Aronofsky's "mother!" (Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem)

[guitarsingerguy]

It's for film fans and hipsters that claim they're into this type of thing basically. Everybody else is just gonna be like...nah, bro. Let's just go see It again and wait till Kingsman comes out. Not that those are bad alternatives but they ain't exactly challenging you.

So it's a David Lynchian fidget spinner? Da' ****?!

 

[Sithborg]

I didn't even think an F Cinemascore was possible.

 

[scarlet-witch]

Considering I disagree with Cinemascore 99% of the time that looks good for me.

 

[I Am The Knight]

I didn't even think an F Cinemascore was possible.

Well Darren Aronofsky is one hell of a filmmaker

 

[Kane52630]

It doesn't surprise me it got a F score considering what happens in the 3rd act. It's a shame a lot of people don't understand it.

 

[DACrowe]

It was a perfectly fine movie. It's not my favorite Aronofsky film (still love Black Swan and Requiem as masterpieces). Nor my favorite movie that Cinemascore got all wrong (The Witch is also a masterpiece, dammit!).

But this was a very provocative movie that I'm still thinking about two days later. I didn't even pick up the biblical stuff while watching it, but after reading some pieces on it, it just is making me appreciate the film far more. It's a genuinely fascinating movie, and the craft from its auteur to its performers makes it mesmerizing, even if it is also intentionally the definition of indulgent.

So short version, when Cinemascore really hates something? Certainly worth at least a watch.

 

[scarlet-witch]

Cinemascore is also the most basic of movie scores. They feel like average movies goers who just want to feel special vs people who are actually fans of film. At least that's how they've always come off to me. Which is fine, not everyone can be a cinephile, but I feel like because of that, I barely agree with them. They remind me of the people I know IRL who only go to movies to "turn their brains off" and get nothing more out of them.

I don't know how to make this comment sound less pretentious.

 

[Darepool]

For those that have seen this and liked it (or at least appreciated it on some level), I recommend a great double bill with this and Dumont's 29 Palms. That'll clear out the cobwebs

 

[Enriquespy]

Glad you love it, makes me feel less alone!

 

[Black Narcissus]

lol At folks being scared to watch this.

Eh, this will be considered a classic over time. I hope ya'll experience it on the big screen.

 

[Enriquespy]

I get a "Children of men" kind of thing, where it might be better appreciated over time.

 

[NotNickFury]

That was indeed an Aronofsky film to be sure. Great film and the whole time I kept thinking 'Who are you people?!' with everyone and their mother entering the house. Took me a bit after seeing the film to get the point of it all and I appreciate it even more for that. Can easily see a lot of folks getting confused by this or not liking it because of it not being more direct.

Also, probably the best performance I've seen Jennifer Lawrence give since Silver Linings Playbook.

 

[Black Narcissus]

I get a "Children of men" kind of thing, where it might be better appreciated over time.

Children of Men is bad example. Critics liked it from the start and so did most folks who watched it at the time. It just that not many ppl saw that one and most are still discovering it now.

I think Fight Club is a better example. It didnt become a cult film till it was released on home media. But eh, many other examples out there. Hell, I still think Only God Forgives will get more love in years to come.

 

[David H.]

It's a shame a lot of people don't understand it.

Which is weird because it couldn't be more simple.

If Noah is hope, mother! is necessary damnation.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

Well, I'm back from seeing... whatever the heck this was!

I think I need alot of time to process it, but it was definitely a hard watch. A confusing, unpleasant and slightly pretentious film that doesn't give the audience much to go on. Yes, I can twist some allegories out of it and I could rationalize it like 'this' or like 'that'... but if we have to work THAT hard to piece it to together, then Aronofsky should have screened this in his own basement and then be done with it.

I will say that the cast was excellent for the most part. It was a wonderfully shot and designed move, with excellent sound design. I think the lack of a score affected the overall suspense of the movie, but it was an interesting experiment. Harris, the two Gleeson's and Wiig are not given anything interesting to do... for that matter, neither is Bardem. Arguably, both he and Lawrence were slightly miscast in this.

All my friends hated it. One couldn't make it with us and wants me to see it with him tomorrow... I honestly don't know if I can stomach it. If I do see it a second time, hopefully I can learn to appreciate it more, despite all the gross elements.

Now on to Pfeiffer:

Stunning. She brought the film to life and was a JOY to watch on screen - a boozy, *****y delight. Frankly, the movie needed her and when she left, the movie went off the rails for me. Is it an Oscar worthy performance? I just don't know, it's much too early to say. However, I do think she come out of this better than anyone else and is highly deserving of all the praise she has been getting. It just wasn't much of a character and I think that's what will do her out of a nomination. I hope she gets one, but at least she was the best part and people are really starting to notice.

 

[Black Narcissus]

Even in a movie like this... I laughed at Wiig.

 

[SiegePerilous]

This was uh...quite something.

Really need to process it, but I went in with some of the allegories people were discussing in mind (I don't mind being spoiled, so I read up on some things before seeing it) and that helped me make a little sense of it. It was definitely a mind screw by the end of it, which is by no means a bad thing. It's a movie that I will probably end up owning because I feel it is one I will want to rewatch.

