Mother! Review: 5 Ups & 4 Downs
1. The Excessive Length
This isn't a hugely long film, but at 121 minutes, it is certainly longer than it needs to be, in large part because of a somewhat shaky opening 20-or-so minutes, which don't get the film off on the strongest foot, and could certainly have been trimmed down for a leaner overall experience.
Aronofsky's better films tend to clock in at around the 100-110 minute mark, and it's probably not a terrible coincidence that with 15-ish minutes chopped away, this would feel much tighter.
Instead, Aronofsky doubles down on a slow-burn approach that only works intermittently, with some scenes dragging sluggishly and repeatedly raking over ideas to the point that they feel like glorified cutting room floor material.
These complaints accepted, though, Mother! is certainly more good than bad, and here's everything that works...