The Taste of Mango (12A) |Close-Up Film Review

Director Chloe Abrahams’ The Taste of Mango is an award-winning documentary debut that lingers in the mind and heart. As someone drawn to family stories and their unspoken complexities, I found this documentary a deeply personal and moving exploration of inheritance, identity, and healing.

Winner of the Best Debut Director Award at the 2023 BIFAs and the Best Documentary Audience Award at the BFI London Film Festival, the film delves into the lives of three women: Chloe, her mother Rozana, and her grandmother Jean. Through intimate conversations and raw camcorder footage, Chloe seeks to untangle the painful silences that have shaped her family, from Rozana’s hidden pain to Jean’s turbulent past in Sri Lanka.

The documentary’s greatest strength lies in its visual and emotional artistry. Abrahams combines raw, tactile close-ups with a poetic narrative structure that blurs the lines between memory, imagination, and reality. Her voiceovers, directed to her mother, feel like a heartfelt dialogue, adding layers of vulnerability. Suren Seneviratne’s ethereal score and the surprising use of 1970s country music create a haunting yet hopeful atmosphere.

What makes The Taste of Mango so impactful is its honesty. It doesn’t shy away from the weight of trauma—physical violence, estrangement, and grief—yet it also celebrates resilience, love, and the possibility of reconciliation. This duality makes the film both painful and profoundly uplifting.

Chloe Abrahams’ ability to transform her family’s deeply personal story into a universal meditation on connection and healing is remarkable. The film isn’t just a documentary; it’s a cinematic love letter to the complexities of familial bonds.

For anyone who treasures the power of storytelling to illuminate the unspoken The Taste of Mango is an unforgettable, breathtakingly intimate experience. It’s a must-watch, and I feel honoured to have witnessed its brilliance.

Tone who treasures the power of storytelling to illuminate the unspoken The Taste of Mango is an unforgettable, breathtakingly intimate experience. It’s a must-watch, and I feel honoured to have witnessed its brilliance.