Tag: visually striking

MOTHER MARY – Review

– By Cate Marquis –

Anne Hathaway plays a Madonna-like mega-pop star called Mother Mary, who is at a turning point with her career, and turns to her long-estranged friend, Sam Anselm (Michaela Coel), the costume designer who gave the star the signature look that helped launch her career. Sam, now a top fashion designer, has not heard from Mother Mary for ten years, not since the star ended their professsional and personal partnership during Mother Mary’s rise to the top. Now Mother Mary is seeking a comeback, after a disastrous accident, and she returns to Sam, begging her to design a new dress for her. On the surface, at least, that is what is going on in writer/director David Lowery’s visually lush but mysterious drama.

Writer/director David Lowery, whose previous films include the mysterious GREEN KNIGHT, weaves similar dreamlike material here for MOTHER MARY. Beneath the surface of two people, who started their careers together but parted on bad terms, are many questions – about their personal relationship, forgiveness and betrayal, limits of friendship, maybe even about life and death. And, perhaps, about whether what we are seeing is real or imagined.

MOTHER MARY is filled with gorgeous imagery, a joy to look at and a dream-like drama, but it is also a film that asks a lot of its audience, while tantalizing rewards for those who stick with it. What it does deliver upfront are spectacular acting performances, from Anne Hathaway certainly but particularly from Michaela Coel, who is a complete “wow” and a revelation as Sam Anselm.

It actually helps to know that MOTHER MARY is based on a stage play, because it makes it a bit easier to find a way into its mysterious, talkative film. It is pretty safe to assume that the play likely begins with a scene grounded in the real, with the pop star walking into the fashion designer’s office, a start that gives the story concrete foundation before it veers off into its more surreal territory.

However, the movie starts not with that but with scenes of Anne Hathaway’s Mother Mary (she is always called by both names in the film), as the pop star endures fittings for costumes that are lavish but unwieldy and different but somehow all the same, plus the grind of touring with elaborately staged performances that also are somehow all the samen. Some event is hinted at, with vague images, something on stage that went very wrong, which sends Mother Mary running back to her friend Sam Anselm.

Well, “former friend” would be more apt. Sam Anselm, now a very successful as a fashion designer and head of a design empire of her own, greets Mother Mary politely, but the currents of coldness and irony underneath are palpable. Sam has not heard from the singer in ten years, yet here she is, unannounced, with no prior appointment, something Mother Mary did deliberately so Sam couldn’t dodge seeing her. Unexpectedly, after a tense few moments, Sam suddenly agrees to design a dress for Mother Mary, a decision delivered in a matter-of-fact tone, but we have the sense that there will be a price to pay, and that an apology will be the bare minimum.

Sam whisks the star off to a large, old barn-like structure, where they can work alone, away from the bustle of her busy fashion studio, which is preparing for a big show. In the half-lit old barn, Sam is business-like, and while her assistant Hilda (Hunter Schafer) takes measurements, Sam asks the pop star questions about the dress: Do you need to move in it? What color do you want? Mother Mary replies: anything but red.

The answer is significant, as we eventually learn. After Sam sends away her assistant Hilda, the two really get down to work, professional and personal. Of course, old feelings come out, but strange things happen too.

As good as Anne Hathaway is, and she is very good in this, it is Michaela Coel who it the bolt of lightning in this film. Michaela Coel has a striking, expressive face and makes full use of it, along with her voice, bringing acres of nuance and subtext to every line, often dripping in sarcasm or resentment, as she wrings out every ounce of meaning in the well-written lines. Coel’s face transforms minute by minute, her eyes piercing, as she delivers her lines with surgical precision, while she radiates a powerful presence and palpable charisma from the screen. She is simply hypnotic to watch.

