Mother!

"Who are you?"

     Director Darren Aronofsky has made a bit of a reputation for himself. With powerful pieces such as The Wrestler and Black Swan (companion pieces to each other respectively) his movies create a relatable and tangible world with themes that in the scope of their narratives, provide lessons such as maintaining purpose and identity, and the cost of doing so. His film Noah was a departure for him, due to the heavy use of effects and action sequences, something that I felt wasn't his natural style. He returns this season with Mother!, another visceral piece that covers some pretty heavy themes, some which are just a little bit too self indulgent for its own good.

Source: brocode.nz

     This is a movie that since I saw the first trailer I've wanted to see, the marketing doing a really good job establishing this vague mystery of a home invasion. So let me just say right off the bat: if you're expecting the psychological mindf*ck that the trailer made this movie out to be, this is not that movie, at least not in the context you'd expect. This movie is about love, devotion, sacrifice, death and rebirth and the corruption of power. Symbolism and metaphors are in every frame, all personified through the quaint home of Jennifer Lawerences character.
     In terms of background, I'll only provide what the trailer does: Jennifer Lawerence and Javier Bardems characters live in an isolated multistory home in the middle of a pasture. With the arrival of a mysterious man (Ed Harris) and later his wife (Michelle Pfeiffer) things slowly begin to unravel as more and more strangers begin to show up at the house, challenging JLaws sense of reality.

Source: Pop Sugar

     This is a bubble movie, never leaving the walls and sprawling halls of the house. Cinematography wise it is beautiful, tight following shots of the ageless architecture, some rooms finished and some in the process of, with brief shots of the spanning wilderness and the sound of the breeze going through the tall grass and trees. Audio plays a role in establishing the setting as well, leaving cross audio from background conversations in the mix, emphasizing the tight corridors of the home. It could be considered that the house, given the story being told, is a character itself, and the central one at that. One might also think that this is the only sense of civilization within the movie, the only house visible for miles, in a location one wouldn't expect. It's very dream-like, almost like a paradise, a Garden of Eden. This is where the movie gets a little muddy.
     It's message to be honest isn't that hard to grasp. If you can follow the bread-crumb trail of clues and cues you'll pick up on everything rather quickly. The problem is that the movie spends so much time wrapped up telling it's message, it creates a sort of disconnect, some ideas holding their weight and some being so outlandish that it comes off almost desperate. Subtleties such as nicknames (JLaws "Goddess", Javier Bardems "The Poet") and the emphasis on the color yellow help fill in the spaces between the lines. But then there are some pretty obvious allegorical concepts that totally go off the deep end, from expanding on the houses function entirely to one idea in particular that hits the nail so hard on the head it feels like it's trying way to hard to do so.

Source: PopSugar

     The cast with what they have to work with serve the movie well, providing enough through their body language and semantics to explain their motivations. JLaw comes off as a natural provider and faithful wife and companion, while Javier Bardem is distant and distracted. Ed Harris is a rather odd fellow, while Michelle Pfeiffer is the one who really gets the ball rolling. The rest of the cast, nameless strangers, represent not themselves individually, but rather as a collective, working together through their actions rather than their words to bring out their true identity. I think this may be the best emotional performance from JLaw I've seen in any movie of hers. She truly gives it all she's got in this one, a tender being having the life sucked out of her. Javier Bardem for me didn't have enough of a part to really contribute to the movie, but rather just serves as a plot device for JLaw. There's even a cameo from a certain Bridesmaids star!

   Overall I did like the movie. It certainly had me engaged, with an ambitiousness that I could appreciate. It is a well produced piece of cinema, with tight directing, camera work and performances. But there are some parts of the movie that they could've done without and it would've had the same sort of impact, and I think it would've been way more Shakespearean in its message. I'm not sure how much longer this will be in theaters, so if this movie caught your eye, I say go along for the ride. It'll definitely give you something to talk about.

7 mothers out of 10  


Update: After letting this movie sit and stew in me, it's had quite a lasting impression on me. It may be suffocating in its detail in regards to its concept, but it is a very committed conceptualized idea that holds a lot of merit for its conceptualized production alone.

9 mothers out of 10

But that's just my opinion. What do you think? Comment below and be part of the conversation!