Geek On Film

Mother Mary

• Robbie Holmes

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0:00 | 10:35
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Hey there, folks. Welcome into my Warner about Mother Mary, but something's different. Yeah, I shaved my beard off. My skin was pretty sensitive. And after moving here to Phoenix, uh, it had gotten irritated. So I decided to give it a chance to air out and scare everybody with my chin. So there's your first jump scare of the podcast. Um, it's so good to be back with y'all. I am very happy to be spending a few minutes talking about this movie. Um, let's start over with our friends at IMDB. Um, they had this as uh Long Buried Wounds Rise to the Surface when iconic pop star Mother Mary reunites with her estranged best friend and former costume designer Sam Anselum on the eve of her comeback performance. Um, I have this as three and a half stars with a heart. And my review on Letterboxd is so just for the record, Anne Hathaway is a freaking superstar. She's so good in this movie that every girl, uh pop girly on planet Earth should be lucky that she decided to go into acting instead of becoming the next Madonna. Michaela Cole is really astounding and is absolutely singular in their approach to scenes and their ability to still be biting and bring a ton of emotion. The background actors in this movie are all amazing actors, some of which are you may know because you've seen them in really great things, really great things. So many powerful women in one movie. In this, if this is a weak year, I am calling Anne Hathaway for best actress nomination, and I will say production design, costume design, and likely best original song are in its future. Um I like this movie. That's a good starting point. I don't think it's perfect, I don't know that the uh script lands the way that it would it was hoping to, but I liked it. Um it's written and directed by David Lowry. Uh we mentioned Anne Hathaway is Mother Mary, and Michaela Cole is Sam Anselm. Um and there's some ancillary folks in this movie. Hunter Schaefer is playing Hilda, which is Sam's uh assistant. Uh Sheen Clifford is played uh plays Jade, and uh FK uh formerly known as Twiggs is playing Imogen. Uh Jessica Brown Findley is Tessa, uh Kaya Gerber is Nikki. It's just a ton of really amazing women in this cast. Um, but I will say the thing about this movie that really blew me away was the interactions between the two leads. It's very much a chamber piece. It feels as though we're getting to peek into an intimate and real relationship that is um it's sapphic, it is possibly previously sexual, it is absolutely love and intimacy, and it is about creativity and ownership and um idolatry and image, and there's so many uh high concepts in this movie. And I think that the dialogue is pretty amazing. The back and forth, I really like the first half of the movie. I was super into that sort of very stilted, you know, quiet world in her workshop where she does her design, where Sam does her design. Uh, it's really impressive. Like that portion of the movie, seeing Anne Hathaway sort of at her breaking point and looking like really, really on the verge of breakdown, um, coming in straight from a plane, right into a car, right to the house, and the overarching dialogue of like, I could feel her coming from 10,000 miles away. Uh, I knew it was her. All of that is really impressive. Like, I think the that's really unreal. But then we, you know, we haven't even talked at all about the songs. Um, these songs were written by Charlie X and Jack Anastasoff, Jack Anastasoff, I believe. Um, and uh, and then sort of made their own by Anne Hathaway. Um, I think what's interesting is this is a movie that um is just outside of Anne Hathaway's comfort zone. At least that's what she's the way she's talked about this movie. And uh we know she can sing, right? That's not the surprise. What is the surprise is her ability to sort of transform into a like pop diva, like a stadium-level pop diva. Think the what I thought of when I was walking away from this movie was Lady Gaga, Madonna, um Beyoncé, and I would say Kylie Minot. There's like an interesting mix of all of them uh at once, and I just think it it's it's truly astounding. Um, the movie positions us to realize that Mother Mary's job and ability is to make people care about her. And even all the way to Sam, this person who knows her super well, she says no to because of the way that the relationship had ended and their connection had ended. And she comes to her and says, I need a dress, and and she's like, no. And by the end of the movie, she has a dress. Um, it's a really unbelievable transformative movie for I think both Michaela Cole and for Ann Hathaway. But I also think it's just a movie that shows that even though a movie's