Darren Aronofsky's "mother!"
Darren Aronofsky's "mother!"
#1Darren Aronofsky's "mother!"
Posted: 9/2/17 at 10:55am
I'm completely excited for this movie for it's Darren Aronofsky's return to the psychological horror genre. Crossing my fingers for this to be really good; "mother!" and "It" are the two movies I am most excited for this month for a good reason.
#2Darren Aronofsky's
Posted: 9/2/17 at 12:57pm
I'm so excited for this. But to be fair, any time Michelle Pfeiffer is in a new film, I run to it. She's one of the most under appreciated actresses of all time.
Updated On: 9/2/17 at 12:57 PM#3Darren Aronofsky's
Posted: 9/2/17 at 7:43pm
Not to mention Ed Harris who's always really good no matter what movie he's in.
#5Darren Aronofsky's
Posted: 9/2/17 at 10:01pm
Love Aronofsky. Love the cast. Looking forward to this one.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
#6Darren Aronofsky's
Posted: 9/4/17 at 6:21pm
According to this new TV spot, the film has been officially rated R for "strong disturbing violent content, some sexuality, nudity and language".
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10155140693878090&id=1318140161578573&_rdr 
#8Darren Aronofsky's
Posted: 9/5/17 at 5:30pm
The early reviews from Venice has come out and I'm delighted that it's been mostly positive so far, 92% on Rotten Tomatoes and 86% on Metacritic.
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mother_2017
http://www.metacritic.com/movie/mother!
#9Darren Aronofsky's
Posted: 9/6/17 at 2:56pm
Sounds like Aronofsky is going the Von Trier route on this one and I am SO here for it. Few directors know how to sustain that "WTF is happening?!" feeling, and even fewer still are as mainstream as Aronofsky, so I'm looking forward to sitting in an audience, sharing such a cathartic experience.
Glad to see critical word of mouth is so solid. I assumed it would be, but you never know with genre films. Will definitely be there opening night.
#10Darren Aronofsky's
Posted: 9/6/17 at 10:00pm
92% on Rotten Tomatoes
Well, today it's 82%, but more importantly, Top Critics are at 71%. I never look at the "All Critics" % because it includes pretty much anyone who has a blog, but it's still too early to be checking any consensus ratings.
Sounds like Aronofsky is going the Von Trier route on this one
Oh God. I really hope not. I think Von Trier got lucky with Melancholia, as I find it the most interesting and arguably the least misogynistic (which isn't saying much for Von Trier). He definitely has an eye for visual artistry, but it's usually surrounded by the garbage of his concept, story and ego.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
Updated On: 9/6/17 at 10:00 PM
#11Darren Aronofsky's
Posted: 9/7/17 at 12:36am
If there is one big thing I will see coming, is that opinions on "mother!" will definitely be split just like "The Exorcist" and "The Shining" did when they first came out.
#12Darren Aronofsky's
Posted: 9/7/17 at 2:33am
Going the Von Trier route would definitely get me to see this (I have no idea how his films could be considered misogynistic. Misanthropic, definitely, but not misogynistic). I've liked all of Aronofsky's movies except The Fountain (and Noah, which I haven't seen) but I haven't loved any of them, so I hope this isn't more of the same from him (i.e. self-destructive character self-destructs, the end).
#13Darren Aronofsky's
Posted: 9/7/17 at 6:29pm
I hope this isn't more of the same from him (i.e. self-destructive character self-destructs, the end).
And yet, you like Von Trier?!?! As for being misogynist, I haven't seen anyone celebrate female suffering (in as many forms as possible) as much as Von Trier, but Antichrist was quite on-the-nose to me (great cinematography, but a truly awful film). But I'm sure the Marquis de Sade would have loved them.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
#14Darren Aronofsky's
Posted: 9/7/17 at 7:55pm
I love Von Trier. He's probably my favorite living director. I don't consider his characters self-destructive, or, if they are, they have other things going on; whereas Aronofsky's plots and character arcs are very simplistic and single-minded. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it does make his movies predictable and rather samey.
I think Antichrist is an absolute masterpiece, but I totally get it's not for everyone. Or even most people. Again, it's a totally misanthropic movie, but I don't feel like it's misogynistic. I don't think Von Trier is interested in female suffering, so much as in females and suffering.
#15Darren Aronofsky's
Posted: 9/8/17 at 4:23am
.
[Replacing my original post since it contained a spoiler.]
Updated On: 9/8/17 at 04:23 AM
#16Darren Aronofsky's
Posted: 9/8/17 at 9:09am
I don't think Von Trier is interested in female suffering, so much as in females and suffering.
