Call me dense, unimaginative or just plain dumb…
But I just didn’t get it, at least I don’t think I did.
mother! starts out innocently enough.
Newlyweds Jennifer Lawrence and her quite a bit older husband Javier Bardem sharing their newly married life at an old, rundown country estate.
Javier is continuing his rocky career as a writer while Jennifer refurbishes their remote home.
However. their lives soon encounter some strange forks in the road.
The first when a total stranger—a doctor played by Ed Harris—appears at their front door whom Bardem invites to stay the night.
What a surprise when on the next day his wife (Michelle Pfeiffer) appears and is welcomed to move in by Bardem as well.
All the while Jenn’s nerves become more and more rattled.
Things happen – weird things.
With no real explanation of WHY these strangers have appeared at the once happy couple’s home.
That’s only the first act!
What goes down for the remainder of the movie is—well, bizarre!
But then ‘mother!’ was written and directed by Darren Aronofsky with offings such as THE FOUNTAIN, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM and BLACK SWAN to his credit.
And in the second act, he REALLY lets lose!
More and more people show up as life in the house rapidly dissolves into demented weirdness beyond imagination.
Why?
And how does Kristen Wiig’s cameo fit into this madness which takes us to a climactic climax? One I won’t discuss here?
Suffice it to say its touches on flavorings of ROSEMARY’S BABY.
Oops, I’ve probably shared too much already.
That said, ‘mother!’ is psychologically agonizing—yet spellbinding in its own weird way.
And yes, there IS a reason for the film’s title to be set in lower case letters and why it is followed by an exclamation point!
I just can’t exactly tell you why.
Hey, I’m still trying to put the pieces together and figure it all out for myself.
One thing’s for sure. ‘mother!’ isn’t what I would call a date night movie.
What it IS….is agonizing and intense as hell.
My grade: ?—it’s above my pay scale.
JACK GOES TO THE MOVIES Fridays during Kansas City’s Morning News on 98.1 FM, KMBZ.
sounds nuts Jack…I might see it now, wasn’t before your review…hey saw the ‘River’ movie with Jeremy Renner and was not impressed…the movie really set up a nowhere to go story…nothing hung together, the bad guys made zero sense and the rape murder made less sense…it was a who cares murder mystery…an HBO movie in my opinion…Jeremy was good, the Olsen sister who is super hot in Hollywood movie offices they ALL WANT HER in their pictures now…but I saw little from her, great figure, cute, kinda boyish voice and not too sexy…didn’t grab me…movie gets a C plus from me.
Hey Craig,
Thanks for the take on my “mother!” review.
At least you’ve now been forewarned.
I wasn’t that lucky.
As for “WIND RIVER” it was actually better than I had expected.
I had no expectations when I first wandered in.
So there you go.