By Emilio Frenk.
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris, Michelle Pfeiffer, Brian Gleeson, Domhnall Gleeson, Stephen McHattie and Kristen Wiig.
Rating: Excellent.
Academy Award Director Nominee Darren Aronofsky brings “Mother!”, a psychological thriller that people will be talking about for a long time.
The movie tells the story of Mother (Jennifer Lawrence) a young girl who moves to a house in the countryside with her husband Him (Javier Bardem) a poet who suffers constantly from writer´s block.
Everything will change for the couple when a Man (Ed Harris) arrives to their home out of the blue thinking that is a Bed and Breakfast and the following day a Woman (Michelle Pfeiffer) arrives.
Man accepts them at their home despite of Mother´s suspicions towards the couple. Mother´s suspicions will grow when she begins to observe some behavior in both the couple.
Now both Him and Mother´s relationship will be tested at all costs and they have to think carefully about every decision they both make before it´s too late.
I´m very glad that Darren Aronofsky is back after his failure in 2014 with “Noah”. This is the Darren Aronofsky that we like to see and he did it again with “Mother!”.
In this movie Aronofsky printed his style and we went back to movies like “Pi”, “Requiem for a Dream” and “Black Swan” that deal with loneliness, obsession and insanity.
The performances by Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem are fantastic in this film and both brought so much realism.
One of the things that made this movie special is the fact that the characters don´t have any names, which its unique in a film like this one.
Other thing that really worked in this film is the fact that in it´s two hours, the movie doesn´t have any score in it and that is one of the most difficult things to achieve in any film since the score also can make a difference.
In the other hand this is a movie that is not an easy one and it leaves you with a lot of questions after you watch it.
When I watched the film I observed that people were really upset and I do understand that since they came with a lot of expectation due to the cast that was involve. This I believe is to be a mistake when you are going to watch a movie regardless of the genre.
I noticed that Aronofsky´s major influence was Roman Polanki´s “Rosemary´s Baby” since both movies theme´s are very similar.
I liked the fact of how the main character´s conflicts (Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem,Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer) were triggered in this movie. We understood from the beginning what was going on in their heads.
The cinematography from Matthew Libatique, who has shot most of Aronofsky´s films was again sharp, the imagery was superb and played very well with all the contrasts of the film that were dark for most of the time.
Before you watch “Mother!” the following is very important:
1) Go with an open mind before you watch it.
2) Be familiar with Darren Aronofsky´s work
3) Don´t go and watch it high expectations since you might be disappointed.
“Mother!” is one of the most controversial films of this year and I think it works at all levels.
I highly recommend it for Aronofsky´s writing and directing, performances and cinematography which is one of the things that I enjoyed the most of this film.