It’s tough to pinpoint why, exactly, you don’t trust Mother, an angular android with a single peering eye and a track-runner’s gait. But you sense there’s something unsettling about this caretaker from the moment you see her pull out a tiny palm-sized packet containing a human embryo and place into a sort of womb microwave. And that’s before you hear Rose Byrne’s eerily calm monotone coming out of this cyber-tiger mom’s voicebox.
Still, Mother does nurture the baby, whom she simply calls Daughter, as the child goes from toddler to inquisitive youngster to headstrong young woman. They have made the underground facility they live in, a laboratory-cum-bunker that keeps the teen safe from the postapocalyptic wasteland above them, something akin to a home. Maybe, Mother says, she can help pick out some of the other tiny human specimens and one day in the near-future, they can exponentially grow their family together.
Hilary Swank reminds you that her intensity knows no bounds and that no American performer is more adept at acting with her jaw. And Rugaard, a Danish-Irish 21-year-old, feels like a major discovery — she’s the not-so-secret motor of ‘I Am Mother’, a dynamic presence that lends blood, guts and soul to this dystopic vision
Daughter, however, is getting restless. She wants to know what it’s like beyond those steel doors. So late one night, after her guardian has powered down, she slips into a biohazard suit, with the intention of slipping out. Then Daughter hears a pounding from outside. A woman, haggard and injured, is yelling for help. She’s let inside. Mother awakens. The visitor hears loud, metallic footsteps echoing through the hallways. There’s a droid here?, she asks. The stranger has met these types of machines before. It didn’t end well. And suddenly, you find yourself clearing a space for Mother between Saturn 3’s Hector and Skynet in the Evil Tech Hall of Fame.
Yet this is an actor-driven vehicle as much as it’s a genre piece. Byrne’s detached lilt gives you a suggestion of actual attachment to her ward beneath the pre-programmed protectiveness. Hilary Swank reminds you that her intensity knows no bounds and that no American performer is more adept at acting with her jaw. And Rugaard, a Danish-Irish 21-year-old, feels like a major discovery – she’s the not-so-secret motor of I Am Mother, a dynamic presence that lends blood, guts and soul to this dystopic vision. It’s not a spoiler to say that the movie ends on a close-up of her face, staring directly into the lens and forcing viewers to mull over what they’ve seen and where things have been left. You’re left with a human moment in a film that questions what it means to be human. There’s a lot going on in Rugaard’s visage. Her mother, real or computerized, should be proud.
Mercuria, a global commodities trading firm headquartered in Geneva, finds its senior executives under scrutiny…
Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) remained bullish for the second session in a row on Monday,…
The rupee remained on the back foot against the US dollar in the interbank market…
The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan has approved the Scheme of Arrangement between Pakistan…
Gold price in the country snapped a six-session losing streak and increased by Rs2,500 per…
Chairman of the Prime Minister Youth’s Programme(PMYP) Rana Mashhood has underscored the success of the…
Leave a Comment