‘The Eyes Of My Mother’ Trailer: The Waking Nightmare That Creeped Out Sundance
It’s easy for smaller films to slip through the cracks at Sundance, drowned out by scandalized headlines for oddballs likeSwiss Army Manand deafening buzz for multimillion-dollar acquisitions likeThe Birth of a NationandManchester by the Sea. ButThe Eyes of My Motherhas refused to fade into obscurity, despite hailing from a first-time feature filmmaker (Nicolas Pesce) and centering on a mostly unknown cast, and there’s an excellent reason for it: it’s really freakin' creepy.
The story centers around Francisca, whose idyllic if sheltered childhood is interrupted by a horrific act of violence. Except that the family’s reaction to said incident isn’t quite what you’d expect. As Francisca grows up into an isolated young woman (played byKika Magalhaes), she develops a genuinely twisted way of connecting to the world. Watch theEyes of My Mothertrailer below.
The Eyes of My Mother Trailer
The Eyes of My Motherwas not one of my favorites at Sundance. The entire experience is viscerally uncomfortable and spiritually ugly (though visually beautiful, thanks to the striking black-and-white cinematography byZach Kuperstein), and I came close to walking out several times. But love it or hate it, it’s definitely something special.The Eyes of My Motherfeels like a nightmare you can’t wake up from, or maybe a traumatic memory you can’t forget. As Vulture put it,The Eyes of My Motheris a bit like “what might have happened if Michelangelo Antonioni and Shirley Jackson had collaborated on a torture porn flick.”
It’s more lyrical than your typical horror movie, more interested in constructing a certain (skin-crawling) vibe than in scaring you silly. But it lingers longer, too. If you’ve got a taste for horror and a craving for something unusual — not to mention the stomach for some pretty gnarly stuff — this is one worth putting on your radar. I can’t say I’d ever want to see it again, or even that I’m especially glad I saw it, but I sure am glad it exists.
The Eyes of My Motheris in theaters and on demandDecember 2.
