Review of mother! (2017) by Janine B — 31 Mar 2018

Mother! was, if nothing else, an experience. Good or bad, I can't take that away from it. I kind of loved it, I want to see it again, and I have a great deal of respect towards it. At the same time, I kind of hated it, it made me greatly uncomfortable, and I wonder if its message could have been portrayed in a better way.

First of all, yes, I get it. I got it right away. Its allegory was, to me at least, blatantly obvious. There were times when I felt like they were hitting the nail on the head way too hard to the point where it was obnoxious, there were other times I was confused only to catch on to it a moment later and feel like a genius, other things I felt were handled perfectly, and some things I didn't understand at all.

Somewhere in here there's a perfect take on this story but I'm just not sure this is it. I don't know, maybe if it wasn't quite so literal? Maybe if the allegory wasn't quite so obvious? Because at a certain point it becomes clear that this isn't a movie about people, it's a film about ideas, and maybe it could have been a film about both? Maybe that would have been better? I'm not sure.

What I did like about this film, what I outright loved about it, is seeing these biblical stories and ideas presented on a human level. When presented in this human level, and from the perspective of Jennifer Lawrence's "character", it gives you a new perspective of God and humanity.

I got pissed at the audacity of the ignorant houseguests, and furious at the pretentiousness of Javier Bardem. When you consider the implications of what these characters represent, it creates some uncomfortable realizations, and that's really where the film is most effective.

So yeah, I don't know, I'm split on this one. It's a film that's definitely going to take a few more viewings, and I do plan on watching it again. In fact I'm probably going to buy it and check out the commentary, because this movie intrigued the hell out of me.

Did I like it? Eeeh-well-err-kinda? But did it leave an effect on me? Oh hell yeah. So that's...art?