Director/writer Darren Aronofsky, who has made films both excellent (REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, BLACK SWAN) to mediocre (NOAH) to downright unwatchable (THE FOUNTAIN), often seems to grapple with deep issues, and certainly takes a lot of care with his films. It descends into seeming chaos, and grows from alarming to downright uncomfortable. As the movie arrives at its last third, it truly goes completely nuts. We see it all through Lawrence's eyes (in fact, she is seen almost exclusively in closeup), and as her confusion and alarm grow, so does ours. You'll likely spend a lot of time with the movie having no idea what's going on. The film's tone immediately shifts to something mysterious and, for lack of a better word, "off." That's all I'll tell you, expect to say that this movie just builds its oddities one after another, growing on and on in strangeness and it becomes downright unsettling and disturbing. In the evening, there is a knock on the door, and Bardem invites in a stranger (Ed Harris) and seems to immediately develop an oddly close relationship with this man. There are some tensions in their marriage, but they seem pretty mundane. We discover that Lawrence is re-doing the house herself, and her hubby (Javier Bardem) is a famous poet who is undergoing a bit of writer's block, and has been for awhile. We see that she lives in a lovely country home that is undergoing significant renovation. The film, other than a brief, odd opening sequence, starts of "normally." Jennifer Lawrence wakes up to discover her husband is already missing from bed. On the other hand, if you're comfortable sitting down to watch a film with virtually no preconceived expectations, and have a strong stomach and lots of patience.you should be rewarded. If you only like going to movies with some idea of what to expect.this film is likely not for you. It has many horrifying events and images.but it is a virtually unique product. A modern day, graphic ROSEMARY'S BABY, perhaps. The trailers make this film look like some kind of artsy, weird, off-the-hook horror film. Having said that, I DO think it's very important to state that this is NOT a horror movie (at least, not in the traditional sense). I'm going to take approach #2, because in the end, I would hate to go into this movie having had someone "explain" it to me first. Or I can be circumspect, and perhaps not tell as much as would be satisfying. I can either just say "spoiler alert" and then promptly ruin the whole thing. This is a very difficult movie to review without major spoilers. I liked it a lot, but can't recommend it. Reviewed by RMurray847 8 / 10 One of the toughest films I've ever tried to review.
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