Mother! (2017) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written September 17th, 2017*

"Home is where the heart is"

Jesus, where do I begin with mother!? Darren Aronofsky's latest film and BY FAR his least accessible yet. I'm at a loss for words. With no hyperbole, mother! is one of the most batshit, insane and twisted pieces of cinema I've ever witnessed. I don't know where to begin reviewing this, but I'll try my best.

Things start of intriguing and simple enough. An unnamed married couple known as Mother (Jennifer Lawrence) and Him (Javier Bardem) are a married couple with a hell of an age gap. Him is a poet with writer's block and Mother is a homemaker rebuilding Him's home. Their lives are put through a loop as more and more strangers start to arrive at their home and things escalate. I won't spoil anything, as knowing literally NOTHING, made for a hell of a shell-shocking experience.

This is easily one of the most out there and least mainstream film I've seen come out of a studio. I think the entire audience in my showing hated it (One cunt in my screening even stood up at the end and "Said did anyone actually enjoy that?"). It's so bizarre and a lot of stuff is up to interpretation. It was art-house horror on a studio budget. It's a risk that I'm amazed and proud a studio would make. Whether it pays off in the end will be another question.

Darren Aronofsky's direction is assured and precise as it comes. The whole film takes place within the house and Aronofsky uses lots of close-ups to keep that feeling of claustrophobia. He also uses rich symbolism and deeply disturbing imagery as things unfold, getting more chaotic and crazy by the second until it explodes into the final act. His control over the direction of the final scenes are one's of controlled chaos at its finest, the camera sweeps around in long takes and will leave you in shock. I was also surprised by the lack of score mother! had, rather than music, tension and that unsettling feeling are delivered through excellent sound design that really, really worked for the atmosphere.

While it being two hours in a single location does sound daunting. It's always interesting and feeling like it's building to something. There was not a moment where I wasn't fascinated by where this was going. I'm not entirely sure what everything meant though, this is a film that is going to need a lot of careful rewatches to fully "understand" it and interpenetrate it, if that is even possible. 

I gotta mention what a trooper Jennifer Lawrence is here. This is definitely the best performance of her career. She goes all in, giving a Rosemary's Baby style descent into madness and she nails it. I could really feel her frustration as more and more people would enter her home and make her feel uncomfortable. She goes through hell too. Some of the things she has to do towards the end, I can't imagine many actresses agreeing to do that.

The rest of the cast are great too. Javier Bardem gives a suitably creepy performance that keeps you on edge as you slowly see his behaviour get more and more insane. Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer are also fantastic as the first people to arrive at the house. There's also some surprising faces that turn up throughout the film that I won't spoil.

I've danced round talking about the final act of mother!, but I have to address it (No spoilers though). The last 30 minutes are just chaos. Some of the most disturbing, grotesque and heart-pounding moments in cinema I've ever experienced. I just sat there in disbelief and awe at the insanity unfolding in front of me. It takes a lot to drain me like that, but when the credits rolled on mother! I just wanted a cigarette and a long walk.


Darren Aronofsky might have had a misstep with 'Noah', but he's back at it again with another masterpiece that is for the few and not the many. It's bizarre, insane and massively demented. A film experience I will never forget and one I will be revisiting frequently.

10/10 Dans

mother! is out now in cinemas in the UK
Watch the trailer below:

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Passengers (2016) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written December 21st, 2016*

I'll be honest, I really enjoyed the first hour of Passengers or so, and I was expecting things to start wrapping up, but then I was made aware that was only half way into it. Then everything dawned on me. This was a complete mess.

I was fairly looking forward to Passengers. Sure, it was based purely on my love of Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence, but nothing could have prepared me for how misguided and creepy this sci-fi romance was.

The relationship between Lawrence and Pratt at the centre of this is deeply misguided, disturbing and flawed. We are meant to feel sorry for Pratt due to his intense lonliness of being stuck in space for so long, which makes him get Jennifer Lawrence involved. I have huge soft-spot for the loveable goofball that is Chris Pratt, but I couldn't excuse what a monstorous decision his character makes here. It took me a little while to see the implications of what he did, but once I did, it made it the most disturbing romance film I've seen since Fifty Shades of Grey.

It's a shame too. I'm a sucker for this simple concept genre films that explore a fairly straight-forward idea, but with an execution this flawed it made it hard to get behind Passengers. I would be lying if I said I didn't have fun with it though. The opening act features only Chris Pratt and the robot bartender played by a scene-stealing Martin Sheen.

It was a fairly ballsy move to not have one of your two main actors selling the film to show up till 40 minutes in, but that's where Passengers shined. When it was simply Chris Pratt slowly growing more and more isolated. We see him make the most of the massive space station, try and find a way to escape, then finally realize this situation is hopeless and Pratt really sells it. He also makes for some very funny scenes, especially between him and Sheen.

The Avalon space station

I'm not saying Lawrence ruins it when she joins. She gives a usually reliable performance, but the writing of her character completely ruins it. Where they end up with her character at the end feels forced and insanely unbelievable based on the events we've seen up to the finale. It was borderline insane.

Another disappoint in the lack of surprises. The trailers pretty much give away anything interesting from the film. There's no twist or unexpected plot developments. It just goes where you expect it to before fizzling out and ending. I'd say the closest thing to a surprise Passengers has up its sleeve is an appearance from an actor which feels like it's meant to be a big reveal, but is in all the trailers so loses its impact.

Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence

While I'd say the direction lacked in sort of energy or uniqueness, it at least does look nice and has some visually interesting stuff. The space station looks like some weird cross between The Shining and 2001: A Space Odyssey. The references to The Shining are pretty clear, including Martin Sheen's bartender android. I was surprised at how big the budget was for this thing, considering it only has about 4 actors in it for the most part, but there are some standout visuals that reminded me of the much better Sunshine. The most memorable thing in terms of visuals had to be the zero gravity swimming pool scene, which was one of the more creative things here.

Passengers is a huge disappointment. A huge let-down from the sci-fi romance I was expecting. I wanted a charming and heartfelt romance in a sci-fi setting, instead what I got was a creepy, misguided and manipulative film that wastes the talents of Lawrence, Pratt and its concept.

4/10 Dans

Passengers is out now on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD now inthe UK
Watch the trailer below:

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