Mother! (2017) ***1/2
Mother! (2017) is a dizzying, heavy-handed affair. It's easy to see why it would divide most (American) mainstream audiences with a love it or hate it response. I sit somewhere in the middle. Being that I watch a lot of "challenging" cinema, I've seen enough disturbing, perplexing, WTF films that this is nothing new to me.
The first half of the film reminded me very much of Andrzej Żuławski with dashes of David Cronenberg. The tight close-ups, handheld camerawork and grainy 16 mm look all give a sense of claustrophobia. The frenetic pace and explicit sound design all heighten the sense of everything being constantly "off." Some of the scenes get a bit too "shaky cam" for my tastes though. This is the first time that Aronofsky hasn't worked with composer Clint Mansell. He instead intended to work with the also excellent Jóhann Jóhannsson (R.I.P.) but the decision was made to use no score. While this heightens the tension caused by the sound design, I would have loved to have heard JJ’s score.
Aronofsky has done here what he did with The Fountain (2006)—made a "pretentious" (eye-rolling at times) art film with A-list actors. He waits until the final third of Mother! to really hammer home his concept. What is he trying to say about religion, celebrity, the creative process and how we treat nature/women?
As with The Fountain, a film that has moments that frustrate me to no end (yet I keep returning to it), I'm hoping that Mother! will offer new discoveries upon subsequent viewings. Even if I didn't love this film, I certainly appreciate it.
The first half of the film reminded me very much of Andrzej Żuławski with dashes of David Cronenberg. The tight close-ups, handheld camerawork and grainy 16 mm look all give a sense of claustrophobia. The frenetic pace and explicit sound design all heighten the sense of everything being constantly "off." Some of the scenes get a bit too "shaky cam" for my tastes though. This is the first time that Aronofsky hasn't worked with composer Clint Mansell. He instead intended to work with the also excellent Jóhann Jóhannsson (R.I.P.) but the decision was made to use no score. While this heightens the tension caused by the sound design, I would have loved to have heard JJ’s score.
Aronofsky has done here what he did with The Fountain (2006)—made a "pretentious" (eye-rolling at times) art film with A-list actors. He waits until the final third of Mother! to really hammer home his concept. What is he trying to say about religion, celebrity, the creative process and how we treat nature/women?
As with The Fountain, a film that has moments that frustrate me to no end (yet I keep returning to it), I'm hoping that Mother! will offer new discoveries upon subsequent viewings. Even if I didn't love this film, I certainly appreciate it.
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