Film
Known simply as Mother (Jennifer Lawrence – Passengers, X-Men: Apocalypse) and Him (Javier Bardem) a couple’s relationship is put to the ultimate test a stranger, Man (Ed Harris – In Dubious Battle, Gravity) arrives, and stays the night at their house. Soon after his wife, Woman (Michelle Pfeiffer), joins him. The uninvited guests disrupt their tranquil existence, with more and more people arriving as things begin to spiral more and more out of control, bringing with them their own strife.
With the cerebral nature of the film, it most certainly warrants multiple viewings, with each subsequent rewatch giving the viewer more insight into a possible interpretation of the story, the characters, and the ever changing visual narrative.
Mother! is one of those films that was hated by some, loved by many, yet is is a great piece of filmmaking, presented by a talented cast, and one that is sure to evoke debate for years to come.
Read the full SAMDB review on Mother!
Disc
Overall, the disc could be better technically, with the video being a bit too compressed, where there is still some space left on the disc, that could have been used for a higher bitrate on the video.
The main feature is one of those films that one either loves or hates, yet is a great piece of film work non-the-less.
Mother! is available now, to purchase on disc, in South Africa.
Video
Video is encoded at a below average bitrate, leaving some visible artefacts on-screen, however, given the constant camera movement, this is not all that easy to see. Colours are not vibrant, and there are some areas where there are small amounts of colour bleed evident. Darker scenes look slightly washed out, and lacking in detail.
While this could be scaled up to a higher resolution screen, coupling this with a larger screen would merely make the visual artefacts all that more evident. A pity, as a lot of the film depends on the visual narrative as the story progresses.
Audio
Audio is encoded at a decent average bitrate, and presented in a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. Dialogue is present and clear on the front and centre channels, with the surround channels serving to expand the on-screen world with more ambient sound.
Navigation
The main menu is static, easy to follow, and with a background image, with no accompanying music. There are text links to play the main feature, audio options, subtitles, special features, and scene selections.
The audio options sub-menu has a text list of the various audio languages, including descriptive audio in English.
The subtitles sub-menus have text lists for the subtitle choices, including English for the hearing impaired.
The special features menu has text links for the two bonus features.
The scene selection sub-menus each have four large colour, still thumbnails, for a total of twenty chapters. While these are large, and numbered, they are not labelled, nor listed on a package insert in the casing, meaning that navigating to a particular part of the film may require some guesswork. It may be best to create ones own bookmarks in hardware or software, when playing.
Bonus Features
Mother! The Downward Spiral – A behind the scenes look at the making of Mother! and how the filmmakers achieved the changing look and feel of the film.
This is a rather lengthy feature, full of interesting information about story and the filming process. Some very insightful input from the filmmakers, including the actors sharing about their respective characters, and the various on-screen relationships.
This is a great bonus feature to have on a disc, just going by the plethora of information and access it provides. A great addition for viewers and filmmakers alike.
The Makeup FX Of Mothers – A brief look at the various practical effects for make-up used in the film, and a behind the scenes look at their creation, including the animatronics used in the film. While brief, this featurette does provide some interesting information.
There is also a trailer for the TV series Twin Peaks, that auto-plays at the beginning of the disc. This can be skipped, or fast-forwarded. There is also a polite message prior to this, stating that you can directly access the main disc menu, should you wish.
Packaging
Packaging is pretty standard, with a poster, title and main cast on the front. On the back are some stills from the main feature, a brief synopsis, a listing of languages, subtitles, and the bonus features. There is also the usual technical information provided.
The packaging does not contain any inserts, such as chapter listing.
