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Written by Starring Presented by 97 minutes |
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MOTHER
OF TEARS Review
It’s nice to see that Dario Argento has mellowed with age. The most hardcore of horror fans have a special appreciation for Dario Argento and his legacy of films for the past 35 plus years, but there has been some concern judging by his recent films that the Italian giallo master’s best years were behind him. At the height of this controversy was the question of whether or not Argento would complete his “Three Mothers” trilogy, which began 31 years ago with one of the greatest horror films ever made, SUSPIRIA. A project in the works for two decades, MOTHER OF TEARS, subtitled THE THIRD MOTHER, has finally made it to the United States after a worldwide bow and this is the film that brings Argento’s career full circle. MOTHER OF TEARS takes place in Rome, where a mysterious package is sent to a museum. Curators Sarah (Asia Argento) and Giselle (Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni) open it up and find a series of small statues as well as a fabric containing ancient symbols. Soon chaos ensues as Giselle is brutally murdered and Sarah is set to fate except she receives an odd bit of help from a voice. Sarah discovers that the package contained the urn and fabric belonging to the “Third Mother,” or Mater Lachrymarum (played by model Moran Atias). Babies are being thrown off bridges, people are being murdered and robbed on the streets, and Sarah is the prime suspect as she flees the police in search of who the Third Mother is, and what gift she supposedly has. This is the film that Dario Argento fans have been waiting for over a decade, and MOTHER OF TEARS is without a doubt his most brutal film to date. The film is screening unrated and it’s easy to see why (bravo Weinsteins for not giving fans a cut R version for theaters). Although done with a certain over the top quality, there are plenty unpleasant moments and lots of gore. The first murder of Giselle sets the tone for the rest of the film, and Tassoni shines in a brief but memorable moment. The film reunites Dario with his daughter Asia for the first time since PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and she knows how to command the screen with her presence. Udo Kier has a fun cameo in a different role from SUSPIRIA (obviously) and like Tassoni has a most memorable (and brutal) death. The rest of the cast do it well and portray the madness as seriously as you can. Kudos also to the evil monkey that chases Sara which adds an uneasy humor to the moment, as if to relax yourself from the carnage you are seeing around you. It’s a clever move by Argento and one that works to perfection. The script is fine, but with five writers credited you can see where some chaos ensued, but the film does move fast at its 97 minute running time. As with the monkey, there are some humorous moments and the English translation isn’t the most fluid, but that’s not why you want to see the film anyway. You want to see blood and gore, and there are plenty of it. Sergio Stivaletti returns to amazing form, and there are even some CGI shots (although not the most technically sound) that add to the brutality. Daria Nicolodi provides an interesting cameo as the ghost of Elise, Sarah’s mother, who helps Sarah fight the evil witches and demons around her. Claudio Simonetti’s music shines through yet again, with the simple ghostly whisper of “mother” proving extremely haunting. There is an extraordinary amount of passion into this project from Dario and it certainly shows, as the film looks stellar on a meager budget of $3.5 million. Argento proves he is still a master and more than capable of providing the goods in gore, blood, sex, and scares. It’s his best film since THE STENDHAL SYNDROME. In all, MOTHER OF TEARS can be best viewed as a “Greatest Hits” film, wrapping up the Three Mothers trilogy nicely and has something for every fan to appreciate. It’s almost as if Dario made this film simply for the fans (such as myself), to which they will absolutely adore this film. If this film was made right after OPERA, I believe that fans would call this the quintessential Argento film. With that said, MOTHER OF TEARS is a feast for the bloody eyes, just as long as nobody comes to rip them out. MOTHER OF TEARS: 8 Out Of 10 Maggots CLICK HERE FOR AN INTERVIEW WITH STAR CORALINA CATALDI-TASSONI!
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