, MeeWha Alana Lee and Tom Yi joined the cast of the film, with Stage 6 Films set to produce, and Sony Pictures Releasing to distribute.^[5] However, the film began in October 7, 2020 at the Los Angeles, California, and was wrapped on January 2021.^[6]

Release[edit]

It was released on March 18, 2022.^[7] The film's red carpet took place at the Koreatown in Los Angeles on March 15, 2022.^[8] The film was released digitally on April 9, 2022.^[9]

Reception[edit]

Box office[edit]

In the United States and Canada, Umma was released alongside Jujutsu Kaisen 0, The Outfit, and X, and was projected to gross $500,000–1.5 million from 805 theaters in its opening weekend.^[10] The film earned $915,290 in its opening weekend, finishing eleventh.^[11] Women made up 57% of the audience during its opening, with those in the age range of 18–34 comprising 61% of ticket sales. The ethnic breakdown of the audience showed that 42% were Caucasian, 19% Hispanic and Latino Americans, 18% African American, 17% Asian, and 4% other.^[12] The film dropped out of the box office top ten in its second weekend, finishing fourteenth with $460,068.^[13]

Critical response[edit]

Despite its mixed reviews, Sandra Oh received praise for her performance in the film.

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 26% of 31 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5/10. The website's consensus reads, "Despite Sandra Oh's typically strong performance and glimmers of potential from writer-director Iris K. Shim, Umma is a cliché-ridden missed opportunity."^[14] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 49 out of 100 based on 11 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[15] Audiences polled by PostTrak gave the film a 52% positive score, which Deadline Hollywood described as "awful."^[12]

Laura Sirikul from IGN gave a score of 4 out of 10, praising its themes and Oh's performance but criticizing its poor execution and cliches, stating, "Umma isn’t scary, but the themes behind it are terrifying as it deals with generational trauma and guilt. Though the cultural references run deep, it’s overstuffed with symbolic imagery that is never fully explained. Though Oh and Stewart give solid performances, the tone and tension of the story ends up being choppy and underwhelming." Andrew Baker from Variety wrote: "Oh aces her leading role with customary aplomb, and Stewart makes for a game scene partner, but Shim’s economical-to-a-fault screenplay rarely allows them enough downtime to fully flesh out their characters."

Frank Scheck at The Hollywood Reporter noted Oh's committed performance but found the film to be a mediocre B-movie, writing: "Writer-director Shin's labored attempts to use genre tropes to explore the complexities of domineering mother-daughter relationships never fully develops."^[16] Frank Hoepfner from The Wrap wrote: "The most frightening part of Umma is not the ghostly apparition of Amanda’s mother, but Amanda herself. Under Shim’s direction, Oh’s Amanda is haunted and taut, an unpredictable force of nature." Kate Erbland from IndieWire also gave a mixed review and wrote: "Despite its flaws, Umma is an impressive debut for Shim, the kind of outing that hints at plenty more under the hood or tucked inside a massive suitcase, just bursting with secrets."

In a positive review, Tracy Brown from Los Angeles Times wrote: "Think more classic Gothic horror than ghastly over-the-top occult. But that’s plenty to keep viewers such as me, who frighten easily, on edge as the story progresses."

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Umma at IMDb