Mother Mary is a Hallucinatory Trip
A star is born
4/5 stars
Films about the complex lives of famous performers are always terrific opportunities for interesting filmmaking. Unfortunately, so many of these films follow the most routine story beats and, at worst, become sanitized drivel like Bohemian Rhapsody or Michael. That was why I was excited to see a voice as unique as David Lowery (A Ghost Story, The Green Knight) tackle the double life of a pop star with his film Mother Mary. The result is a nightmarish trip into the psyche that combines the complex characterization of films like Black Swan and Perfect Blue with some hallucinatory imagery straight out of a Ken Russell film.
The plot follows Mother Mary (Anne Hathaway), a pop star with costumes so gaudy they would make Lady Gaga blush, who is on the verge of a comeback tour after an onstage tragedy. With just days left before her first performance, she goes to her former costume designer, Sam Anselm (Michaela Coel) to design the perfect outfit for her show. As they work on the costume, Sam and Mary confront their estranged friendship and Mary confesses to a "red ghost" that has been possessing her body.
The film is essentially a two-character chamber piece, but through flashbacks and dreamlike imagery, Lowery asks the question of who really controls a performer's stage identity; the performer or the people working behind the scenes? He tells this story of art at the expense of humanity with some incredible imagery and sound, as well as powerful performances from its two leads. There are moments where the visuals threaten to overtake the film, but this tale of the beautiful nightmare that is creativity is unlike anything in recent memory.
Written and directed by David Lowery // Starring Anne Hathaway, Michaela Coel, Hunter Schafer, Sian Clifford, Kaia Gerber, Alba Baptista, Atheena Frizzell, Jessica Brown Fidlay, Isaura Barbe-Brown, Jeanne Nicole Ni Ainle, and FKA twigs // A24 // 112 minutes // Rated R
