Tuesday, October 10, 2017

mother! (2017)


IMDb plot summary: A couple's relationship is tested when uninvited guests arrive at their home, disrupting their tranquil existence.
Directed by Darren Aronofsky. Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris, and Michelle Pfeiffer.

It's hard to put into words how I feel about this one, but it's not like I could leave it NOT reviewed. The film feels like an emotional punch in the gut and is at times very difficult to watch, largely thanks to a heartwrenching performance from Jennifer Lawrence and a near-constant sense of stomach-churning nightmare surrealism. The images are so striking that it's almost disappointing to then resign yourself to the fact that this film has a definite *meaning*, particularly if, like me, you find Darren Aronofsky's official answer deeply unsatisfying. It's certainly a film that will sit with me but I don't connect with it the way I have many of Aronosky's previous work, since as a surrealist allegory it's limited on things like characterization.

3 stars.

How it entered my Flickchart:
mother! > To Be or Not to Be (1942)
mother! < Zootopia
mother! < A Matter of Life and Death
mother! > Marathon
mother! < Laura
mother! < Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken
mother! > Adam
mother! < Who Framed Roger Rabbit
mother! < Seven Chances
mother! > Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
mother! > Ghost World
mother! < Modern Times

Final spot: #1139 out of 2662.

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