(POSTER PROVIDED VIA GOOGLE)
***WARNING: REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS***
RELEASE DATE: September 15, 2017
RUNNING TIME: 2 Hours and 1 minute
RATED: R
DIRECTOR: Darren Aronofsky
WRITER: Darren Aronofsky
STARRING:
Jennifer Lawrence as Mother
Javier Bardem as Him
Ed Harris as Man
Michelle Pfeiffer as Woman
Kristen Wiig as Herald
I just finished watching the new film Mother! and I have one impression of the film as soon as it ended. My wife and I looked at each other and said, "What the hell did we just watch?" The confusing story was well written and kept us hanging on until the end of the film. The structure of the story made us feel that we needed to know how the movie would end and what it all meant.
We end up going through the film not given anyone's name or any sort of true back story. The main character played by Jennifer Lawrence is someone who truly loves her husband and would do anything for him. Her husband is played by Javier Bardem often refereed tonas Him. He is a writer who has been suffering a horrible writer's block. They seem to live a simple life. He struggles to figure out what words to put to paper and she spends her days renovating their house that had burned down before she had married him. One day a man shows up at the front door. He claims to be a doctor who was told that the house was a bed and breakfast, but then reveals that he is actually a fan of the author's earlier works. This sets up a series of random people showing up at the house and who are obsessed with the author after he finally finds inspiration and writes his greatest work. Long story short, this creates a living hell for Jennifer Lawrence's Mother character and the story unwind into a chaotic whirlwind that is not only uncomfortable to watch but also incredibly annoying to an introvert such as myself.
I am really trying not to give too much away with this review but I bet you can tell how I feel about the film. Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Garden, Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer do a great job in their roles. I even enjoyed a surprise pop up of Kristen Wiig. The acting of the film is great. The story just got under my skin. I am one that enjoys twists and surprise endings. But Mother! added enough chaos for me to just want it to end. I understood the end of the film but I didn't feel that it was worth the payoff. At times I just felt myself getting mad at the film while watching it and I felt that they did not need 2 hours to tell this story. I know those could be seen as harsh comments for someone like myself who said that the writing kept me needing to see what the end was like and that the acting was enjoyable. This film really made me feel confused with how I felt about it at the end.
I also want to point out is that I understand what this film was. I understand who the characters were actually portraying. I am going to say it right now and I am giving away a massive spoiler here as it is never actually said ever in the film but you get a good sense of it. Ready, here it is. Javier Bardem is God, Jennifer Lawrence is Mother Nature, and Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer are Adam and Eve. Once you realize that, the film begins to make much more sense and you have an idea as to why the film takes the directions that it does.
I give Mother! 3.5 out of 5 stars just because it pissed me off due to what I mentioned above. This film brought up emotion in me and I feel that when a film can do that, it has a lot of powerful messages in it whether it makes me mad, upset or happy. This film definitely made me feel the entire emotional spectrum. This is a film that I am torn about in a way. It pissed me off and made me satisfied at the same time. It was weird. But what do I know? Feel free to check it out for yourself.
