Mother Couch

It's a very rare beast. Deeply personal, poetic and beautiful piece of cinema made inside the american bubble-gum film industry. It is definitely not intended for immature audience, that thrives on superhero movies or streaming service content (I won't even bother to call it films). It's one of the most beautiful, impressionistic pieces of modern cinema. It's about family, it's about death, it's about perplexity of one's life, about a desperate attempts to understand it, to control all of it's chaotic and senseless elements, to navigate through this messy labyrinth of life. I'm amazed at how people who wrote negative reviews don't even think of how intricate a film production is. Especially in States. First of all, it's based on a book. Which was painstakingly written by an author, word by word, sentence by sentence. Then read and re-read by editors and publishers before it was printed. A lot of thought were put into it at the very initial stages of the process. Then the filmmaking itself. It takes a year out of your life, a year during which you are constantly asking yourself and asked by others - what's is it, why are we doing it, why are we getting out of bed at ungodly hours and driving to the set, why are we working 12 to 14 hour shifts on this? What is it in this story that makes all of us work so hard? DP's asking the questions, production designer's asking the questions, composer's asking the questions, every actor asking the questions (and not only about 'my motivation'). What is it? Why is it this way? That way? We need to know what it means, otherwise we can't provide right design, light, camera angles, emotions. Film isn't made at director's whim, just because he never found anything better to do with his life. There is no such thing as a meaningless film. There are pointless films, but there's always a meaning. The whole machine of film production needs this meaning to work. This is the work of a true artist and thinker. Brilliant design, camerawork , actors, minimalistic music. It's a shame that distributors didn't find a right audience for this brilliant piece. You don't necessarily need to 'get it', but you should at least try to understand it and to feel it.

It's a very rare beast. Deeply personal, poetic and beautiful piece of cinema made inside the american bubble-gum film industry. It is definitely not intended for immature audience, that thrives on superhero movies or streaming service content (I won't even bother to call it films). It's one of the most beautiful, impressionistic pieces of modern cinema. It's about family, it's about death, it's about perplexity of one's life, about a desperate attempts to understand it, to control all of it's chaotic and senseless elements, to find a way out of this messy labyrinth of life. I'm amazed at how people who wrote negative reviews don't even think of how intricate a film production is. Especially in States. First of all, it's based on a book. Which was painstakingly written by an author, word by word, sentence by sentence. Then read and re-read by editors and publishers before it was printed. A lot of thought were put into it at the very initial stages of the process. Then the filmmaking itself. It takes a year out of your life, a year during which you are constantly asking yourself and asked by others - what's is it, why are we doing it, why are we getting out of bed at ungodly hours and driving to the set, why are we working 12 to 14 hour shifts on this? What is it in this story that makes all of us work so hard? DP's asking the questions, production designer's asking the questions, composer's asking the questions, every actor asking the questions (and not only about 'my motivation'). What is it? Why is it this way? That way? We need to know what it means, otherwise we can't provide right design, light, camera angles, emotions. Film isn't made at director's whim, just because he never found anything better to do with his life. There is no such thing as a meaningless film. There are pointless films, but there's always a meaning. The whole machine of film production needs this meaning to work. This is the work of a true artist and thinker. Brilliant design, camerawork , actors, minimalistic music. It's a shame that distributors didn't find a right audience for this brilliant piece. You don't necessarily need to 'get it', but you should at least try to understand it and to feel it.

'An elderly mother visits a furniture store, and refuses to leave a couch that she sits on'. If, after that synopsis you still go ahead and watch, then you should be open minded enough to accept what follows? Great acting performances by everyone involved, especially Ewan McGreggor, who gives possibly the performance of his career. The dialogue, whilst sometimes bland, is suited to the family dynamics of the three siblings and their mom, in what is an increasingly bizarre scenario. What does it all mean? Who knows, but it engrossed me to the end. You either take the journey or you hop off at the first stop. The ending is unexplained, surreal, maybe dream like, and undoubtedly allegorical ( of what? I have my own view but its likely wrong so will not explain here). Mother Couch gave me a similar vibe to 'His Three Daughters' which I also saw very recently and which also split viewers into two camps.

This movie twisted my head in a good way. I think it's about the death of Ewan's character. After dying he is given the ability to see the future and the past and what his family thinks about him. He feels so much regret and the film teaches us to be kinder to the ones we love while we are alive and healthy together. Ewan's crying scene is some of the finest acting I've ever seen. The other actors are terrific too. It's great to watch a movie that makes me think. I can't categorize what type of movie this is. Is it a dark comedy or is it drama or is it a twisted feel good movie or tale of woe?