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Friday, September 15, 2017

MOVIE REVIEW mother!
Scenes From A Biblical Marriage, Sans Earplugs
  
Javier Bardem as Him and Jennifer Lawrence as Mother in Darren Aronofsky's psycho-horror "mother!"  Paramount Pictures
       
by Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com        Follow popcornreel on Twitter FOLLOW                                           
Friday, September 15, 2017
A raging vision consumes us early on in "mother!", overwhelming the screen.  It's a loud, frightening visage that sets the tone for Darren Aronofsky's vigorous, ultra-earshattering experience, which constantly assaulted and battered me with the force and bluntness of a giant sledgehammer -- though not nearly as much as it does poor Jennifer Lawrence, who plays the title character.

The Octagon-shaped house (Earth? Woman?) in isolation in a deserted field (Eden?) contains a voluble married couple, Ms. Lawrence, and Javier Bardem as Him, a self-absorbed poet who neglects and ignores Mother excessively.  The tension between them is immediate and palpable.  Soon this visceral edition of Ingmar Bergman's "Scenes From A Marriage" grows far more nightmarish, chaotic and bloody as stranger after stranger seeks refuge in what seems like the only house left in the world. 

Ms. Lawrence spends much time reacting and wandering through the spacious house she's made home, decorating it with pride and purpose.  But the walls too, appear to reject her.  Even the lens of cinematographer Matthew Libatique, which often conjures claustrophobia and extreme disquiet, betrays her.  While Ms. Lawrence's Mother is a visually dominant entity as a point of reference, she's impotent and helpless as the space she controls cinematically is increasingly invaded.  It's infuriating and painful to endure her relentless marginalization, reductionism and exploitation (by other characters and the director), as are the nastiest psychological, physical and emotional onslaughts toward a character that I can remember in any film since "12 Years A Slave" (2013).  Since we share Mother's point of view our pain and helplessness is as acute as hers as she reacts to one violation after another. 

Obvious metaphors abound throughout "mother!", Biblical and otherwise.  Audiences, including atheists among them, will be surely sophisticated enough to figure out what is at play here, but the problem with "mother!", despite its sometimes striking, stylized filmmaking is that any valid points (about ecology, humanity, gender and power) that Mr. Aronofsky makes are drowned out by the thunderous, highly effective sound mix and design and accompanying gratuitous violence.  "Mother!" is without doubt a troubling film, not for its themes and issues but for how they are so forcefully depicted, volcanically, angrily and in excruciatingly piercing and uncomfortable fashion.

Mr. Aronofsky's horror-thriller, which is circus-like with his trademark chanting crowd chorus, lacks balance because its apocalyptic atmosphere overwhelms and topples its lead actors.  Ms. Lawrence and Mr. Bardem don't penetrate the surface as deeply as the film's effects do.  Mr. Bardem, normally effective, is reduced to sedate or casually outsized grinning and mugging, accentuated by Mr. Libatique's lighting, while Ms. Lawrence, whose depth and range are absent despite her character's incredible travails, constantly shouts at full-pitch at the barbarians tearing down the gates. 

I closed my eyes for a few moments and the film's sound was so aggressively fierce.  At a point the sonal qualities are as abundant as the violence is. 

Compounding the film's problems is that the director's writing here, while passionate, isn't fulsome enough for a two-hour film, nor does it provide substantive lead characters, so inevitably one is left to not only assume allegory and abstraction but also something akin to comedic horror delirium.

Ironically, the smaller, key roles played by Michelle Pfeiffer and Ed Harris as an intrusive, licentious married couple should have been swapped for Ms. Lawrence and Mr. Bardem to play.  Ms. Pfeiffer is especially good, excellent as the Woman.  She strikes a perfect counter to Ms. Lawrence.  Who knows how great Ms. Pfeiffer would have been in the lead role?  We'll never know.  All I know is that "Mother!" is a polarizing film.  You will either love or hate it.  All I know is, I hated it.  I wasn't left gobsmacked -- I was left with a huge headache, which still reverberates.
 
Also with: Brian Gleeson, Domnhall Gleeson, Jovan Adepo, Kristen Wiig.

"mother!" is rated R by the Motion Picture Association Of America for strong disturbing violent content, some sexuality, nudity and language.  The film's running time is two hours and one minute. 
 
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