A Filmmaker's Review: "mother!" (2017)

Review

This is a film that is done in classic Aronofsky style. It has the cult-like violence and mindsets, the celebrity worship syndrome, the madness and the paranoia that we would more commonly associate with the Stanley Kubrick vibe. Darren Aronofsky is like Kubrick crossed with Polanski, and Polanski without all the controversy and illegality. This film reminded me greatly of Rosemary’s Baby and the way it is film from this facial expression and body language paranoia point of view would probably make you feel the same way if you were to watch them side by side.

I first watched this film when it came out and I wasn’t all that impressed. I am not going to lie, I was actually writing my thesis at the time that it was on in 2017 and well, I wasn’t paying attention anyway. So, when I watched it for a second time, it was last night and it was 2020. It was three years’ later and I wanted to come back with a fresh look at it instead of the anxious-studier I was in 2017. There are a few things that stood out to me as brilliant in the realm of filmmaking and symbolism, but there are a few things that made my eyes roll. And as you all know, we don’t like it when my eyes roll.

I think that the best thing about this film is that we are in the moment of it. There’s no context, there’s no time, there’s no background, there’s nothing. I think films today try too hard to make a contextual background to everything and thus, when they don’t do something or something seems off, they get ridiculed by the filmmaking review media - namely me (laughs in nervousness). This film has no context whatsoever and so, it releases itself of the bonds of trying to fill in every last detail of the history and the situational context of the film. The film is therefore perfectly at ease with its moment in the story.

Another thing I thought was done really well was the Rosemary’s Baby effect of filming facial expressions, body language and definitely - people exhaling. These little things make a huge impact on the storyline because there are cases in which we can tell more about Mother through her face and her body language than through her speech and actions. This is true for the first act of the movie in which she tries to cover up her paranoia around the strangers moving into her house. It is almost so realistic in which we are contented, though disappointed with situations we can do very little about because we have no control over them.

Now, the second act. I want to say that the second act was interesting to watch, but it really wasn’t. I found the violence to be shock value stuff and the realism went straight out of the window entirely. But, the one thing I did like was the cult-like ritual stuff because of the fact it was well filmed. That part doesn’t need to be realistic but it is. However, the second act drifts so far away from realism in actions, emotions and expressions that I found it difficult to pay attention again because from the brilliantly filmed first act, I was completely turned off as soon as the publisher called.

The paranoia that increases throughout the film is built so well in the first act and in the second act, it does reach a peak, but it isn’t very climatic. Instead it is like watching a drawn out boxing match. The fight keeps going on even past the time where the audience is bored, got up and left to go and watch a real-life fight on the Sunset Strip, or something like that. All in all, the film is a great first act and if it built on that like Rosemary’s Baby did, it would’ve been a lot better. But I cannot fault its initial build of atmosphere. It has a brilliant filmmaking technique and well, you can really tell when the first act finishes and the second act begins and I guess that is a plus because normally it isn’t so clear.