Mother
Eh, a swing and a miss by Aronofsky. The biggest problem with the movie is that it thinks it's smarter than it is. That might just be me though, and perhaps the intent wasn't meant to be clever in any way, and just be an unconventional take on a host of Bible stories. It's hard to separate the director from the film for me, and Aronofsky isn't one for being so shallow. I expect a little more depth and ambiguity from him, but maybe he didn't intend to play with the audiences' minds. I don't know. I guess I was expecting something more "artsy" and ambiguous, and instead got a fairly standard retelling of Biblical tales. So, perhaps the fault is on me for thinking too hard about it.
For what it is, it's okay. Nothing mind blowing, but it will hold your attention. I gotta say that Jennifer Lawrence gave a particularly weak performance though. She turns it on in the end and almost redeems herself, but for the most part, she's just so wooden, and some of line delivery is downright cringe worthy. In some scenes, I couldn't help but think "That's the take you stuck with?". It didn't help that she was surrounded by others who were acting their asses off. Ed Harris, Michelle Pfeiffer, Javier Bardem, etc, are all in top form, and really outshine her at every turn. When the weakest actor of the bunch is the main focus of the movie, that's a problem.
I will say, the movie excels as one big dream sequence. I never really thought about it until I saw some review that pointed it out, but it really does capture how a dream plays out, with all it's random escalation in events, and no sense of time. When I looked at it that way, it bumped my impression of it up a bit. It works well, if you simply look at it as a dream realized on film.
All in all, it won't blow your socks off, but if you're up for some bible tales being turned on their head, and being told in an unconventional manner, it's worth a look.
7/10