Mother Mary Review: Brilliant but messy
I was hearing some pretty interesting things about Mother Mary from various people. "It's a fictional music biopic", "it's a ghost movie", "it's a trippy, failed romance", all sorts of things. I don't know if I'd quite say I was anticipating this one, but I was certainly intrigued. If nothing else, it'd be an interesting failed attempt at a genre blender. So, was this film an interesting failure, a superb success, or something in between? That's what I, Brighton Nelson of The Reel Ranker, will be discussing in today's article.
As always, I'll be starting with the negatives. The biggest problem I've got with the movie is the calibration of the elements, and how each genre blends doesn't feel woven together seamlessly. You've got great music elements here, a solid ghost story, and an exploration of relationships. While it does each of these well enough, it never combines them quite right, leaving it feeling a bit like an unshaken vinaigrette.
While this is certainly subjective, I also think the film is one of those with cool, trippy visuals that, while incredible in a vacuum, leave the whole feeling rather scattershot. Once the ghost elements come into play, this is especially apparent. I liked the concept of bringing ghosts into this story, but it serves very little purpose to the plot and feels tacked on, taking away from the screen time of the film's most compelling elements. The ghost present here is unique and interesting, but it's easily the weakest element of the whole flick.
While it's got a lot of issues in its genre-blending that made the film odd to watch, there's still plenty of great stuff to latch onto here. First of all, both main performances here are among the best of the year thus far and will likely both be on my Oscar contender list at the end of the year. Anne Hathaway delivers a very broken performance that is simply incredible. She's able to convey both what she's feeling at the moment, as well as a strong subtextual performance that's rather atypical. Michaela Coel's performance here might be my favorite of the year so far, though. She's so emotionally expressive and delivers every line with a multitude of layers.
Speaking of lines, the script in this film is absolutely incredible, even if the story's lacking. Yet again, Oscar-worthy. Every piece of dialogue really helps establish a mesmerizing atmosphere that sucks the audience in, even if the dialogue doesn't amount to much narratively. I've never seen dialogue written anything quite like this, and I loved its style. David Lowrey absolutely cooked with his direction and dialogue, even if he failed the story in many regards.
Additionally, the production design, costume design, and cinematography here created an impeccable atmosphere, even given that the film only took place in a few rooms. It's firing on all cylinders despite this restriction! While the ghost aspects here aren't amazing, the concert scenes are fantastic, and the drama is awesome. And adding to the atmosphere is the incredible music, which is up there with Project: Hail Mary as one of the best scores of the year thus far. This is amplified by the original songs by Charli XCX, who seems to be really interested in composing music for movies these days!
The Reel Ranker Verdict
Reel or Unreel? - Reel
The Reel Ranker Score: 60%
Letter Score: B-
Star Ranking: 3 out of 5
Mother Mary is gorgeously shot, features some of the most mesmerizing dialogue in cinema, and is full of unique ideas. However, the film's lack of a good story, a weak script outside of the dialogue, and tendency to feel overstuffed or scattershot leave it with some of the year's best and weakest elements.
Check out some more of my reviews for dramas below!
Brighton Nelson
