Review: mother!
Under his eye.
In a large house in the country side, a young woman (Jennifer Lawrence) is living with her older, poet husband. (Javier Bardem) While he struggles with writers block, she has been fixing up the house to make their own little paradise. One day, a man (Ed Harris) shows up unexpectedly, and her husband allows him to stay the night. The next day, his wife (Michelle Pfieffer) arrives. Soon, more and more people inexplicably show up at their house and none of them are listening to what this young woman has to say.
When it comes to the plot, I went into this completely spoiler free, and I'll keep the review this way too. It's better that way. All I had was the hype, some that it lived up to, some that it didn't.
This is an experience. I really liked the story Director Darren Aronofsky was telling. It's heavy on symbolism and metaphors but it works up until a point. The last 20-30 minutes of this film is a clusterfuck of the highest order. It is very disturbing, though not nearly as much as I expected it to be with the way some early watchers described it. It's mostly just a mess of things thrown together until we get to the big moment, which you see the outcome from a mile away.
The performances are good. I personally didn't find any of them near Oscar caliber. Ed Harris is probably the best because he gets to showcase the most range. Even so, Jennifer Lawrence's character did resonate with me quite a bit. I was frustrated as hell watching the way everyone treats her in this movie. I haven't rooted for mass murder this much since I saw The Hunt. One cameo in particular threw me out of the film though, and that was Kristen Wiig. She felt incongruous here.
I don't imagine I'll stop thinking about this film for a while. I have so many questions still. It's a hard film to rate. It's so fascinating but so poorly executed. I think the story and intentions are strong enough to carry it ultimately.
Recommended: Yes
Grade: B-
Memorable Quote: "You don't love me, you just love how much I love you." - Mother (Jennifer Lawrence)
This sounds like me big WTF movie. I will see it when it comes out on video..um...DVD.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it is. A massive WTF.
DeleteImpressive that you could get a review out of this movie, because I couldn't type a single word on screen. It's not that I didn't like the movie, but clusterfuck is absolutely right. I like what you said about Ed Harris...he did give a lot a range that I hadn't seen from him in a role before. From what I'm reading, this movie *may* get technical award nominations for sound, etc. Great review! I shant be thinking about this one much longer either, sadly...
ReplyDeleteI don't think this will get anywhere near Oscar. That's interesting about Sound. I noticed there was no score, but nothing else about it.
DeleteIt is a real what-the-fuck-did-I-just-watch kind of film. It does have you thinking although I think it's flawed in some of the writing and execution but still very compelling to watch. It is polarizing but it's the polarizing films that are the most interesting. Fuck Cinemascore. I never relied on that shit from day one.
ReplyDeleteI've had issues with Cinemascore for years, so it's kind of nice to hear of other people that don't care for it either. lol
DeleteCool review! Five or six years ago, I think I would've jumped to see this...but I don't know. I pieced so much of the story together from the first teaser. Since so many have said that a lot of it is a mess, and I've read all about the graphic scenes, I'm just not in a rush to see this one. It's refreshing to hear that someone enjoyed Ed's performance though!
ReplyDeleteEd's great. This is a film that I think waiting for DVD is fine too. It's not like anything in it demands to be seen on the big screen.
DeleteHopefully, I'll get to see this sooner rather than later. I'm really looking forward to it.
ReplyDeleteI hope you like it!
DeleteSo great to read Ed is MVP! I cannot wait to see this. I can easily see myself loving it or hating it with much fierceness :D
ReplyDeleteYou'll love Ed at the very least! I hope you love the entire film since you're so pumped for it.
DeleteI don't think the film was badly executed. It was superbly executed, with a great creative flair. Lawrence must have thought that she was in for some Oscar-recognition after her ordeal like Portman after Black Swan.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that aspect worked better for you. I hope she wasn't thinking Oscar for this, she had to have known the Academy might not buy that 2nd half.
DeleteClusterfuck.. hahaha. Well, I hope to see this clusterfuck but I'm afraid I'll hate it.. who knows though, maybe I'll get sucked into it and walk out with positive feelings.
ReplyDeleteIt's tough to call how people will take it lol
DeleteI have so been looking forward to your review! B- means I will probably skip it or will half watch it when it's streaming. Ed Harris is always good so it doesn't surprise me he was the best thing in the film. Not a Jlaw fan, but I heard she does good work here. For some reason I just can't picture Jlaw and Javier Bardeem...?
ReplyDeleteB- Is still a theater rating, IMO. At least for me. The couple absolutely makes sense in the film once you see what it's about.
DeleteI'm not really looking forward to see it, but I think I'll watch it anyway sooner or later.
ReplyDeleteI hope it surprises you or at least entertains you.
DeleteLOL at the "rooting for mass murder", and I was right there with you, practically BEGGING JLaw to burn the fucker down. I didn't LOVE this, and I really wanted to, but I was damn impressed by it - so few films have the balls to not only be as batshit insane as this, but as heavy with allegory and metaphor.
ReplyDeleteI liked all the performances. Pfeiffer is definitely at or near the top of my Supporting Actress list so far this year... not that she's had much competition lol.
I agree, I didn't love it either but I still can't stop thinking about it. I wish it had done better at the box office.
DeleteGreat review! This movie was absolutely bonkers, but I did love it. I still cannot believe a major studio financed this thing.
ReplyDeleteNeither can I, but I love that they did.
DeleteI can't say that I enjoyed myself watching mother! It was just too much of everything. Too weird, too disturbing and too confusing. A bit too long as well, since I found myself wanting it to finally end. I know that Aronofsky tried to break rules and boundaries, and definitely norms, and he succeeds. But the price he pays for his success is that the film itself is a mess and a burden to watch. Usually, a rating for a film I am watching starts to form in my mind easily during the watch, but this time I had to "recover" from the experience for an hour, until I could rate it. Ended up giving 6 out of 10.
ReplyDelete