Are you ready to worship at the altar of pop stardom? Let’s get into David Lowry’s new film, Mother Mary. Here’s the setup: Mother Mary (Anne Hathaway) is a larger-than-life pop star who frantically shows up on the doorstep of her former collaborator and designer Sam (Michaela Coel) after the dress for her massive comeback performance Just. Isn’t. Right.
She practically begs Sam to make her a brand-new dress in time for the performance, which is only a few days away. Sam eventually agrees, but she isn’t going to make it easy for her. She ensures the entire time that they’re working together that she’s gonna give Mary a piece of her mind because the pair haven’t collaborated or spoken to each other in over a decade since Mary completely iced her out for a new design team.
“Michaela Coel spits eloquent venom as Sam, and it’s fantastic”
The film is officially described as a psychological drama / thriller, but personally, I nix the thriller moniker altogether and say it has more horror elements than anything else. Which brings us to the big question. Will horror fans actually like it? And honestly, if you go in expecting a drama that plays in the horror space, yes.
But you should know going in that it isn’t quite a horror film and most of the “horrors” are saved until the last 20 or so minutes of the film. They’re also likely metaphorical horrors, even if they’re visually striking. So definitely prepare yourself to have the spooks pulled out from under you.
And when it comes to the performances, both actresses are incredibly strong when they go head-to-head and do their dynamic storytelling. Late at night in the designer’s barn, Michaela Coel spits eloquent venom as Sam, and it’s fantastic, but I can’t help but feel like Anne Hathaway can’t quite sell the larger-than-life deified persona of Mother Mary when she’s depicted as performing on stage.
It also doesn’t really help that the pop songs in the movie are more low key and vibey than outright bangers. I myself wouldn’t personally have been a Mother Mary fan, even though I vibed hard with the Joan of Arc aesthetic. Overall, Mother Mary is a visually stunning, messy look at stardom, fashion, and repairing deeply broken friendships.
“A visually stunning, messy look at stardom, fashion, and repairing deeply broken friendships.”
For our full breakdown, make sure you check out this week’s episode of The Nightmare on Film Street Horror Movie podcast with a video as well, dropping on our Patreon. Check us out. Stay creepy 🦇
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