Now that was one of the most insane things I’ve ever seen!
‘Mother!’ starring Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer is the latest movie to come from the creative mind of Darren Aronofsky. ‘Mother!’ follows a young woman (Jennifer Lawrence) and her husband (Javier Bardem) who live in a house that seems to be in the middle of nowhere. But when uninvited guests (Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer) appear at their door, their tranquil existence is disrupted with dire consequences.
Now, to begin I should probably tell you this is the first time I’ve gone to watch a movie at the cinema and witnessed two people leave at different points, with the first person leaving and yelling out: “this is a f$@#%&# stupid movie.” So, as you can already tell, ‘Mother!’ is a movie that you’re either going to love or hate. Personally, I loved it!
This is a very symbolic movie and you’ll be able to notice that by the end of the first act. I already have a belief on what ‘Mother!’ really means but I won’t write about it here as it will delve into massive spoilers. If you want my take on what it all means, then please let me know.
The performances were great across the board with Jennifer Lawrence in her best performance to date. Not only is she in 99% of the movie (with the camera tracking her throughout), but she had the job of acting with so many different emotions and she pulls it off with ease. If you never really liked her acting before, then you should definitely watch ‘Mother!’ just for her performance. Javier Bardem is also great here as the husband of Jennifer Lawrence’s character. He manages to be calm, creepy, normal and strange all in one which is very hard to pull off, but he is great in this role. Basically, it’s the most Javier Bardem you will see in a performance from Javier Bardem.
With those two main performances being amazing, every other performance is also great but do get slightly overshadowed by the main two. With some great surprises in the cast, I do recommend not looking up the full cast as you’ll get a kick out of the surprise appearances.
The direction from Darren Aronofsky is amazing. He manages to make ‘Mother!’ a very creepy movie but at the same time something very different. With some similarities to his other works including ‘Black Swan’ and ‘Requiem For a Dream,’ ‘Mother!’ looks and feels like a dream and it works so well with what is happening throughout.
The cinematography is also great. Although most of the movie is filmed with close-ups (mainly close-ups of Jennifer Lawrence), you still get some beautiful shots to look at. You also really get to see the best of it as soon as the third act kicks and to put it plainly, it is just pure insanity.
The only real negative I had with ‘Mother!’ is that it does drag on at some points. It also tends to really love looking at things that could have been implied, instead of us getting a full-on view of it (which actually made another person leave the cinema).
I can’t really say much more about ‘Mother!’ without spoiling it, so I’ll have to wrap this review up.
Overall, ‘Mother!’ is one of the craziest movie experiences you will ever have! With amazing performances, lots of symbolism and great direction, ‘Mother!’ is a great addition to Darren Aronofsky’s filmography and will definitely be the most talked about movie of the year, as well as the most divisive.
Rating: 4/5
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