I Am Mother

I Am Mother

Starring Clara Rugaard, Hilary Swank, Rose Byrne, Luke Hawker

Directed by Grant Sputore

The Story:
After a cataclysmic world-ending event, a hidden bunker activates and a robotic AI named Mother (Luke Hawker/Rose Byrne) awakens and brings life to one of the thousands of embryos kept safe in the bunker.  As her Daughter grows up, Mother shows a nurturing side that showcases true motherly natures, and as Daughter (Clara Rugaard) reaches her eighteenth birthday, has to take a test.  But before she can complete the test, she finds a rat in the bunker and thinks there could be life outside, but Mother doesn't believe it.

One night Daughter goes to the main doors and hears a woman's voice outside, and lets her in.  This Woman (Hilary Swank) had been shot, and needs medical attention.  At first Daughter keeps her hidden from Mother, but she finds out that the Woman is there, which leads to lies being revealed, and Daughter's world turned upside down.

The Synopsis:
While the film doesn't tread new ground in the sci-fi artificial robot subgenre, "I Am Mother" does excel in telling a compelling, intelligent, nuanced story that ebbs and flows from the mundane to the utterly insane, and keeps your attention throughout as you try to figure out the truth for the lies, but not even the most excellent lie detector could find all the lies told throughout this film.  It's intense in how sterilized the entire film is (as it's shot mostly in a futuristic bunker with grey walls and floors, much like a hospital), and with the addition of an emotionless (at least in voice) robot, only adds to the tension given throughout.

From the get-go, you're expected to believe that Mother is a good natured artificial intelligence robot who's programmed to re-start humanity after the world ends, as there's a beautiful montage (with the song "Baby Mine" by "Dumbo" being played) of Mother raising her Daughter from birth, but there's something eerily wrong with the whole thing as well - maybe it's because the Mother is a robot that looks like a Terminator fighter with one eye like HAL-9000 instead of the loving nurturing mother you were raised with.  Yet for this setting, it's to be expected that this emotionless robot does serve as the mother figure for her daughter, and she showcases all the typical motherly duties you'd expect - even her attempts at terrible humor.

The Daughter was told to believe that the world outside is uninhabitable, and it's no spoiler (since it follows the tropes of most of this genre) that the Daughter hasn't been told the entire truth, which comes to light when she lets in a Woman from the outside.  This Woman comes into conflict with Mother for the Daughter's affection, as now we got a character who exhibits - at least on the outside - a motherly role, and it's this trio of performances that serves as the heart of the film, and it beats loudly and wildly.  The film goes into different tangents and trajectories, sometimes to its own detriment, as it often repeats itself (many dialogues between Mother and Daughter about whether or not they trust one another) ad nausea, but those moments can be forgiven in the overall story arc the film delivers.

The character of Mother is both a threatening and nurturing presence - threatening from appearance yet nurturing in nature - and was beautifully rendered by the masters of Weta (who also worked with the iconic "Lord of the Rings" films), and was performed by Luke Hawker in body and Rose Byrne in voice.  It's this voice that's both peaceful and chilling, as she acts with emotionless resonance while still portraying a motherly feel that keeps you on your toes.  Hillary Swank does a great job as the Woman, who's obviously mistrusting of Mother after what she's seen, but has secrets of her own.  Yet it's newcomer Clara Rugaard (who's got a striking resemblance of Taissa Farmiga) that truly steals the show as Daughter, and clearly has a bright future ahead of her.  She showcases vulnerability, curiosity, strength and fortitude with equal measure, and becomes a character that you really care about.

Without going into spoilers, the film unfolds like a spool of yarn that tells a compelling story and also challenges the debate about what it really takes to be a mother, as well as what it means to really make a perfect person.  It's very well done and well acted, and while it doesn't detract from the norms, it's still a great film to see.

The Summary:
With three tremendous performances at its heart, "I Am Mother" serves up many debates and thoughts told through its careful, intelligent script and offers a tense thriller throughout where you don't know what the truth really is.

The Score: A