mother!

There is at once so much to say about Darren Aronofsky's "mother!" and yet so little. It's a film I found both infuriating and endlessly fascinating, a mad exercise in heavy-handed allegory, meticulous mayhem, and artistic masturbation. Aronofsky tells the story of an unnamed woman, played by Jennifer Lawrence and credited as "Mother," who lives with her writer husband (Javier Bardem, credited as "Him" and often referred to as "a creator").

Without warning, "Man" and "Woman" arrive to disrupt this couple's tranquil existence (Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer, the latter giving one of her most deliciously wicked performances). Hell, even "Oldest Son" and "Younger Brother" join the mix (actual brothers Domhnall & Brian Gleeson), the former murdering his sibling in a rage. For anyone who ever took a CCD class or read the Bible can probably figure out what Aronofsky is attempting to convey here.

This bizarre take on Genesis, Mother Earth, God, artistic posturing, idolization and more is one of Aronofsky's most ambitious works, but it never quite hammers in the nails it aims for (at times, it completely misses and smashes through the metaphorical wood with reckless unrestraint). Occasionally, this unhinged wildness takes on a hilarious, morbidly cartoonish vibe that will inevitably turn off many people (just ask the thousands of walkouts this movie produced during its theatrical run).

Now available on Blu-ray, "mother!" is best reserved for those who have already seen the movie and enjoy it. If you're blindly buying this title, be warned -- to say this isn't everyone's cup of tea is an understatement. For many, it'll be like drinking piss.

Bonus features are disappointingly limited on this Blu-ray release, including only two featurettes -- "mother! The Downward Spiral" and "The Makeup FX of mother!"