What pop stars deal with in the A24 world.
Anne Hathaway plays a Sia, Taylor Swift, and Lady Gaga pop star named Mother Mary, who is going through an existential crisis and reunites with her former friend and a celebrated costume designer named Sam Anselm (Michaela Coel, currently seen in “The Christophers”). She’s about to go on a music tour and her dress isn’t right, so she needs Sam to design her the one that fits her personality. So, why did they call off their friendship and what is going on in the pop star’s life?
Written, edited, and directed by David Lowery, “Mother Mary” is the latest in a series of musician movies to give “Hurry Up Tomorrow” the middle finger. There was “Lurker,” which had an up and coming singer befriending an LA retail employee, “The Moment,” which had Charli XCX dealing with the stress due to the popularity of her new hit single, and “K-Pops,” which had Anderson .Paak entering the K-Pop genre. This movie, though too complicated to follow, is surreal and poetic material that keeps us watching. It’s definitely more interesting and compelling than what was displayed in last week’s horror film “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy.” Maybe it does want to enter “The Exorcist” genre in a way.
Mother Mary keeps telling Sam that she wants to introduce her song to her (“It might be the best song I’ve ever written in the history of songs,” she suggests), but she refuses. Whatever happened between them, she can’t let bygones be bygones. We also get a seance with FKA Twigs cameoing as an interloper, which indicates that Mother Mary may be involved with something otherworldly. The kind where red dresses levitate and doors are opened in places you wouldn’t expect in reality. And they’re the kind in which it imagines Sam in the same room. At least I think that’s the case. This is an A24 release, so what did you really expect?
Mother Mary wears elaborate costumes and props, which include bejeweled bodysuits and halo headpieces, and it’s clear she’s a model of the best female pop stars in this generation. The movie doesn’t even need to mention the names; we just have to read between the lines and imagine what Sia, Taylor Swift, and Lady Gaga would probably look like spliced together. And the costumes designed with creativity and nostalgia by Bina Daigeler whose credits include “Volver,” “Tar,” and “Mulan” (2020), so it all blends well with the imagination. Even Mother Mary looks good on the cover of Vogue.
Parts of the movie show us Mother Mary performing in front of a live audience with blue lights as the ambiance and Hathaway’s voice electrifying them and us. And after them, we get back to her reality and whatever reality she’s now faced with. Funny, because I basically dealt with a similar situation in “Hurry Up Tomorrow,” but this movie is a complete opposite of that in every way. It never exploits the actress who is also a fine singer, nor does it degrade her co-star. In fact, it allows Hathaway and Coel to ease within their characters and speak with such passion and emotions. You have to admire how Sam tells Mother Mary to apologize three times but only when she means it.
I still don’t understand all the supernatural moments, but I still love them for their artistic approach to this kind of musician drama. Lowery is a filmmaker who specializes in dramas with special effects, even in the independent circuit. Think back to “The Green Knight” or “A Ghost Story.” And in his music feature, he does a nice job at bringing out a pop star’s existential criss which goes from dresses to ghosts. Or whatever Mother Mary is dealing with.
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