It's not surprising at all it's bombing though. This is not a casual audience movie. Which is precisely why I appreciated it, but I can see why all the box office money is going to IT (which I also loved for different reasons).

 

[JohnnyGobbs]

I've rarely left a theater in which large sections of the audience were audibly fuming and even swearing as a means of expressing their displeasure with the film we'd just witnessed.

Personally, I think Aronofsky's latest is exactly what cinema should be; intense, visceral, provocative, powerful and a true one-off experience. I don't pay to watch a film on the big screen for something safe, cosy and ultimately forgettable, and I'm amazed that some of my fellow audience members apparently chose to patronise an art-house for exactly that.

For what it's worth, I can see myself re-visiting this fascinating, often quite comical, allegorical work again in a way that I most likely will not with Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream (another hugely impressive work that nevertheless did test my personal limits - the 'Jennifer Connelly *****' sequence is harder for me to stomach than even the

Spoiler

baby eating sequence

here).

Anyway, suffice to say with this and (the clearly much more popular) It in cinemas at the moment, this is a great time for the horror genre.

 

[JohnnyGobbs]

Even in a movie like this... I laughed at Wiig.

I'm a big fan of Wiig, but initially her presence struck me as a little incongruous, but in view of what we eventually see her character get up to I suppose the juxtaposition with her light and comic persona was intentional.

 

[JohnnyGobbs]

Well, I'm back from seeing... whatever the heck this was!

I think I need alot of time to process it, but it was definitely a hard watch. A confusing, unpleasant and slightly pretentious film that doesn't give the audience much to go on. Yes, I can twist some allegories out of it and I could rationalize it like 'this' or like 'that'... but if we have to work THAT hard to piece it to together, then Aronofsky should have screened this in his own basement and then be done with it.

I will say that the cast was excellent for the most part. It was a wonderfully shot and designed move, with excellent sound design. I think the lack of a score affected the overall suspense of the movie, but it was an interesting experiment. Harris, the two Gleeson's and Wiig are not given anything interesting to do... for that matter, neither is Bardem. Arguably, both he and Lawrence were slightly miscast in this.

All my friends hated it. One couldn't make it with us and wants me to see it with him tomorrow... I honestly don't know if I can stomach it. If I do see it a second time, hopefully I can learn to appreciate it more, despite all the gross elements.

Now on to Pfeiffer:

Stunning. She brought the film to life and was a JOY to watch on screen - a boozy, *****y delight. Frankly, the movie needed her and when she left, the movie went off the rails for me. Is it an Oscar worthy performance? I just don't know, it's much too early to say. However, I do think she come out of this better than anyone else and is highly deserving of all the praise she has been getting. It just wasn't much of a character and I think that's what will do her out of a nomination. I hope she gets one, but at least she was the best part and people are really starting to notice.

I can't see Pfeiffer getting a nomination for this, even if she was effectively playing

Spoiler

Eve

as it was ultimately a relatively brief part that did not really impact significantly on the overall narrative. But hopefully this, along with the upcoming Murder on the Orient Express and next year's Ant-Man sequel, will lead to a real career renaissance for one of my all-time favourite actresses and with any luck some lead roles or a juicy supporting turn in an Oscar contender.

She still looks absolutely fantastic, and has a few sexy moments (including where she opens the door to Lawrence after she's done being casually buggered by Ed Harris in one of their hosts' rooms). It probably says something about my age, but I can't deny that Pfeiffer titillates me far more than Lawrence.

 

[Lighthouse]

2016

Darren Arnofsky finishes watching "The Neon Demon"?

"Pfft......we'll see about that" *furiously scribbles screenplay*

 

[NotNickFury]

Even in a movie like this... I laughed at Wiig.

...yeah, what was that?! Now granted, films like Welcome to Me, Diary of a Teenage Girl, and The Skeleton Twins have shown that Wiig definitely has great range, but when she popped up, the movie kind of stopped for me for a moment.

 

[Black Narcissus]

 

[weezerspider]

Maybe it is because I'm a son of a preacher, but I find it kind of baffling that anyone is having a hard time "understanding" this. I honestly think one of it's weaknesses is that the allegory is too on the nose, but then again, the film is kind of a complete mess if you try and watch it as reality without the allegory. It is a difficult film to watch, but it is not difficult to understand.

Also, after two viewings, I think I'd call this a masterpiece. It's so fun to watch this with a full crowd who don't know what they signed up for.

 

[Matt Mortem]

Maybe it is because I'm a son of a preacher, but I find it kind of baffling that anyone is having a hard time "understanding" this. I honestly think one of it's weaknesses is that the allegory is too on the nose, but then again, the film is kind of a complete mess if you try and watch it as reality without the allegory. It is a difficult film to watch, but it is not difficult to understand.

Also, after two viewings, I think I'd call this a masterpiece. It's so fun to watch this with a full crowd who don't know what they signed up for.

My best friend growing up and still best friend to this day has a pastor for a father and went to school to be a pastor himself (though he isn't). I grew up surrounded by biblical teachings and Christianity so it was much more blatant what the film was going for than it would be for someone who perhaps doesn't have any background in that kinda stuff. Still, it's not like it's using the obscure bits. It's pretty obvious.