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Mother!

Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2017 6:42 am
by AgentEcho
I saw this film and the divisive, challenging nature of it really reminded me of the effect the Twin Peaks finale had on the audience. As some of you may know the film made press by becoming a rare film to register an "F" grade with CinemaScore, a company that surveys audiences leaving the theaters about what they thought of the film. To me there's no way it deserves that grade but it's interesting to think about why it happened and it's not entirely surprising.

I think the absolute worst effect a film can have is to be boring and forgettable. If people come out hating something and feeling angry about it in a way that sticks with them for a while, then the film has accomplished the basic goal of any art, which is to create an experience. Granted there's some films that can generate derision in very cheap ways, but clearly neither Twin Peaks nor Mother! do that. At a minimum, though I'm sure detractors would argue with it, they are skilled, evocative pieces of filmmaking. They are just setting out to create a kind of experience that audiences are not accustomed to. Mother! specifically has no interest in telling a story that has any grounding in conventional reality, and that coupled with some unpleasant developments clearly isn't sitting well with audiences who demand a conventional experience. I really think the reason why people have trouble with these things is not because the film failed to create the intended experience but because people are resistant to having that kind of experience with film.

Re: Mother!

Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2017 11:08 am
by Soolsma
Oh cool! A new Darren Aronofsky film. Gonna watch it

Re: Mother!

Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2017 8:01 pm
by AgentEcho
Yeah Aronofsky is one of the filmmakers I will always take note when they make a new movie, even something like Noah which normally I'd have no interest in based on the subject and how it was marketed. Can't say that was a high water mark for him, but I thought Mother! was a return to form despite the vitriolic responses.