Movie Review | Mother! (2017)

Director : Darren Aronofsky

Writer: Darren Aronofsky

Cast : Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris, Michelle Pfeiffer, Domhnall Gleeson, Kristen Wiig, Brian Gleeson

Production Company: Protozoa Pictures

Distributor: Paramount Pictures

Genre : Mystery, Horror, Drama

Release dates: 5 September 2017 (Venice), 15 September 2017 (United States)

Running Time: 115 minit

Trailer : 

2 jam layan movie Mother ni memang puas hati. I didn't skip any scene, I didn't fast forward, I didn't increase video speed because I really wanna be in this beautiful piece. I wanna know the significance of every scene in this movie. I can say this is one of the best movie for this year!

Dalam movie ni watak utama memang tak ada nama watak but its not important anyway. Ramai yang tolak movie ni and classified it under the worst movie ever but if you can decode the mystery behind this movie, then surely you'll love Mother! 

Mother mengisahkan tentang pasangan suami isteri yang tinggal di sebuah rumah jauh dari bandar. One day diorang dapat tetamu yang tak diundang which turns out to be a crazy fan of the poet. Suami tu seorang poet & mencari ilham yang dah lama hilang. Isteri dia macam tak berapa suka ada tetamu datang sebab nanti ganggu kerja suami dia plus rumah dia pun tak siap lagi since rumah tu pernah terbakar teruk tapi isteri dia repair & hias balik sampai cantik sama macam sebelum ni because she loves her dear husband and wants him to be happy tapi sejak tetamu ni datang banyak betul masalah yang dia bawa sampai isteri nak halau keluar dari rumah tapi si suami larang sebab dia nak mencari ilham dari semua yang terjadi. But then isteri dia mengandung and suami dia dapat ilham dari pregnancy tu. Tak lama lepas tu buku suami dia siap & semua orang start datang rumah diorang untuk dapatkan karya agung suami dia. But it turns chaotic and destructive. 

Storyline movie ni dah cantik tapi ada some part yang left unexplained macam black shadow yang selalu ganggu si isteri and serbuk kuning sebagai ubat bila isteri stress ataupun takut. At first I thought isteri ni ada mental illness sebab ingatkan black shadow tu cuma halusinasi dia. But she's not because she's connected with that house. & besi yang dia tolak dari meja tu jatuh sampai ke bawah tanah sampai buat dia sakit. Idk why she did what she did. 

Lakonan Jennifer Lawrence memang superb because she carry all the emotions in this movie all by herself. That love, confused, purity, innocence, obedient, anxious, terrified and protective semua lah dia mampu express through her facial expressions or body language. She deserves all the award for this movie. She nailed it! Whatta performance!

Sampai sekarang terngiang ayat dia 'You never loved me. You just loved how much I loved you. I gave you everything!' and some scenes yang terngiang lagi sampai sekarang even dah berhari tengok. Selalunya kalau movie yang terngiang ni movie yang power je and yes Mother gives that vibe because Jennifer Lawrence mampu buat audience rasa apa yang dia rasa. 

Tapi ada satu part yang macam terjongket kening bila uninvited guest tu sembang pasal anak-anak. Dia cakap Jennifer Lawrence tak faham macam mana rasanya bila kematian anak sebab belum ada anak. 'You can't imagine if you didn't have a child. You give, you give, you give and its just never enough' sedangkan Jennifer is connected to that house, she dedicates all of her times to that house. Dia boleh tahu nadi rumah tu macam mana. By that sentence of the woman, Jennifer exactly know how it feel since she gives gives and gives to that house.

I agree movie ni agak heavy sampai kena fikir apa mesej sebenar dia nak ketengahkan. Starting from the trailer pun director tak reveal langsung cuma reveal the cast. Dah habis tengok lama movie ni pun tak boleh move on lagi selagi tak mampu nak decode mesej sebenar dari director tu. First half memang nampak biasa tapi bila masuk second half dah start intense and your curiosity memang mencanak but you have to wait till the end of the movie baru dapat hint. It makes you uncomfortable but a huge impact for your life?

The visual is great especially minit awal masa rumah buruk bertukar jadi rumah cantik macam a growing nature, not to mention audio and editing, cuma genre dia je masalah sikit since under thriller tapi tak lah thrill sangat pun and definitely not a horror movie but all in all I'm entertained with it so here's my rating for Mother!

