UPDATE: The Review embargo has lifted, and “Mother Mary” has a 60 on Metacritic, and 74% on Rotten Tomatoes. I’ll be watching this one on Thursday morning.
EARLIER: I know I’m late when it comes to this one. The trailer came out hours ago. I’ve practically given up on this film. My expectations faded many months ago.
Yes, we finally have a full-length trailer for David Lowery’s “Mother Mary,” and after more than two years, it will be released in theaters on April 17. The film has barely been promoted.
Based on the reactions I’d heard over the last few months, the trailer is exactly what I expected. The film is a chamber piece set in a single location, with sporadic concert footage sprinkled throughout.
The story follows Michaela Coel’s character, who runs a ‘Phantom Thread’-style costume house and once designed for Anne Hathaway’s pop star before a bitter falling out. Now, amid scandal and addiction issues, Hathaway’s character shows up at her secluded studio seeking costumes for a comeback tour. The film is mostly the two women arguing in a barn, with only a few onstage glimpses. Hunter Schafer plays Coel’s assistant but has barely ten minutes of screen time.
Filming on ‘Mother Mary’ began in May 2023—reshoots or not, who knows—but since then, silence. All I could rely on were test reactions, with some calling it ‘bewildering’ and another claiming it was a ‘movie about nothing.’ At last year’s Melbourne International Film Festival, Lowery gave a rare update, sounding as baffled as anyone: he ‘sighed deeply’ and called it ‘a weird, weird film.’
Why are we giving this film so much attention? Because Lowery is no slouch—he can be a truly great director (“A Ghost Story,” “Ain’t Them Bodies A Saint”) and then go on to make out-of-the-blue Disney live-action projects such as “Pete’s Dragon” and “Pan and Wendy.”