A review by Brooks Rich
Congratulations Netflix. After making me watch two of the worst movies in history, they hit it out of the park with one of the best science fiction films in a long time. Newcomer Grant Sputore directs a powerful somewhat post-apocalyptic film about humans relationship with machines and the struggle between nature and nurture.
A robot known as Mother, brilliantly voiced by Rose Byrne, raises a young woman named daughter, played by Clara Rugaard, who is fantastic as the lead, in a futuristic facility on Earth after an unknown doomsday event. Mother raises Daughter with love and generally cares about her young charge. But their seemingly simple life is upset when a woman played by Hilary Swank arrives seeking medical attention.
That's all I'm going to say. That's basically the plot in the trailer. I Am Mother is an incredibly smart and well thought story. It's smart science fiction, which is something we don't get much of anymore. It takes it's time and sets up it's world without relying on an exposition bomb, which I feel some science fiction can be guilty of. It also has a fantastic punch in the gut moment at the end. This would be a great double feature with Ex Machina that was covered last week.
Swank and Rugaard give amazing performances as the two human leads but Rose Byrne with her comforting but also at the same time cold voice performance. She gives the character of Mother personality without taking away from the fact that she is both a threat and a comfort to daughter.
Have some patience for a slow burn science fiction story if you watch this one. It's reminiscent at times of the science fiction films from the '70s although it does not have that kind of pacing. There are a few places where you're waiting for the story to pick up again but they're few and far between. This a great hidden gem in the Netflix catalog and one of my favorite films of the year. Good stuff.
Rating: 4/5
Congratulations Netflix. After making me watch two of the worst movies in history, they hit it out of the park with one of the best science fiction films in a long time. Newcomer Grant Sputore directs a powerful somewhat post-apocalyptic film about humans relationship with machines and the struggle between nature and nurture.
A robot known as Mother, brilliantly voiced by Rose Byrne, raises a young woman named daughter, played by Clara Rugaard, who is fantastic as the lead, in a futuristic facility on Earth after an unknown doomsday event. Mother raises Daughter with love and generally cares about her young charge. But their seemingly simple life is upset when a woman played by Hilary Swank arrives seeking medical attention.
That's all I'm going to say. That's basically the plot in the trailer. I Am Mother is an incredibly smart and well thought story. It's smart science fiction, which is something we don't get much of anymore. It takes it's time and sets up it's world without relying on an exposition bomb, which I feel some science fiction can be guilty of. It also has a fantastic punch in the gut moment at the end. This would be a great double feature with Ex Machina that was covered last week.
Swank and Rugaard give amazing performances as the two human leads but Rose Byrne with her comforting but also at the same time cold voice performance. She gives the character of Mother personality without taking away from the fact that she is both a threat and a comfort to daughter.
Have some patience for a slow burn science fiction story if you watch this one. It's reminiscent at times of the science fiction films from the '70s although it does not have that kind of pacing. There are a few places where you're waiting for the story to pick up again but they're few and far between. This a great hidden gem in the Netflix catalog and one of my favorite films of the year. Good stuff.
Rating: 4/5
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