1. Team Production +1, 2. Visual +1, 3. Audio +1, 4. Storyline +0.7, 5. Casting +1, 6. Genre +0.3, 7. Themes +0.5, 8. Editing +0.5, 9. Social Message +1, 10. Personal Thought +1 = 8/10

Okay, bawah ni mesej sebenar dalam movie Mother! Kalau belum tengok tapi nak interperate sendiri, jangan baca. Kalau belum tengok tapi nak tengok tanpa stress & dah tengok tapi tak faham lagi kenapa, then feel free to read :)

Sebelum movie ni released, director dah bagi hint dalam dua poster Mother ni satu poster ada Javier Bardem dan satu lagi poster Jennifer Lawrence. First poster of Javier actually symbolize him as The God. Look at what he's holding so dalam movie ni dia gambarkan diri dia seorang poet and trying to create a masterpiece through his book and that book is actually a Bible. That's why he highlight to Mother he need the uninvited guests in his house so he can be inspired. Lebih kurang macam dalam Bible lah menceritakan tentang perilaku manusia and kehidupan.

While for Jennifer Lawrence, poster dia menggambarkan diri dia sebagai Mother Nature sebab tu nama dia Mother! Character dia dalam movie sebagai pendiam & dia banyak guna facial expressions and body language because nature is beautiful, calm and quiet. In that movie she's pregnant and that baby turns out to be Jesus. And the end of that movie the baby being killed and eaten by human. Sama lah macam Jesus sacrificed diri dia untuk manusia.

Uninvited guest being portrayed as humans. The dying husband is Adam and his wife is Eve. Ada satu scene bila Javier tolong Ed Harris dalam toilet, Jennifer nampak tulang rusuk dia luka well tulang rusuk tu berparut sebab Eve datang dari situ. Tulang rusuk bergetar anyone?

And then their sons came along. Remember Qabil and Habil killing each other because of their lust and greed? Well that scene represent their story. That part when Adam & Eve jatuhkan crystal dalam bilik kerja Javier is represent Adam & Eve masa di syurga yang makan buah epal sampai Tuhan marah tu.



Before the end of first half, ramai yang datang rumah the poet untuk upacara berkabung but it turns out like a party where everyone seems to be happy celebrating walaupun the Adam in grief. Ada seorang lelaki berkulit hitam & perempuan cat rumah diorang tanpa sebab & permission. Well that action represent human yang suka hati ubah suai Bumi ni untuk keselesaan diorang sendiri without thinking the mother nature's feelings and consent.



Sama jugak dengan couple yang duduk atas sink. The mother keeps asking them nicely supaya turun dari sinki tu sebab belum kukuh lagi but they didn't listen siap hentak lagi untuk buktikan yang sinki tu okay je but it turns out sinki tu pecah and roboh, paip dalam rumah pun bocor. Yes, it describes manusia yang degil tak reti jaga alam and expect alam ni akan sentiasa dalam keadaan bagus but turns out it is not.



Ada scene Jennifer Lawrence perasan lantai rumah dia bleeding & berlubang even dia dah repair. Its the Earth giving sign to mother that its hurting and giving warning. Second half of the movie dah start chaos bila Bible dah siap, ramai yang datang ke rumah tu, rosakkan rumah tu as human come on Earth, breeding and become overpopulated for Earth to carry them and they become destructive but still worship their God. They're killing each other to stay survive, they experiment other human and they aggressively wants to kill the mother nature while God let them behave all the way they want but being protective to Mother since she carry his seed, Jesus.



Bila Jesus lahir, God thought that human can be changed but they can't and they kill Jesus as sacrifice to please God. Ada part bila Javier cakap 'You and I have to find a way to forgive them' well that scene portraying God is forgiving tapi mother nature tak boleh terima so dia hapuskan semua manusia macam mana bencana alam yang jadi dekat Bumi. Tapi Javier tak mati pun sebab dia Tuhan. And the end of the movie, dia letak balik crystal tu dekat tempat asal supaya dia boleh create Bumi tapi Mother yang lain supaya takdir kehidupan akan berubah I guess.

Mother! is a movie about nature who gives everything to God and humankind but its never enough until she die. This is all I can decode from the movie, kalau ada yang boleh dapat lagi detail you guys can hit the comment box. :)