Movies: I Am Mother (NetFlix)
- Thread starter Neutrinos
- Start date
This was released last night and I'm happy to say that I found it to be quite good. Also, the critic score at RT stands at 89% (after 40 reviews).
Rather than repeat myself, here's the review that I just posted in the general movie thread:
BTW, I strongly recommend that you don't watch more than the first half of the trailer above. It gives away too much, IMO. You're better off going in relatively cold. If you like sci-fi, just take my word for it: this is worth watching.
Rather than repeat myself, here's the review that I just posted in the general movie thread:
I Am Mother (2019) - 7/10 (Really liked it)
Following an extinction event in the future, a facility designed to repopulate the human species comes online. A robot named Mother incubates a stored human embryo and raises the child up to be a young woman whom it simply calls Daughter. Daughter can't leave the facility because of contamination outside, but, otherwise, seems happy and asks few questions... until the outside comes knocking.
This is an impressive and engrossing sci-fi film. It reminded me a lot of Moon and Netflix's Lost in Space series reboot. It's visually gorgeous, with good production design and CGI on the robot. It's intelligent in its themes and encourages you to piece together clues and think about what you would do (more on that below). It's well acted, with rather unknown actress Clara Rugaard delivering a performance that should get her noticed. It's well directed, with Grant Sputore making his feature directorial debut, an impressive debut that should get him noticed. It starts slowly, but gradually builds up mystery and tension until it gets very suspenseful in the end.
One of the things that I appreciated the most is that, even up until the end, it's not clear what the "right" decision for Daughter to make is. While many less intelligent films would not be shy about pushing one course of action as the right one and manipulating us into supporting it, this film doesn't do that. We're not sure what to believe and are left feeling torn like Daughter, which adds to the suspense. If there's a weakness in the film, it's that the premise and the ending don't initially make a whole lot of sense. Some of it is sort of explained as the film moves along and you may have to think about or re-watch the ending to understand it. In fact, it's the type of film that would probably benefit from a re-watch, which might be either a minus or a plus, depending on the person.
Anyways, it's an overall well made film that I really enjoyed and recommend, especially to sci-fi fans. It's available now on Netflix.
BTW, I strongly recommend that you don't watch more than the first half of the trailer above. It gives away too much, IMO. You're better off going in relatively cold. If you like sci-fi, just take my word for it: this is worth watching.
Last edited:
ProstheticConscience
Check dein Limit
Eh, not as high on it myself, but it's still a lot better than the vast majority of Netflix movies I've seen.
That's fair. I'm just happy to grade good sci-fi films a bit higher because there aren't too many.
BTW, I wouldn't call it a "Netflix movie" because it wasn't made by them. It's an independent picture that premiered at Sundance before Netflix bought the NA distribution rights.
Last edited:
The Crypto Guy
Registered User
- Jun 26, 2017
- 26,571
- 33,814
Oscar winner Hilary Swank? She was 43 in this. If that's "old" to you, you and I are going to have issues
.
The Crypto Guy
Registered User
- Jun 26, 2017
- 26,571
- 33,814
Oscar winner Hilary Swank? She was 43 in this. If that's "old" to you, you and I are going to have issues
well i think i meant older lady compared to the girl haha.
chicagoskycam
Land of #1 Overall Picks
Watch Million Dollar Baby and get back to us.
This movie was all right - I don't think Swank got a huge chance to shine in it. Kept us guessing for a bit who the real enemy was.
NyQuil
Big F$&*in Q
I saw this and enjoyed it.
Like Ex Machina and Moon, it's another triad character study in a "locked room".
I agree with most of the reviews that it doesn't quite meet its earlier standard in the last quarter of the film or so, so it doesn't quite succeed as well as the other two films I mentioned.
Overall though, a decent effort in a difficult genre to pull off.
Science fiction itself requires:
1. An interesting question or thesis.
-I think I am Mother does a decent job with this - asking questions about maternity and the inherent qualities of a good mother, and whether these are qualities that can be programmed or incorporated into an artificial intelligence, along with the consequences of that programming.
In addition, good science fiction films require:
2. An engrossing mood, feel or style.
In order for the viewer to fully immerse themselves in the story, the future environment has to be accessible and feasible in a manner that allows for the suspension of disbelief. We want to be able to picture ourselves living in that life.
