Irish Film Institute -Review Roundup – mother! and The Villainess

Review Roundup – mother! and The Villainess

We’ve got two new films releasing today Friday September 15th, with some top drawer performances from their leading ladies.

mother! stars Jennifer Lawrence as a young woman who is in the middle of a large scale remodel of the home she shares with her husband, played by Javier Bardem. It’s probably best you don’t know any more, other than it is directed by Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan, Requiem for a Dream).

The Villainess is the latest film from director Jung Byung-gil (the blistering Confessions of a Murder) and focuses on an assassin with a mysterious past and an uncertain future. It’s also being hailed as one of the action films of the decade.

Read on for some reviews of these films, and pop into the IFI to make up your own mind!

MOTHER!
“A disgusting, disturbing feast for the senses. The sound designs clangs and hums. The gender politics surge. Explosions douse mere conflagrations”
4/5 – Irish Times

“A sick joke, an urgent warning and a roar into the abyss, Mother! earns its exclamation mark three times over and more.”
5/5 – Telegraph

“Mother! always seems on the verge of exploding. Your head will feel the same way. And I mean that as a compliment”
Rolling Stone

“Darren Aronofsky’s allusive film certainly opens itself to a number of allegorical readings, but it also works as a straight-ahead head rush”
Indiewire

“As horror it is ridiculous, as comedy it is startling and hilarious, and as a machine for freaking you out it is a thing of wonder”
5/5 – Guardian

“Delightfully odd, deeply unsettling, and thoroughly engaging, mother! is one of the films of the year.”
5/5 – Entertainment.ie

THE VILLAINESS
“Stand up for this year’s most demented actioner”
4/5 – Irish Times

“The whole thing is built from almost nothing but great shots, flabbergasting stunts and mad narrative curlicues, all working hand-in-hand to maximise audience delight”
4/5 – Telegraph

“Frenetic, kinetic action meets satisfyingly soapy drama. See it before everyone tries to copy the best bits”
4/5 – Empire

““The Villainess” nonetheless succeeds in being one-of-a-kind for its delirious action choreography and overall narrative dementia”
Variety

“The Villainess thrives on its amazing action set pieces”
4/5 – IGN

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