Review:
"mother!"
Release Date: Sept. 15, 2017
Rating: R Running Time: 121 minutes A tale of the male ego run amok as seen through the eyes of a bewildered woman, the truly original and inherently eccentric mother! arrives with such secrecy that you would think writer/director Darren Aronofsky was in preparation to join Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia investigation. We knew Aronofsky was working his follow-up to 2014’s Noah. We knew he cast Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Ed Harris in pivotal roles. But beyond that, everything has been kept under wraps. Even the trailer gives little away. All of this is very refreshing. It’s nice to walk into a film without knowing what to expect. In the case of mother!, though, it’s impossible to know what direction the emotional and psychological journey is heading even if you are familiar with the film’s premise. Even the opening sequence, which suggests something strange is at work in this housebound curiosity, doesn’t give much away as to what Aronofsky plans to inflict upon us. Without giving too much away, Lawrence and Bardem play married couple Grace and Eli, respectively. They live in a beautiful old home that previously belonged to Eli and was almost destroy in a fire before Eli met Grace. Grace is so devoted to her poet husband that she spends almost every waking hour renovating the house to look as it did before the fire. Meanwhile, Eli suffers from writer’s block. Their seemingly tranquil existence is shattered with the arrival of a stranger (an off-kilter Ed Harris) and, hours later, his wife (Michelle Pfeiffer, who revels in the subtle spitefulness of her inquisitive and unwelcomed houseguest). Harris and Pfeiffer set off a chain of events that need to be seen to believed. Aronofsky even throws in a newly installed kitchen sink for good measure in a likley nod to the turmoil that occurs within the walls of Grace and Eli’s house. While it’s clear something is off the moment Harris steps into the house, Aronofsky gradually builds up to the insanity that envelopes Grace while maintaining mother!’s air of mystery until all is said and done. Aronofsky executes mother! with an audacity and a warped sense of imagination that’s rarely seen in a film that’s backed by a major studio, in this case, the usually conservative Paramount Picture. Nothing is off limits during the final act, as evidenced by a particularly gruesome act that finally causes Grace to snap. However, mother! remains as elegant and weirdly enjoyable as possible under the bizarre and bloody circumstances Aronofsky creates. While Grace is the beating heart of mother!, it is Eli who drives the narrative. Eli is a man who loves company. He especially loves the kind of company that threatens to turn his house upside down. Grace wants to be alone in her house. She lives to spend quality time with Eli. The former’s decision and ability to roll with the madness confuses, confounds and frightens Grace. It serves as a glimpse into the mind of a man who needs more than just a dedicated and loving wife to feed his waning creative energy. Bardem finds a compassionate streak in Eli that extends to everyone but the woman he claims to love. He plays Eli as a stand-in for every man who is happily oblivious to the needs of the person who craves his attention the most. Accordingly, Eli proves to be as harmful to Grace as the madding crowd that overruns their house. Bearing in mind that Aronofsky presents Grace as a spectator in her own nightmare who is either ignored or dismissed, Lawrence goes into and remains in reactive mode from the moment her peaceful life is terrorized by Harris and Pfeiffer. Lawrence can only do so much with an inadequately written role that is clearly defined by Grace’s unconditional love for Eli. Every scene requires Lawrence to look more and more shaken by the chaos that occurs around her, and it isn’t until the final minutes of mother! that Lawrence is put in a position to influence events. Aronofsky highlights Grace’s progression from irritated to annoyed to infuriated to terrified by mostly shooting Lawrence from head down to the shoulders. This heightens Grace’s anxiousness and allows the stench of toxic masculinity to spread to the audience that serves as her fellow witnesses. Robert Sims Aired: Sept. 14, 2017 Web site: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialMotherMovie/ |
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