This can be created through excellent cinematography, restrained but elegant use of CGI, effective soundtracks and sound and impeccable attention to detail.
-Again, the "locked room" concept grants the opportunity to create a future environment that is achievable and believable on a relatively modest budget, eliminating the need for wanton CGI to fill in the details. I won't go into spoilers here, but the environment outside is left fairly sparse and ambiguous, which is probably the right way to go.
3. Compelling characters.
Something that science-fiction literature often struggles with is characterization, where the author is more interested in exploring the premise and the question than developing fully-realized characters. Film offers less opportunity to do so, given the lack of internal monologue, and screentime is limited, so the challenge is greater. At the same time, a lot can be said through emoting and excellent acting, requiring less exposition.
-While the characters themselves are fairly limited and are largely one-dimensional in nature, the performances themselves are excellent. One can easily argue that they are left deliberately underdeveloped in order to create the overriding tension throughout the film. Motivations of each of them are up to the viewer to discern.
-Rose Byrne's "Mother" and Kevin Spacey's "Gertie" in Moon manage to present warm and soothing personalities with ominous overtones in a manner much reminiscent of HAL 9000. Meanwhile, Alicia Vikander's Ava in Ex Machina offers a great deal more complexity given her anthropromorphological state and the underlying metaphor for male and female dominance.
-The pleasant surprise doesn't come from Hillary Swank's serviceable "survivor" character but rather the main character, Daughter, played by Clara Rugaard. In a very difficult role, she conveys emotions and makes decisions that are at least comprehensible given her limited worldview and her abilities never seem to be extraneously given or superpowered. So often, children are used as plot devices to make stupid and idiotic decisions in order to force the story forward. I suspect that she has a very good career ahead of her.
4. A resolution to the thesis
Yes, you can answer a question with another question, but I consider that to be lazy science-fiction. Good science fiction requires the creator to take a stand on something and make an argument.
-Here is where I think the film stumbles a bit. While it bravely tries to maintain the ambiguity and mystery as long as possible, the transition to the known is rather abrupt and the pacing takes a hit as a result. The elegance of the film begins to show wear and tear as pointless "travelling" sequences are included and Swank's character starts to unravel.
-There's a bit of a twist but it's not particularly surprising nor particularly compelling. There's no real payoff to the mystery of the outside world. It's by design, but by leading you down that road a little bit, you end up disappointed at the lack of resolution. The Road film adapted from Cormac Macarthy's book does a better job with this.
-But ultimately the film is about motherhood, and a girl who is presented with two mother figures to emulate. Everything else is extraneous and I think the film loses its razor-sharp focus a little bit at the end, while both Moon and Ex Machina manage to navigate to the end without losing it.
-Another excellent film that loses points for its ending is Sunshine, which is extremely compelling for 3/4 of the film and also struggles across the finish line.
Conclusions
It's becoming easier all the time to develop and present science-fiction material given advances in technology and the associated budgetary savings.
We really are living in a golden age for creators who wish to visually present the "what if?" scenarios they envisage.
While I can't give this film top marks for execution, it's still worth a watch and it's gratifying to see "thinking sci-fi" on the main stage as opposed to simply space operas or Westerns filmed in space.
Meanwhile, if you did like this movie and haven't seen Moon or Ex Machina, hop to it!
Other reviews have compared it to the "locked room" scenario of 10 Cloverfield Lane, which I have yet to see.
A really good "locked room" mystery series of books is the Silo series by Hugh Howey, though it's more of a sprawling epic rather than an economical little story.
7/10
Like Ex Machina and Moon, it's another triad character study in a "locked room".
I agree with most of the reviews that it doesn't quite meet its earlier standard in the last quarter of the film or so, so it doesn't quite succeed as well as the other two films I mentioned.
Overall though, a decent effort in a difficult genre to pull off.
Science fiction itself requires:
1. An interesting question or thesis.
-I think I am Mother does a decent job with this - asking questions about maternity and the inherent qualities of a good mother, and whether these are qualities that can be programmed or incorporated into an artificial intelligence, along with the consequences of that programming.
In addition, good science fiction films require:
2. An engrossing mood, feel or style.
In order for the viewer to fully immerse themselves in the story, the future environment has to be accessible and feasible in a manner that allows for the suspension of disbelief. We want to be able to picture ourselves living in that life.
