mother! review

mother! is the second movie this year to deal with the idea of creativity. The second was Alien: Covenant. Whereas that movie was more conventional science fiction. mother! is a film that answers the hypothetical question of what a movie made by Luis Bunuel, Salvador Dali and Stephen King would look like.

Mother (Jennifer Lawrence) and Him (Javier Bardem) are husband and wife. They have no children. Him is a poet. They live together in a large house somewhere in the country. One of the opening scenes of the film has Him placing a crystal on a mantle. The crystal was recovered from previous house which burned down inspires Him to write. However, Him is having a bit of writer's block. A doctor (Ed Harris) stops by and asks to stay. Later, doctor's wife (Michelle Pfeiffer) joins him. She lectures Mother that she should have a child. They are basically boarders from hell. Speaking of which, when the doctor breaks the crystal, all hell breaks loose. It doesn't happen all at once. But actions in the movie are murder, blood seeping in floors and walls, riots, cannibalism, a strange creature living in the toilet, and idolatry. You know the stuff in Disney movies.

You get no bad performances with this A list cast. Jennifer Lawrence suffers quite a bit in this movie. Physical and emotional. In keeping with the surreal nature of the movie, the insane events seem to be real to her. Javier Bardem initially seemed a little to intense for me but his performance makes sense as a man who needs the approval and worship of a crowd. As his career winds down, Ed Harris is making some excellent acting choices. His Man in Black in Westworld was more than evil he was complicated. In this film, he strikes me as a hypocrite. Michelle Pfeiffer's wife has a Lady Macbeth vibe happening here.

Director and writer Darren Aronofsky's camera follows Mother around with either over the shoulder, first person or cover shots. She is in virtually in every scene in the movie. The effect is that we feel her suffering. This film is certainly metaphorical and surreal. With all the gore and violence, it becomes quite intense. That's a problem for mother!. Aronofsky's film needed editing. Was there a need for all the murder, people getting shot and rioting? It got to a point where it slowed down the movie. Still, the film is fascinating. I spent the time trying to understand the multiple allegories crashing into each other.

mother! is a thought provoking, surreal and disturbing movie. Big studio Paramount should be praised for producing this piece of avant-garde art. The grade is B.