Tuesday, August 8, 2017

'mother!' Trailer: Jennifer Lawrence Gets Some Terrifying House Guests



A Darren Aronofsky movie, any Darren Aronofsky movie, is enough to get to the theater. The fact that he made a horror thriller, mother!, just sweetens the deal. We saw a quick tease a while back, which is all we really needed. But a full trailer is here, and if you’re into such things, give it a whirl below.



Oh shit, that music. Johann Johannsson’s score sounds like Bernard Herrmann on the paranoid edge of a sleepless three-day coke-binge. I love it.

As expected, this mother! trailer doesn’t reveal much. Arononfsky tends to play things close to the vest. That’s why, after it debuts at the Venice and Toronto film festival shortly, it hits theaters in mid-September, after being bumped up from an original October release. This move pulls it out of the more traditional end-of-year awards release window, but it also cuts down on the amount of time for leaks and spoilers and such.

Again, this trailer focuses more on tone and mood and imagery, and it hits on all three fronts. This is all jangling nerves, shrieking strings, mystery, and tension. The plot appears relatively simple: a couple (Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem) live in a tranquil country house, only to have their idyllic existence interrupted when Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer show up on the scene.

Things are, of course, not what they seem at first. There’s sex, exploding blood light bulbs, what looks like time-lapse decay, you know, the usual stuff. And you can bet Aronofsky has even more up his sleeve, though we only see hints and flashes here.

I get a lot of vibes from this, which I’m sure is the intent, and also a fair amount of misdirection. There’s the impression that maybe Harris and Pfeiffer were partners with Bardem and have come to reclaim something, or maybe there’s some cultishness going on, like a Rosemary’s Baby or Wicker Man thing. Hell, a few shots look like there’s a swarm of angry, fire-bearing villagers right out of Frankenstein. Mostly, I hope there’s a reason why the 26-year-old Lawrence and 48-year-old Bardem are married, beyond the fact that the 48-year-old director is currently dating his 26-year-old star. It wouldn’t surprise me if there’s a we’re-grooming-a-sacrifice kind of thing going on.


mother! also stars Kristen Wiig and Domhnall Gleeson. It opens on September 15. There’s a kind of generic new poster to gawk at.


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