Review: Mother!
It's not going to make any more sense than this...
This was a polarizing movie. I went to see it with my ‘wife’ Heather, who decidedly hated it, while I loved it – as an art piece. I typically don’t think of films as art. I understand that they are of course, but mostly I’m there to watch a good story and the ‘art’ of it simply adds or detracts from that. In this case, the story was not the point to me, and I think maybe not the overall point at all. This movie starts out with a vague yet simple premise and proceeds to get exponentially surreal as it continues.
It is very hard for me to provide a plot summary without simply telling you what it’s really about. The spoiler I had going into this movie – from Jennifer Lawrence on The Tonight Show – was that her character represented ‘Mother Nature’. Now exactly in what way was unclear but eventually it does become abundantly clear and the other representations do as well. It is important to note that for this reason, while my company and I did not agree, we had a lot to discuss after the movie.
A very basic overview is that is directed by Darren Aronofsky, director of Black Swan. It stars Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem as a married couple. They live a large sequestered house in a field surrounded by woods and Jennifer Lawrence’s character has been slowly rebuilding her husband’s childhood home that was burned down. He is a writer who has had writer’s block since the fire. Then people come to visit and that’s about as much as I feel comfortable telling you.
Uninvited guests - yet J-Law is the weird one?
One of the biggest reasons Heather did not like the movie is because it was almost impossible to anticipate what is going to happen. I love that in any movie; however I do see her point. Tonally it was really hard to understand. The way it’s filmed in the beginning and the brand of the surreal makes it feel like your run of the mill horror/thriller. It is not that at all and you don’t know that for sure until the last 30 minutes or so. There is a continuing storyline of Jennifer Lawrence’s character having creepy moments in the basement that feel very horror movie-esque but the payoff is minimal.
In this regard I agree, it almost felt as though the director was trying to make us believe the movie was one thing when it was really another. As I become slightly annoyed when I see movies that I can predict, I enjoyed being as surprised as I was, however I understand that if that isn’t how you feel about movies you may feel a little duped. However in my research I found a few articles referencing the fact that Aronofsky didn’t want anyone to know what the movie was before going in. Given what it clearly represents by the end I understand why, but you do alienate a lot of your audience that way.
'I didn't mean to alienate you!'
Expect the surrealism of the end of Black Swan cranked to 11.
74 uninvited guests out of 100.