This can be created through excellent cinematography, restrained but elegant use of CGI, effective soundtracks and sound and impeccable attention to detail.
-Again, the "locked room" concept grants the opportunity to create a future environment that is achievable and believable on a relatively modest budget, eliminating the need for wanton CGI to fill in the details. I won't go into spoilers here, but the environment outside is left fairly sparse and ambiguous, which is probably the right way to go.
3. Compelling characters.
Something that science-fiction literature often struggles with is characterization, where the author is more interested in exploring the premise and the question than developing fully-realized characters. Film offers less opportunity to do so, given the lack of internal monologue, and screentime is limited, so the challenge is greater. At the same time, a lot can be said through emoting and excellent acting, requiring less exposition.
-While the characters themselves are fairly limited and are largely one-dimensional in nature, the performances themselves are excellent. One can easily argue that they are left deliberately underdeveloped in order to create the overriding tension throughout the film. Motivations of each of them are up to the viewer to discern.
-Rose Byrne's "Mother" and Kevin Spacey's "Gertie" in Moon manage to present warm and soothing personalities with ominous overtones in a manner much reminiscent of HAL 9000. Meanwhile, Alicia Vikander's Ava in Ex Machina offers a great deal more complexity given her anthropromorphological state and the underlying metaphor for male and female dominance.
-The pleasant surprise doesn't come from Hillary Swank's serviceable "survivor" character but rather the main character, Daughter, played by Clara Rugaard. In a very difficult role, she conveys emotions and makes decisions that are at least comprehensible given her limited worldview and her abilities never seem to be extraneously given or superpowered. So often, children are used as plot devices to make stupid and idiotic decisions in order to force the story forward. I suspect that she has a very good career ahead of her.
4. A resolution to the thesis
Yes, you can answer a question with another question, but I consider that to be lazy science-fiction. Good science fiction requires the creator to take a stand on something and make an argument.
-Here is where I think the film stumbles a bit. While it bravely tries to maintain the ambiguity and mystery as long as possible, the transition to the known is rather abrupt and the pacing takes a hit as a result. The elegance of the film begins to show wear and tear as pointless "travelling" sequences are included and Swank's character starts to unravel.
-There's a bit of a twist but it's not particularly surprising nor particularly compelling. There's no real payoff to the mystery of the outside world. It's by design, but by leading you down that road a little bit, you end up disappointed at the lack of resolution. The Road film adapted from Cormac Macarthy's book does a better job with this.
-But ultimately the film is about motherhood, and a girl who is presented with two mother figures to emulate. Everything else is extraneous and I think the film loses its razor-sharp focus a little bit at the end, while both Moon and Ex Machina manage to navigate to the end without losing it.
-Another excellent film that loses points for its ending is Sunshine, which is extremely compelling for 3/4 of the film and also struggles across the finish line.
Conclusions
It's becoming easier all the time to develop and present science-fiction material given advances in technology and the associated budgetary savings.
We really are living in a golden age for creators who wish to visually present the "what if?" scenarios they envisage.
While I can't give this film top marks for execution, it's still worth a watch and it's gratifying to see "thinking sci-fi" on the main stage as opposed to simply space operas or Westerns filmed in space.
Meanwhile, if you did like this movie and haven't seen Moon or Ex Machina, hop to it!
Other reviews have compared it to the "locked room" scenario of 10 Cloverfield Lane, which I have yet to see.
A really good "locked room" mystery series of books is the Silo series by Hugh Howey, though it's more of a sprawling epic rather than an economical little story.
7/10
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chicagoskycam
Land of #1 Overall Picks
I need to see Ex Machina. It's never really been on my radar because it doesn't look like sci-fi on the surface, but enough people keep comparing it to sci-fi films that I've liked, so I'll hop to it tonight or tomorrow.
It's worth seeing. The third act is a disappointment, IMO, but I quite liked the first hour or so that was pure psychological suspense.
Also worth seeing is Cube if you like the "locked room" premise. It's low budget and not well acted, but pre-dates all of the sci-fi and horror films of the last 15 years that have similar premises, so it gets points for being pretty original at the time.
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chicagoskycam
Land of #1 Overall Picks
Trap Jesus
Registered User
- Feb 13, 2012
- 28,686
- 13,456
The trailer of this made me think it was just another typical Netflix fodder movie. Going to check it out because of this thread though.
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