Darren Aronofsky’s ‘Mother!’ Early Buzz: A Delirious, Divisive Horror Movie Designed To Attack Its Audience
Themother!early reviews are out and critics are both perplexed by and in praise ofDarren Aronofsky’s insane sensory assault of a movie.
The psychological horror film about a couple played byJennifer LawrenceandJavier Bardemwho suddenly find themselves hosting suspicious strangers at their remote home (EdHarrisandMichelle Pfeiffer), debuted at the Venice Film Festival on Monday, and left critics reeling from the experience. But despite the bafflement of many critics — many of whom could only really say “WTF” in reaction — it seems like the overall response was actually quite positive.
Check out what some of the earlymother!reviews have to say below.
Owen Gleiberman at Varietycallsmother!a “head trip” that leaves viewers feeling assaulted by the experience. However, he questions whether there’s any meaning lurking down the “rabbit hole” or if it’s simply an exercise in chaos:
Indiewirecalledmother!Aronofsky’s most daring film yet, which is a bold statement for a director who has been known for his trippy and traumatizing fare likeRequiem for a DreamandBlack Swan. But even more mystifying is Ben Croll’s horrifying implication thatmother!is vaguely autobiographical, which may explain even further Aronofsky’s mindset:
The Hollywood Reporter’s Todd McCarthy singles out the film’s third act as the point in which it becomes “a madhouse bacchanal,” and praises the film’s stars, especially Lawrence, for maintaining solid performances as the film just gets more insane. However, he was critical of the film’s plot contrivances:
ScreenDailyalso mused how unusual it was for Paramount to have picked up such an unhinged film, but predicted that it could be mainstream enough for Lawrence to pick up some awards buzz:
The Telegraph’s Robbie Collin painted a vivid picture of both the film and the Venice Film Festival’s reaction to it, but was all praise when it came to describing howmother!was a “surrealist, symphonically berserk feast of filth”:
First Showingpredicted that the film would be incredibly polarizing, but as with the sign of any excellent film, is “going to be discussed and debated endlessly in great depth.”
Confused about the exclamation point nestled at the end of the title? ThePlaylistreview saysmother!more than earns it, with Jessica Kiang’s review slowly disintegrating into onomatopoeia.
“An incendiary religious allegory, a haunted-house horror, a psychological head trip so extreme it should carry a health warning and an apologia for crimes of the creative ego past and not yet committed, it’s not just Aronofsky’s most bombastic, ludicrous and fabulous film, spiked with a kind of reckless, go-for-broke, leave-it-all-up-there-on-the-screen abandon, it is simply one of the most films ever. Seldom has a title ever earned its exclamation point in more emphatic fashion. In fact, it deserves a few more, so here they are: !!!!!!!!!”
Marlow Stern at The Daily Beastneatly summarizes the film as “the most WTF movie of the year,” dropping a bit of a spoiler early into his review:
Colliderreiterated the “WTF” descriptor and praised Lawrence again for her “intrinsically gutsy” performance, but was one of the few reviews to not be as overtly rapturous about the film:
The film seems like it will deliver what you would expect from an Aronofsky film: aggressively mind-boggling, harrowing cinema that is elevated by compelling performances from its lead actors, specifically the always reliable Jennifer Lawrence.
mother!is that and more, with a film that threatens to overcome Aronofsky’s most infamous works as the most demented and mad film of his repertoire. There isn’t much left to surmise without knowing about this cryptic third act in which the lunacy of the film truly gets unleashed. The only thing that we can prepare to be is truly, truly, disturbed.mother!hits theatersSeptember 15, 2017.
