Darren Aronofsky's new film 'Mother'

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Ghostworld, Aug 13, 2017.

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  1. agentalbert

    agentalbert Senior Member

    Location:
    San Antonio, TX
  2. DreadPikathulhu

    DreadPikathulhu Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    The reviews sound very intriguing. I can't wait to see it.
     
  3. P(orF)

    P(orF) Forum Resident

    It's funny - if Aronofsky had been working in the 70's he'd have his own cult, and probably a shelf full of Oscars. Today it's all " but his movies don't open, and he doesn't have any superheroes."

    End of grumpy old man rant.
     
  4. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    US
    All too true.
     
  5. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    US
    But I think he does have a cult. When the hottest actors in the world are drawn to being in your films, you're just "hot" in the right way that matters. Actors want to leave a legacy of great performances and films and they think they can find that with Aronofsky. If you think Josh Whedon is leaving anything but a legacy of pop junk that will be forgotten near the bottom of the barrel, then you can choose him as a director.
     
    Dudley Morris likes this.
  6. PhilBorder

    PhilBorder Senior Member

    Location:
    Sheboygan, WI
  7. harmonica98

    harmonica98 Senior Member

    Location:
    London, UK
    Saw this tonight at a very sparsely attended screening for a Friday night, which doesn't bode well for its commercial prospects.

    Well it's certainly a trip and I have to admire the deranged energy of the 2nd half, but really, the symbolism is so heavy-handed it would be comic, was the cumulative effect not so headache inducing. Add to that the deliberately ugly video, the total absence of chemistry between the leads and the deafening soundtrack, this is a pretty terrible film.

    However...

    I predict that some people will love it and it will become a cult classic.
     
    DHamilton, Scotian, Gavinyl and 2 others like this.
  8. Bryan

    Bryan Starman Jr.

    Location:
    Berkeley, CA
    I dunno, I've enjoyed pretty much everything Arronofsky has done up until now, at least to varying degrees, but if this is 2 hours of stuff like Natalie Portman peeling the skin off her fingers in Black Swan, I think I'll pass. I'm not a masochist.
     
    Rhapsody In Red likes this.
  9. DreadPikathulhu

    DreadPikathulhu Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    Amazing film. You're going to love it or hate it. Definitely heavily influenced by Noah.
     
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  10. Squealy

    Squealy Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Vancouver
    The audience I saw this with was totally baffled -- they were expecting a horror flick. But this movie is entirely metaphorical (allegorical?) and the average multiplex moviegoer doesn't understand or appreciate that. Film is very literal -- people can accept surreal happenings onscreen if there's an explanation like "it was all a dream" or "it was an illusion created by aliens", but a narrative that's totally symbolic in nature isn't going to connect with audiences that aren't English majors and expect a conventional story -- hence the F CinemaScore. I'm surprised a major studio wanted to put this out...

    (I'm not saying it's a masterpiece and people are dummies if they don't like it, just pointing out the limited audience for this kind of film)
     
    Last edited: Sep 16, 2017
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  11. Balthazar

    Balthazar Forum Resident

    If Rex Reed hates it, I'll probably love it.
     
  12. agentalbert

    agentalbert Senior Member

    Location:
    San Antonio, TX
    Just got back from seeing this and enjoyed it. The 2 hours went by pretty quick. I really liked the madness of everything by the end. I can imagine most audiences, especially if they have no idea what they're in for, will hate it. Marketing departments only have a few templates for how they present a movie and they figured horror was the easiest thing. I'm surprised this is a wide release movie from a major studio, but glad it got made.

    The image was a lot grainier than I'm used to seeing on new releases.
     
  13. Well it seems to be a bomb ? The worst opening for Jennifer Lawrence ever.

    Not that that really means anything
     
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  14. chacha

    chacha Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    mill valley CA USA
    Winters Bone was bigger?
     
  15. dunkrag

    dunkrag Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Loved this.. deranged madness, cinema needs more of this.. Thought Lawrence was fantastic to be honest..
     
