mother! Review

mother!

Dir: Darren Aronofsky

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris, Michelle Pfieffer, Brian Gleeson, Domhnall Gleeson, Stephen McHattie, and Kristen Wiig

In the middle of an undisclosed forest, a house exists. It’s an odd looking mansion of sorts that, once entered, is filled with pathways leading throughout the labyrinthine structure. A woman and a man live in this house; the woman is tasked with shaping and molding the house into a home, while the man searches for inspiration for his new book wherever and with whomever he can. You can feel that this story is building towards something uneasy, something difficult; a place that will challenge the characters’ understanding as they try so desperately to control their crumbling, destructive situation.

Director Darren Aronofsky, the auteur behind films like “Requiem for a Dream” and “Black Swan”, composes a story that functions as a metaphor, a parable, and a satire. It’s an allegory that is a bold artistic expression with equally frustrating and fascinating strokes. Mr. Aronofsky’s film is also deeply personal, for the director and the viewer, echoing sentiments from places religious, political, and ecological.

Without ever stating specific names, the film opens with the awakening of a woman identified as Mother (Jennifer Lawrence) looking for a man identified as Him (Javier Bardem) throughout a sprawling house in the middle of rejuvenation. The couple seems distracted and lonely, lost in the seclusion they have manufactured for themselves. Interruption invades their seemingly idyllic existence in the form of two guests (Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer), from this point the paradise that they have created becomes torn apart. 

From the beginning moments of “mother!” you can feel the influences taking hold and pushing your attention in different ways. Mr. Aronofsky doesn’t aim for subtle movements, the narrative design may operate on a few different planes of explanation but the connections to the ideologies the director is trying to express are felt throughout. What you may connect with may not be the same as someone else who watches this film but that’s not the point. This is a film that aims to conjure an emotion, in some moments you may feel aggravated or confused while in other places you may feel surprisingly optimistic. To a point, these feelings may depend largely on your outlook within the world or your relationship with the themes examined. Saying this film is about religious fascination, political and social divisions, or environmental destruction may be too easy an explanation.

The director connects again with his longtime visual collaborator, director of photography Matthew Libatique, who composes the film within swathes of light that illuminate natural shadows composed by the house. The camera follows Mother while she moves throughout the house, we see her frustration and visualize her changing emotions, you can feel her seclusion and isolation through the tight framing of the camera. The photography also takes a cue from Stanley Kubrick, playing with space and time within the house similarly to how it was composed in “The Shining".

Jennifer Lawrence is provided the difficult task of playing Mother, a multifaceted character that plays passive throughout the melodramatic first half of the movie and dynamic in the frenzied latter portion. Because her character is written to embody far greater meaning than the simple aspect of a woman living in a problematical relationship, the changeover in the finale for the character is equally as complicated. The portrayal is brimming with passion and extravagance while in other ways it is missing an emotional component that makes the character feel empty and somewhat inhuman. It's all by design and Jennifer Lawrence does her best to convey everything that's being introduced.

Film, like any other form of art, is subjective. Your ultimate interpretation is part of the process of connecting with an artistic expression, regardless of whether it’s negative or positive. “mother!” will be divisive but it will also be thought provoking. Some may see the demonstrations of violence and the more sensational aspects of the script too intense while others, myself included, will find the comic audacity in the embellishment of the ideas the director is trying to transmit. “mother!” in many instances is what filmmaking should be, a vessel for the expression of ideas.

Monte’s Rating

4.50 out of 5.00

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Review

 

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

Dir: Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg

Starring: Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Javier Bardem, Brenton Thwaites, Kaya Scodelario, Kevin McNally, David Wenham, Golshifteh Farahani, and Orlando Bloom 

In the dark, watery confines of a boat ride in one of Disneyland's most beloved amusements, a deep voiced ghost utters the words "Dead men tell no tales". It was the striking phrase that stuck in my adolescent mind after a family trip to California in the late 80's. 

In 2003 the film "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" was released as a summer blockbuster to very positive reviews; it seemed that a film could capture some of the nostalgia, some of the magic of a theme-park ride. Starring Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow, a trickster with an affinity for rum and treasure, in the role that would define the actor and directed by Gore Verbinski, who would go on to direct the trilogy of features for the franchise, the film was a highlight for the typically overwrought CGI-fueled summer blockbuster design.  

Unfortunately, subsequent films could not maintain the quality of the first film. Though it didn't seem to matter because audiences continued to flock to the theaters for more pirate adventures, with each film getting worse in the progression. Surprisingly to say "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales", the fifth in the franchise for those who stopped keeping count, is actually much more entertaining than the other sequels. That doesn't necessarily mean that the quality of the story or characters are much better than any of the other films, but at this point that doesn't seem to be much of a concern to the filmmaking team. What does concern them is that the audience returning to see this film is being entertained

The plot involves the expedition of two young people, a young man (Brenton Thwaites) looking for the legendary pirate Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) to help save his family and a young woman (Kaya Scodelario) searching for a treasure laid out for her in a journal that has been with her since she was born. Both are looking for the same thing, a magical and powerful object that will help change their lives. However, an evil is unleashed by the hands of Jack Sparrow, a ship with a decomposing crew lead by the vengeful Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem).

You've seen this film before, everyone knows this including the team behind the film. The story is a familiar one, a curse exists that unleashes one of the many vengeful myths that haunt the sea. And, before the title card flashes across the screen in this film the bulk of the story is introduced; we get an encounter with the bad guy, an explanation of the adventure that awaits, and the acknowledgment that the franchise favorite pirate is going to come along for the mission. It's quick and foolish but works in establishing everything that is to come. 

Gore Verbinski is responsible for establishing the style and structure of these films, and new directors Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg don't deviate too much from everything that has been initiated. In fact, they actually honor much of the good elements that came with the original film. There are some very distinct and fun set pieces introduced here, one that feels like an alternative scene from the original film involving a bank safe that defies the laws of physics, another that is pure summer blockbuster ridiculousness involving a guillotine, and one that needs only two words to sell a ticket...shark zombies. 

We've all seen Captain Jack swagger and prance in and out of situations numerous times before, so it's nice that his character plays somewhat of a supporting character here. The film suffers whenever Captain Jack gets too much screen time, which is surprising to say considering Sparrow was the saving grace for some of the sequels. The film wisely focuses on two new characters, Henry and Carina, giving them a nice balance within their individual journeys. Also good is Javier Bardem as Captain Salazar, the design of his character is exceptional and the performance fits the realm nicely.

"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales" easily ranks near the top for this franchise. It's a return to everything that made the original film so good even though it doesn't do anything new. Instead the film focuses on the fun associated with a swashbuckling adventure and the quality that the supernatural elements can add to a story.

Monte's Rating

3.00 out of 5.00