mother!

Wow, this one will take a bit to unpack. It was obvious right away that this was going to attempt to be a "Capital F" Film, and I think it did really well. It wasn't particularly scary, although there were tense moments throughout, especially early. The husband's behavior makes you increasingly uncomfortable, and clearly moves into unacceptable behavior and borderline gaslighting. 3/4 of the way through, it is revealed what the movie is really about.  That was when I immediately thought that I'll want to watch this again because I certainly missed hints and insights along the way without this context.

From a technical standpoint, I thought the sound, acting, camera work, and overall production were very good - much better than your average horror flick. A $30m budget will do that for you, and this was definitely not traditional horror. I though JLaw was terrific throughout and Javier Bardem delivered a great performance as "Him."

The fact that I want to rewatch it moves it into the "A" range for me, but I'm tacking on a minus because it got a little ham-fisted at the end and I didn't really "get" what they were doing with the crystal and the fact that they implied god was an insane narcissist, although that might not be inaccurate. It felt like the ending lacked subtlty, particularly the gruesome depiction of what I really have to refer to as the Eucharist, which seemed a little unneccesary since at that point we all pretty much "got it."

Is this movie an indictment of Christianity? Of Humanity? of God Himself? Or is it just a self-important horror flick? I'll need to watch it again to find out.
 

I was thinking B+, but since that’s not an option, I’ll go with A- . This movie was very well done. Top notch actors who played their parts well. The movie was not scary, but definitely was tense at points. At first I thought it was just a movie about a very self-centered writer who thought a little too highly of himself. But as it progressed and moved into the borderline unbelievable and increasingly uncomfortable parts, I began to figure out where this was going and what it was about. It’s an interesting movie that could prompt  spirited discussion as to what it “means.” Each person will probably have different ideas because each noticed and picked up on different elements as they happened that others missed.  This is exactly what art should do. It’s well worth a watch in my opinion.