I Am Mother
I Am Motheris a technically handsome, well-acted sci-fi film that struggles to fully develop all of its grand ideas for maximum impact.
Independent sci - fi filmI Am Motherpremiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival to positive reviews and is now usable to well out on Netflix . It is the feature duration unveiling from director Grant Sputore , who antecedently helm the short filmLegacyand four episode of the TV seriesCastaway . As far as first films go , I Am Motherhas high ambitions , taking multiple cues from music genre caption such as Stanley Kubrick , Ridley Scott , and James Cameron . It does n’t quite gain all its mark , but the terminal product still makes for a absorbing lookout . I Am Motheris a technically giving , well - do sci - fi film that clamber to full develop all of its grand ideas for maximum impact .
InI Am Mother , humanity has get extinct after a occult event , triggering the waking up of a robot hump as Mother ( voiced by Rose Byrne ; strong-arm performance by Luke Hawker ) . Mother ’s mission is to repopulate the Earth with thousands of human embryos secured in a adroitness , and she hear to perfect her parenting style by raising a unmarried girl , referred to only as Daughter ( Clara Rugaard ) . The earliest tantrum inI Am Motherwork to establish the unique bond these two someone have , arrange a fresh spin on the child / parent moral force . In a film that ’s mostly bleak and non-white sci - fi , scene of Mother raising the child girl have a sweet sentiment attached to them , allow viewers to get invested in their relationship .
The moving picture ’s story kicks into high gear when Daughter is now a adolescent , curious to see what ’s beyond the walls of the only home she ’s bonk . It ’s here where the shortcoming of the narrative begin to rear their school principal a bit . Sputore , who also penned the handwriting , is pretty guilty of let on his script too early on , and there are some issues with the manner Daughter is write . For the most part , she is a typical moving-picture show teenager who ’s becoming blase with her current state of being and Johnny against authority figures . Daughter ’s youthfulness had the potential to be extremely interesting , since she was raised by a robot and her only fundamental interaction with other humans come from watching onetime clips ofThe Tonight Show , but the screenplay never rightfully run with this idea . To be fair , Rugaard delivers a solid performance as Daughter , and makes the most of the material present to her .
WhereI Am Motherreally shines is in the technical aspects . Sputore stretches his budget as far as it will go , with assist from production fashion designer Hugh Bateup and cinematographer Steve Annis ( among others ) . plain , the film does n’t boast the same calibre of visuals as the more expensive studio tentpoles , butI Am Motherlooks great onscreen . The gist , particularly on the Mother fictional character , are very impressive and indicate Sputore may be the next smalltime managing director to get a call up to the cock-a-hoop league and take a thrust at a blockbuster . Unsurprisingly for a first - time feature film director , he wears his influence on his sleeve , but it gratefully never feels all that derivative . I Am Motherdemonstrates Sputore is willing to commit to challenging ideas , and he ’ll in all likelihood fine - strain his foxiness as his life history build up .
give the confines of the story , I Am Mother’scast is not that extensive . Outside of Rugaard , the other primary office are Byrne as Mother and Hillary Swank as a orphic woman who appear in front of the compound . The latter channels a James Cameron - esque busted survivor , lending much - needed gravitas to a part that does n’t have much screen sentence . The former does a nice job of voicing the robot , reach her seem human in sure moment ( peculiarly when she ’s caring for Daughter ) , but never losing hatful of the fact this is an A.I. who may not be everything " she " seems like at the start . In all likelihood , neither is going to go down as the next great example of their writing style trope , but they answer their roles exquisitely here .
In the end , I Am Motheris a solid addition to the Netflix Original Films canon and worth checking out for those interested in heady sci - fi concepts . The story may not be as fully - recognize as it could have been ( and there is an over - trust on whirl in the third act that do n’t bring down with the designate upshot ) , but it still make for an interesting lookout . The streaming service is definitely the ideal platform for a film like this , move over Sputore the margin to cut up out his filmmaking part and avoiding the competition of the summer movie season theatrically . It ’s surely different than most of the films presently playing , which may make it a refreshful option .
Trailer
I Am Motheris now rain cats and dogs on Netflix . It runs 115 minute and is rated TV-14 .
Clara Rugaard in I Am Mother
