mother!

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A couple's relationship is tested when uninvited guests arrive at their home, disrupting their tranquil existence. From filmmaker Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan, Requiem for a Dream), mother! stars Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer in this riveting psychological thriller about love, devotion and sacrifice.

Re: mother!

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finally watched this yesterday. holy shit was it not at all what i was expecting. either we were all trolled by their marketing or the marketing dept didn't understand this film. either way, bravo - you got me. that out of the way, i quite liked it. it's another aronofsky visual interpretation, let's say. a psychological experiment? i now see the marketing dept's dilemma - how do you explain this film without completely giving it away? you don't.
it was pretty obvious early on that JL wasn't exactly seeing things right? she wasn't exactly as she seemed? things weren't as she was seeing them? she was an unreliable narrator? all of the above? i thought maybe something happened in the hospital with the baby and this was all a mental projection or something. then 3/4 of the way through when shit got really, really bonkers in the house, it was clear that wasn't the case. i didn't know wtf i just saw when it ended. looked it up and apparently it's aronofsky's take on the book of genesis. reading everything, i see that now. i wouldn't call it "obvious" unless you are one to keep bible stories in the forefront of your mind, but once you know, sure - i get it. i purposely avoided everything about this film once i knew i'd see it, and managed to do so pretty easily, so i had no idea what to expect. certainly not what i got. i understand this didn't do well in the box office. sometimes a film is too complicated for its own good, maybe? like the marketing department dilemma - let's say they just decided to give it away. do you think more people would have seen this if they knew it was a bible story? fewer? i think probably more. word of mouth was hamstrung by people not wanting to ruin it for anyone else, too. i'd say it's going to be a sleeper film that will have a following that grows over time. again, i really liked it, i just kind of don't understand why aronofsky chose to do this. then again, i kind of don't understand why he does any of his films, so i guess i don't understand a lot. but i sure enjoy them all so far.

Re: mother!

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I think we're in surreal symbolism land from minute one onward, so that part didn't really bother me. I too enjoyed it, it's not subtle but it's a lot of fun.
"I'm like a dog chasing cars, I wouldn't know what to do if I caught one. . . . I'm not a schemer. I just do things."

Re: mother!

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Err...
I actually didn't get the bible reference. It just seemed like a pretty straight forward dream narrative, Lost Highway-esque, until the last few minutes when Bardem took over and the loop repeated itself which, yeah, rather blew things up, but I'm not sure I cared enough to try and figure anything more out at that point. Even now that you mention it, I'm not sure how Genesis explains the ending - Adam and Eve couldn't return to the garden after they were thrown out.