“Mother!” (Drama/Horror: 2 hours, 1 minute)

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Michelle Pfeiffer, Kristen Wiig and Ed Harris

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Rated: R (Strong disturbing violence, profanity, nudity, gore and sexual content)

 

Movie Review: Comparisons to “Rosemary’s Baby” (1968, Director Roman Polanski) are unfair and utterly misleading. While they are dramatic horrors, “Mother!” is different from “Rosemary’s Baby.” 

“Mother” is a trip — similar to being drugged — that takes its viewers on a trek to a perplexing yet boldly engaging art by director-writer Darren Aronofsky.

A well-known writer (Bardem) and his younger wife (Lawrence) have peaceful lives in a painterly countryside home. Their relationship faces a major hurdle when uninvited guests arrive at their home, starting with an older, middle-aged couple (nicely rendered by Harris and Pfeiffer). As more humans arrive, life at the tranquil home becomes more disruptive.

When the closing credits start, many may just sit to ponder what they just saw. Plenty exists here that is shocking. Aronofsky creates something only a disturbed or creative mind can appreciate. Like most artists, he forgets to think of artwork from the viewpoint of audiences – those who do not have access to his thoughts. 

Aronofsky allows grandiose themes to be overdone. His visual and underlying religious-toned themes become too apparent in their execution occasionally. The violence goes overboard. His characters are expressively overdone elements frequently. The gore and fancy camera additions are also superfluous. Such ostentation is a big negative for this otherwise curiously riveting horror.

The director’s style of flamboyancy appears intentional. He wants the story to match that of the characters’ actions. The extremes showcase humanity as corrupt and driven by what feels good. What makes a human feel good is what causes evil often. 

The search for self-eudaimonia, what the Greeks termed the good life for oneself, causes strife when others searching for the same differs and interferes. Aronofsky allows the theme to permeate throughout, even in the manner the screenplay is shot. 

Aronofsky and cinematographer Matthew Libatique previously worked together on “Requiem for a Dream,” 2000, and the brilliantly done “Black Swan,” 2010. They use camera angles to tell the story. Here, bouncy visuals synchronize to the mental problems of Lawrence’s character. If one suffers from motion sickness, be careful. Conversely, the cinematography application is to convey uneasiness. It is part of the storytelling, although annoying.

Aronofsky wants his audience annoyed. His characters’ actions are to spark irritations. They make questionable decisions that irritate. Aronofsky has a goal. His screenplay is reminiscent of a prediction. The writer in Aronofsky appears to offer a cautionary tale about the state of humanity. He starts with religious-borne ideas apparently of the Abrahamic religions, particularly Christianity.

Religious undertones are rampant. Bardem’s role is Him, noted with a capital letter in the end credits. He has a master plan. A plan not even his adoring wife, known only as Mother and played by Lawrence, knows fully until the end. The couple’s relationship appears one based on love, but it appears a one-sided coupling because older Bardem is mysterious. He forgives continuously even for those who take from him. The couple’s baby appears to bring hope to an approaching chaotic end that Lawrence’s Mother calls apocalyptic.

Enter Michelle Pfeiffer and Ed Harris, who play their roles brilliantly. They appear to be a version of Adam and Eve. They have two sons who dislike each other, played by brothers Domhnall Gleeson and Brian Gleeson. They and other humans grow in population and become more malevolent as time continues. They become more violent to others and to the house, which serves the setting for this tale. 

Again, Aronofsky appears to show humanity via the actions of people. Who they are matters less. How these personas respond to what happens around them is pivotal. This essential element is the plot. It is a behavioral story about characters associations and the actions caused by those associations. 

Aronofsky is an artist. He creates a masterful abstract of ideas that grate against its audiences’ patience and sense of reality. Aronofsky creates mental art, even if he cleverly omits contextual clues about the vivid brush strokes he applies to his canvas.

He creates a visual drug many may not want to inhale. Ultimately, observers may leave somewhat puzzled. Some may leave with a tirade of expletives. The rest may find this is worth viewing a second time to understand it more. Aronofsky’s work is commanding and invokes a response one way or another.

“Mother!” is an unpredictable, engaging piece of cinema for adult audiences. It is abstract ideas with underlying meaning. One just has to dig for it. The search may not be apparent, but it is there. Whatever, it is. It is powerful.

Grade: B (A mother of a movie.)

 

“American Assassin” (Action/Thriller: 1 hour, 52 minutes)

Starring: Dylan O’Brien, Michael Keaton and Sanaa Lathan

Director: Michael Cuesta

Rated: R (Strong violence throughout, some torture, profanity and nudity)

 

Movie Review: Action flicks have similar plots. The plot’s formula typically involves unknown double agents, a plot to kill many people, overdone action scenes, and main characters who are bulletproof and constantly have too many hand-to-hand combat situations. 

“American Assassin” is a similar mixture. It goes from one scene to the next, haphazardly moving through scenes without first developing characters in a manner that is tangible. 

Vince Flynn’s novel is the basis for the movie about Mitch Rapp (O’Brien). He is a newly trained counterterrorism agent for the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency. 

He is eager to defeat terrorists as revenge for his girlfriend’s murder during a terrorist attack nearly two years earlier. Rapp is a hothead, quick to react and occasionally disobeying orders. Despite reservations by his instructor, Agent Stan Hurley (Keaton), Irene Kennedy (Lathan), deputy director of counterintelligence for terrorism, places Rapp in the field. Rapp’s style may be what the CIA needs to stop a plot involving a nuclear weapon. 

Again, the script is commonplace. Good guys in a typical James Bond fashion must stop the antagonist from killing many people. The enemy here makes no sense because the plot makes little sense.

Plus, the manner in which scenes are put together is done with little elegance. The transitions between scenes are not smooth, often complicating the story.

O’Brien (MTV’s “Teen Wolf”) goes from nerd to action star. He makes the transition nicely. He and Keaton have a neat pupil-instructor relationship, but this script allows them little room for expansion. The cast does their best, but the writing is pedestrian as well as the direction of Michael Cuesta (“Kill the Messenger,” 2014). He and writers rush the story, making it a less compelling spy versus spy movie. 

Grade: C- (Producers should have assassinated this script until better rewrites happened.)