script is super tight at the beginning, there's always a time where it could use some editing and some. And I've listened to David Lowry talk about this movie, and it really was an idea that continued to populate as he was writing it, and then it really became the three of them, like you know, when it comes down to it, the director and the two leads, sort of creating and finding the movie um and the beats of the movie in that amazing set, and they spent days and days and days getting it right. Like, I think at one point he mentions they spent seven days in the circle to connect with one another. Um, and it was expected to shoot for one to two. So I give him a lot of credit for having uh the ability to get a movie like this made. Um, I'm always interested in what David Lowry does. Like The Green Knight is one of my favorite movies of the year it came out, and I just I think back to it on a regular basis. I think he's one of the few people that understands how to take actors and utilize all of their strengths. Dev Patel in Green Knight and Ann Hathaway and Michaela Cole in this movie. And you know, even in Green Knight, you got Barry Kyogen as sort of a rascal of the of the wilderness, and it's it's perfect. He's he adds so much seasoning. He's like this amazing salt in that movie. In this case, you've got Michaela Cole and you got Ann Hathaway, and they are like fighting out for who the lead is. Um, and it's the characters, it's the writing, it's the acting, it's it's all of it. Um, so I would say I didn't love this movie, but it definitely went up like a whole half point because I could not get over how good the music performances were and how well they were shot and how good the music actually was. I've listened to the soundtrack since I've seen the movie. I am interested in seeing it again, probably not in a theater. Um, but as a side note, I am working on building my home theater. So it may be one of those things I get to see right after we move into our new house. Um I think that's it for me on this movie. I'm uh I'm glad I got to see it. My wife wanted to see it. Um, she was we were a little concerned about how how intense it was going to get. I had heard that there's a third, you know, third act turn, um, and I was going to see it before her, but we were running out of time. So she ended up just coming with me, and she was okay. Uh, a couple of times where she had to cover her eyes because of the way the the depictation of vulnerability and um the way that they are showing visually things that are probably more metaphorical, and uh and that was uh so a little much, a little more than I think my wife was interested in having, but I I understand what I think the director was trying to accomplish. Um, and it's okay to be a little provocative, and I think that's what he was trying to show. Um, yeah, I I'm I'm mixed positive on this movie, right? I I the fact that I in my review talk about the possibility of a few nominations, at least shortlisting. I think we could get there. Uh, it depends on how strong the rest of the year is. You know, it depends on whether or not there's category fraud in if Anne is lead or supporting, uh, if Michaela Cole is possibly supporting their so back and forth here of what could happen. Um, but I think it's probably production design, costume design, song are the three things that are the most possible. But this just shows this is really going to be the year of Anne Hathaway, I think. Uh, I'm going to see um Devil Wears Product tonight at a pre-screening. So I'm super excited. I'm taking my wife and a few other friends. Uh, yeah. We'll be back at this soon. You'll see an instant reaction to that, probably ASAP, possibly when this comes out. Um, thanks so much for uh keeping an eye on me. Um, I'm likely going to be moving the podcast. It shouldn't affect you, but I am hopeful to sort of think about a modern approach to how I'm doing the podcast and the systems I'm utilizing. So uh I look forward to uh you not noticing, but me getting a better and more uh significantly simpler and possibly more monetizable experience. Um speaking of monetizing, if you like this podcast, please like, rate, and review on all of your podcast catches of choice, uh, YouTube, over on uh I'm over on TikTok, right? Making shorter videos. Um, I would love your support and I would also uh love your interactions. Uh, I love when I get comments, whether you're agreeing with me or not. But um I'm I'm a huge fan of the discourse. So uh have some with me. All right. Uh I'm Robbie the Geek Everywhere Online, Geekon Film or Geekonfilm com. Um, but thank you so much for uh hanging in there with me for this winner. Have a good day. Bye bye.

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Robbie Holmes

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