So this movie was recommend to me by one of my closest friends, we’re so much alike and have the same thoughts about so many things, it’s quite eerie sometimes. I don’t know how I missed this movie when it came out…well actually I do now that I think about it, but that’s a different topic. This movie is from the same person that brought us Black Swan, Darren Aronofsky.
I don’t even quite know where to begin with this one…the first thing I notice is that Javier Bardem is in it, which is great because I like him as an actor so much. Ed Harris also makes an appearance, he’s not as big of a character in this as he is in my favorite show right now, Westworld, but he still plays his role well. Jennifer Lawrence is the main character, known as Mother, and she does a great job in this movie…which surprised me. I love the grainy quality that this movie was shot in, it gives it a gritty feel and the mostly muted coloring really adds to that as well. The camera angles are great, the later scenes where everything is just pure chaos were filmed really well, it was just enough movement that you could tell what was going on, not the kind of shaky handheld camera type of stuff that just disorients you.
The plot seems pretty easy to follow until it just explodes into a million pieces and then collapses back onto itself, but in a good way. It starts off about a seemingly one sided relationship between a poet and his wife that helped rebuild his house after it burned down. They get an unexpected guests that then invites his wife, then his whole family shows up, then about 50 more people show up. They’re all rude and selfish and are just doing whatever they want, it’s quite uncomfortable to watch. Eventually they break a sink and get told to leave by Mother. Some time passes and she becomes pregnant and her husband has a new book out, so of course more people show up at the house again and this is when the film gets…surreal. We see a lot of tragic events unfolding in this house: revolutions, cults, protests, killings, human trafficking, riots, etc. Eventually the house burns down again and the movie ends the same as it begins, but with a slight difference.
This movie could be interpreted in so many ways, it’s one of those films that requires more than one viewing. For me, it’s about how humans are just destroying (Mother) Earth as we take and destroy and desecrate and how we treat each other even though we’re all the same. Some of the visuals in this movie are disturbing, specifically the whole thing with the baby Mother gives birth to and the immediate aftermath. I felt so anxious and extremely tense during the whole movie, even in scenes that had absolutely no horror elements to it. That may be because I’m a bit of an introvert and just having these types of people in my house and so many of them…it’s a nightmare.
I give it 9/10, a must watch. (Word count: 537)
Baphomet's Theatre 