mother! Review

Perhaps one of the most controversial films of the year has arrived in theaters and it's no surprise that Darren Aronofsky is the one behind the camera. Prior to this week, the only Aronofsky film I had seen was "Noah" and that easily topped my list of the worst movies of 2014. However, I knew that there were a lot of people on this earth who absolutely love this man as a filmmaker, so I went on an adventure to figure out exactly why. After crowd-sourcing facebook, I mostly ignored what people said and ended up watching the two highest profile films from Aronofsky that I would've watched anyways, "Requiem for a Dream" and "Black Swan." But don't worry, facebook friends, I do plan on seeing "The Wrestler" and "The Fountain" to see what I think. And I might even top things off by watching "Pi" so that I can say I've watched all of his movies. But with "Requiem," "Black Swan," "Noah" and now "mother!" under my belt, I feel that I now have a pretty good understanding about what this man is all about and I have a lot of respect for the passion and energy he puts into his films and I love how he's not afraid to unleash everything on his mind without holding back. That naturally leads to controversy and divisiveness, and "mother!" is no different, so let's dive in.

First of all, I want to make it very clear as to what this movie is NOT. After watching the trailers, I had the feeling that Aronofsky was planning on making this crazy horror/thriller and I was very intrigued by this home invasion horror film that I thought was being advertised and those trailers were so mysterious and intriguing that I decided to not read any reviews or reaction before heading in because I wanted to be surprised by this crazy thriller without getting any hints as to what this movie was about or what the crazy twist at the end was that I thought was going to be heading my way. If you want to have the same experience as I did and go in blind, I highly recommend that. This is divisive and crazy enough that it's probably better to go in without any preconceived notions and just experience this for yourself. So I would recommend to close this review and go watch it. Then come back and discuss with me after finishing this review. I'm not going to dive into spoilers, but I do want to give my thoughts and that's going to require me to do a little more hinting at what this movie is actually about. But just note this. This is not a horror movie. And it's not a thriller. Yes, the trailers are extremely deceiving. So don't go in expecting one or you're going to be disappointed.

What is this movie about? Well, that's hard to pinpoint, actually. I will say real quick that even though I was really surprised that this was not the horror/thriller I thought it was going to be, I've been deceived enough by trailers in my life to learn that I should judge a movie based on the movie and not on the trailer. I don't think it's fair to hate on the movie because it wasn't the movie advertised. That's sent a lot of movies to the trash can by casual audiences that frankly aren't deserving of that fate. If you're going to hate this movie, hate it for what it is. A purging of Aronofsky's thoughts and feelings on the state of society in the form of a very messed up, allegorical drama. When I finished this film, I was in a state of stunned silence. And not necessarily out of awe and amazement, but rather me being sincerely stumped at what I just watched. This is one of the most crazy, insane, unique films that I have ever watched. There are so many weird, off-the-wall twists and turns in this movie that had me floored with a final act that had me speechless. I almost wanted to give this several days to just simmer, but I decided to just get out my initial thoughts while it's fresh on my mind because I don't know if this movie will ever be done simmering.

I almost want to compare this to "2001: A Space Odyssey," which, historically speaking, was a movie that was so crazy and insane, that critics of the time, who were required to throw out an opinion right away, gave very negative reviews to. Over time, though, after years and decades of deep analysis, the movie has been rightfully enshrined as one of the greatest movies ever made. I don't know what the reputation of "mother!" will end up as and I'm not going to predict that it will end up that way, but I think "mother!" parallels that in the sense that this is a very strange movie that requires a lot of thought and discussion to rightfully unpack everything that it has to say. If you try to make it a simplistic film with one black and white message that Aronofsky is trying to get across, then I think you might be missing the mark here. Same thing goes with "2001." I know people who watched it once, thought it was awful and didn't want to think any more about it. And that's perfectly alright. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. Everyone has different reasons for watching movies that come with different expectations. Strange and weird with lots of metaphorical commentary packed into one film is certainly not for everyone and I won't blame you if you hate this film.

