Director:
Darren Aronofsky

Starring:
Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris, Michelle Pfeiffer

Other notable appearances:
Kristen Wiig

Running time:
121 minutes

Watch this if you liked:
I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, Exodus: Gods and Kings

A couple (Lawrence and Bardem) living in an isolated home react very differently when unexpected guests arrive at their doorstep.

I found this film so unenjoyable that it actually made me angry. Not “Hulk Smash” angry, but definitely “I would rather have done so many other things with those two hours” angry. It was like when you wait in line for something and you’re just standing there wishing that you could be anywhere else or that the line would hurry up so that you could get to the point of your waiting. Except there was no point. I digress. Kinda.

To give leeway where it’s due, I knew from the trailer that I wouldn’t like Mother! and I went to see it anyway, so perhaps I’m mostly angry at myself for not taking my own very good advice.

Mother! is a film that is jam-packed with biblical metaphors and has a very arthouse vibe to it. This feel emanates throughout the visuals, the plot and the complete abandonment of entertainment value. (Apologies to the minority of arthouse films that are entertaining.)

The main characters are all pretty loathsome in their own ways and it is eventually (sort of) revealed why they are that way. The Mother character spends most of the film sobbing, screaming or simpering. The rest of the characters feel insidious enough to be unlikeable but not enough to actually be frightening.

The trailer for Mother! hints at a suspenseful psychological thriller with a dash of mystery and perhaps some supernatural (or not) horror. The scariest part I found of Mother! was that it didn’t feel like it was ever going to end and the mystery was trying to find the entertainment in the film.

I don’t like giving bad reviews, especially when so many people I respect as artists are involved. But I just can’t find a single thing that I personally enjoyed about Mother!.

If you enjoy films that are made to be artistic over entertaining or are willing to sit through a lot of nothing for two hours then Mother! may be the film you are looking for. However, I would not recommend wasting time or money on this film if you enjoy watching films to be entertained, amused or even remotely interested.

Rating:

“I am his father.”
“I am his MOTHER!”