    Old Rusty likes this.
  16. puffyrock2

    puffyrock2 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Louisiana
    Not an easy watch, but I overall liked the movie. I've never encountered such open hostility at a film by an audience before. Midway through a woman yelled "refund! at the screen and I noticed as couple people walk out never to return. On the way out, I heard a variety of complaints about how the movie was 'trash' and most people just seemed baffled by it all. I did speak with an older couple about what the movie meant to me and they appreciated it but overall this isn't sitting well with mainstream audiences. Paramount, Aronofsky, Lawrence and others knew this would be a hard sell to people. The trailers were misleading, but there's no way a trailer could not be unless it was full of spoilers....there's no way a trailer can prepare an audience for this. I think Paramount was stuck between a rock and a hard place as far as how to promote this accurately because I'm not sure how they could have.

    Watching this I was really reminded of Lars Von Trier, especially "Antichrist". Other parts brought to mind David Lynch and perhaps even Takashi Mike. Starts off rather normal and descends into absolute hell.
     
  17. Balthazar

    Balthazar Forum Resident

    At only $30M to make and whatever paltry sum was spent on marketing, it's not too much of a disaster if it doesn't break even. I thought Noah sucked, but it made a bundle, so Aronofsky won't be blown out over this, and everyone else else associated with Mother will just go on as if nothing ever happened.

    Really looking forward to seeing it now, hearing about all this polarization.
     
    Gavinyl likes this.
  18. DreadPikathulhu

    DreadPikathulhu Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    The screening I was as was silent, though the people who see a film at 10:30 in the morning on a Saturday tend to be pretty devoted film fans.

    The one star reviews on IMDB are hilarious.
     
  19. Combination

    Combination Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Orleans
    And cheep. :p
     
  20. DreadPikathulhu

    DreadPikathulhu Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    Best $6.29 I ever spent. :D
     
  21. Django

    Django Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dublin, Ireland
    Haven't seen it but i just watched Mark Kermode's review...I'm intrigued. His opinion in a nutshell is that its oppressive, but impressive. It may turn out to be one of those arty films that I admire, but being honest, didn't really enjoy. Either way, I always love that there are interesting filmmakers out there that manage to "get away" with making strange films within the Hollywood entertainment machine.
     
    Mazzy likes this.
  22. RexKramer

    RexKramer Senior Member

    Location:
    Outside of Philly
    I found it a fun watch, but it felt like the second half just reprises the first one, just bigger. Funny thing was I didn't pick up all the religious themes, I had a completely different interpretation based on creation and exposing yourself to the world. But it is multilayered, as this also jibes with the biblical interpretation as well. Leaving the theater my wife and I passed someone complaining "I don't know why she'd want to make this movie." To each their own. I liked it a lot - didn't love it - and am glad that films like this can still sneak into the studio system.

    Mark
     
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  23. agentalbert

    agentalbert Senior Member

    Location:
    San Antonio, TX
    I did too.

    Yeah, I skimmed through about 3-4 pages of those earlier today and got a good laugh.

    I didn't hear any grumbling at the 12:00 noon showing I went to today and also didn't see a single walkout. There were may 15 of us in there total, but no yelling at the screen, or even chatter from people, which was a welcome surprise. Maybe everyone at my showing had an idea what they were in for and WANTED to see that kind of movie.
     
  24. DreadPikathulhu

    DreadPikathulhu Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    Marketing this as a horror film was completely wrong and it looks like most of those one star reviews are people that expected horror. The same mistake was made with Noah, with audiences expecting a traditional Biblical devotional. I'm not sure how they could successfully marketed Mother as a commercial film, especially since art house cinemas are pretty much dead. I think it will ultimately be successful when it can be watched at home.
     
  25. Mother

    Mother Forum Resident

    Location:
    Melbourne
    I saw it yesterday. Laughed regularly. It's a hoot.
     
    DHamilton, Gavinyl, Rasputin and 2 others like this.
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