Plot-wise, this seems very simple. Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem live together as husband and wife in a quiet, country home away from most of society. Bardem is a writer and poet who's going through huge writer's block while Lawrence has spent most of her time fixing this home up because it has been in very rough condition. Then they get a visitor in the form of Ed Harris, who is a doctor that thought this was a simple bead and breakfast. He stays the night and shortly after, his wife also shows up. Then more people show up. Then things happen. And if you saw the trailers, that's exactly what you expected to happen. But each individual in this story represents something or someone. Each event that happens represents something that is happening in the real world today. Or perhaps in the past. Or maybe both. Then after we get through that initial premise is when things start to get really weird. Then the weirdness increases exponentially to the point where I had no idea what any of this meant or why it was happening. I've since pondered on it and had my initial thoughts. I've also read and listened to a lot of other people giving their thoughts. And the big thing that I've concluded is that I'm not sure there is one right or wrong answer. I personally find that fascinating.

In true allegorical form, I think there's a lot that you can take from this film if you open your mind to all the possibilities of what it could mean. I also think it's important to gain a bit of context of how and why Aronofsky wrote this. A couple of years ago, he was at his home watching the news when he just got frustrated at the current state of society. I think things like this happen to all of us and we all have different ways of purging those thoughts. Given that Aronofsky is a filmmaker, he sat down and in just five days purged it all out onto an initial draft of this movie's script. During the press screenings, a lot of the critics got a handout written from Aronosky giving the context of his frustrations about society and all of that jazz in a way to prepare them for what they were about to experience. I think knowing that context of why Aronofsky made this film can help you understand the craziness happening in it. Thus you can go back, either by re-watching it or reflecting on what you saw, and make the connections that Aronofsky was going for. Then after getting your own thoughts, you can go talk to your friends and potentially get something completely opposite, thus sparking debate and conversation about what it all means.

This whole thing really fascinates me. I love a movie that can spark discussion. I love a movie that it vague and mysterious enough that two people can have two completely different takes on it and both potentially be right. Granted, there's a balance with movies like this. If you go too off the deep end, you might lose your audience. And perhaps that's happened with some people here. If it's not your cup of tea, that's fine. But I personally think Aronofsky found the right balance. This is obviously not the first time Aronofsky has used a film to express his thoughts and opinions on the world. In fact, he's done that with all the films I've watched of his. And yes, with "Noah," I have been on the negative end of Aronofsky's political and social commentary. I thought it was the wrong platform to use the story of Noah in the Bible to vent about Aronofsky's environmentalism views, especially with how much he twisted the story into near blasphemy. So if "mother!" is your "Noah," I understand. But it worked for me this time. I saw a man concerned about the state of society who decided to use this crazy story about a husband and wife living in this secluded country home to express all of his frustrations about the world in a fascinatingly complex, allegorical story.

If I were to pick out one major negative about the film, it's that I'm not sure the movie had quite the impact on me as Aronofsky was probably hoping for. Given that I watched "Requiem for a Dream," "Black Swan" and "mother!" for the first time all in one week, I will say that the former two are weighing a lot heavier on my mind than "mother!" currently is. Those two feel more impactful and important. But we'll see what happens when the dust settle. I will definitely say this movie is very gripping and mesmerizing. We have unique camera work with Jennifer Lawrence being front and center for most of the film while the camera follows her as if this were a third person video game point of view. We have great sound design and visuals, as are present in all of Aronofsky's films. And the whole cast are very committed to their performances with Jennifer Lawrence especially going all in on whatever the heck Aronofsky told her to. If this gives her yet another Oscar nomination, this just might be the most deserving of the bunch. But again, how this movie ends up playing out in my mind for the future is uncertain, thus it feels unfair to give it a grade at the moment, but it currently has my stamp of approval and I'd say it feels right to give it an 8/10.