I don't think Von Trier is interested in female suffering, so much as he gets off on female suffering.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
#17Darren Aronofsky's
Posted: 9/9/17 at 8:44pm
Before "It" started in the movie theater, they had a brand new trailer to "mother!" that was actually pretty good. The audience looked quite shocked and one person yelled "damn!". I'm hoping this movie turns out to be great, crazy and disturbing because you don't get to see movies like this often anymore.
AEA AGMA SM
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/13/09
#18Darren Aronofsky's
Posted: 9/10/17 at 11:48am
Did you see It at the AMC on 34th Street last night, because the same thing happened at the showing I was at last night.
#19Darren Aronofsky's
Posted: 9/10/17 at 2:11pm
AEA AGMA SM said: "Did you see It at the AMC on 34th Street last night, because the same thing happened at the showing I was at last night."
I'm afraid I don't live in NY and I wish I did, I saw it at the Movieland Bowtie. But it's so crazy that the trailer got the same reaction from the theater you went to, which is actually a good thing.
#20Darren Aronofsky's
Posted: 9/15/17 at 7:26am
Well that might go down as one of the biggest WTF movies of all time and sadly not in a good way. The twist as such is worked out in the first ten minutes or so. What follows is just bull s h I t followed by more bull s h I t.
A waste of time ( id sue the director for my two hours back, but really the less said about this trainers k the better )
Dont waste your time
Well I didn't want to get into it, but he's a Satanist.
Every full moon he sacrifices 4 puppies to the Dark Lord and smears their blood on his paino.
This should help you understand the score for Wicked a little bit more.
Tazber's: Reply to
Is Stephen Schwartz a Practicing Christian
#21Darren Aronofsky's
Posted: 9/15/17 at 2:00pm
Well I didn't hate it as much as Rosscoe but it certainly is the most "WTF" film I've ever seen. It's going to be open to a million different interpretations over time, and it'll be hard to tell anyone that they're wrong with whatever they come up with.
#22Darren Aronofsky's
Posted: 9/15/17 at 2:27pm
Count me in on the "WTF was that?" train. It's really a bonkers film, one that could only be released in the mainstream by an established director with nothing to lose. Is it a gonzo interpretation of the creative process of the auteur director? A hallucinatory allegory of Creationism? A parody of Christianity? A deeply personal struggle with consumerism vs. nature? All of the above? It felt like I was seeing several movies at once, which is at once thrilling and exhausting. To me, it was not entirely successful because I left feeling frustrated instead of ruminative. I understood what Aronofsky was trying to accomplish, and he definitely did, but the result is hokey and disjointed instead of truly anarchic.
See it if you love pretension for pretension's sake. Even if you're a fan of the actors involved, this is not a film concerned with character depth or development. They're all props in a director's concept exercise.
#23Darren Aronofsky's
Posted: 9/15/17 at 3:09pm
You actually raise an interesting point when you said you felt like you were watching two movies at once. One of my first reactions was that I felt like I had just seen part one (The Houseguests) and then the sequel (The...More Houseguests...?), with part two partly being a statement on modern day obsession with celebrity. I'm more at a loss as to what "part one" is making a statement on.
#24Darren Aronofsky's
Posted: 9/15/17 at 3:54pm
Doesn't sound like it's worse than Last Temptation of Christ or Tree of Life. But if it's as bad as Inland Empire, then perhaps I'll skip it. I guess what I'm trying to say is, if Cruel Sandwich (remember him?) were to give it a positive review in trendy film-student-speak, it's definitely one to avoid.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
henrikegerman
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/29/05
#25Darren Aronofsky's
Posted: 9/15/17 at 4:46pm
I may be going rogue big time here, but I liked mother! a lot more than I did Black Swan.
The film is uneven but gloriously so. At times it feels like a lost Sam Shepard play, and a very captivating one. At other times it's like Guillermo del Toro but, alas, not always like del Toro at his best. Perhaps the best way to describe it is A Delicate Balance on steroids. Lawrence hasn't had a role this good since Winter's Bone and she gives it her all. It's a very ballsy performance. Ed and especially Michelle - wow.
And there's so much to allegorically parse here. The price of fame? The primal tensions between those conflicting demon urges for nesting and company? The struggles and consequences of creativity? The expendibility of love and its providers?
These are all there to ponder. But there's something even more powerful and timely. The creative and procreative forces clash with the pressing question: is it moral to bring anything of value, anything truly of yourself, anything for love and, perhaps most poignantly, new life into a world spiraling into madness and self-destruction?