The art direction is lush and expansive, and the film is packed with symbolic scenes, which are lovely, sometimes with dresses or fabric floating through the air, and sometimes with flashbacks exploring the singer’s grueling life on tour, as the pop star wears down from constant work and repetition. The performances are extravaganzas and the costumes are too, but there is a repetition that we see is grinding her down. The film itself is loosely-structured, mysteriously vague, and even nearly amorphous, making it hard to get a handle on, as theses two talk and only drop hints for us about what is really going on, in what was clearly both a professional and personal relationship, although details are elusive.

Clearly, both Mother Mary and Sam know Sam is owed an apology, although that may not be enough. Even though Sam was Mother Mary’s friend and professional partner, she replaced her without notice or seeming feeling. Sam not only survived but the abrupt break allowed her to launch her own very successful fashion design career, perhaps even eclipsing her pop-star former friend at this point. Still, the pain remains.

Sam agrees to design the dress but repairing the relationship is another matter. As she and Mother Mary set about that work, Hathaway’s character clearly longs to re-establish their long-severed connection, even seeming to want to pretend there was no break.

The dialog is sparkling, and the air crackles with anger and other long-buried emotion. As they talk, we get glimpses of Mother Mary’s world of relentless tours and physical stress, all presented in beautifully symbolic images. As the film progresses, we learn more about their shared past but little is clear about what is really going on in the present.

There is a tagline for the film, that says it is not a romance and it is not a ghost story, which means you can’t help but wonder about both those things. Sam talks about how she once loved Mother Mary and now Mother Mary seems desperate to regain the connection, which appears must be through Sam’s work, her creations. But the two seem divided by a wall. Is it only the pain of the past, or is it something larger, more profound?

MOTHER MARY, for all its visually beauty and powerful performances, gives away little, only a few brief hints, meaning it asks a lot of the audience. Not all will be willing to give what it asks, and for some, the opaqueness may just be tiresome, especially with a long running time. If you saw the play, you may have an edge here, but a film is supposed to be able to stand on its own. Still, I’m curious enough to want a second look at the film, and I wonder what my reaction will be to that second viewing. Audiences will have to judge for themselves, but MOTHER MARY does deliver striking, sterling performances from both Anne Hathaway and Michaela Cole which delight as they mystify, and Coel is a lightning-strike of a revelation, and a performer I hope we will see again soon.

MOTHER MARY opens in theaters on Friday, Apr. 24, 2026.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

HAMLET – Review

It is fairly common to see Shakespearean plays re-set in a different time, sometimes retaining Shakespeare’s language and largely just changing costumes and settings, or sometimes re-writing the dialog while retaining mostly the plot. Director Aneil Karia’s new HAMLET, starring Riz Ahmed, does something different and more effective, retaining Shakespeare’s words but uses visual storytelling to place the story wholly in a modern setting, in this case of a wealthy British – South Asian family after the death of the billionaire CEO of the family’s large international business, Elsinore. His son Hamlet (Riz Ahmed) is left confused and bereft by his father’s death, and suspicious, even more so, by his uncle Claudius’ (Art Malik) swift move to not only take over the company but to marry Hamlet’s newly-widowed mother Gertrude (Sheeba Chadha).

As Hamlet, Riz Ahmed delivers a powerhouse performance, the success of which is based on Ahmed’s considerable ability to covey a host of information about both the character’s inner state and the social context while movingly speaking his Shakespearean lines. Ahmed does this brilliantly, with seemingly effortless style, making the character entirely of this modern world while beautifully speaking Shakespeare’s poetry. Riz Ahmed’s Hamlet is heartbreaking yet terrifying, in this moving performance. In several recent films, Ahmed has given a number of striking, subtle performances, and hopefully this new one will be a boost to his already-rising star.

In addition to fine acting, the other real strength of this adaptation of “Hamlet” is in it’s visual storytelling. Surprisingly little of Shakespeare’s words needed to be changed to re-set the story, because the film so powerfully conveys the story’s new circumstances by visual means. The film opens with a nearly wordless scene, where we see Hamlet (Riz Ahmed) participating in preparing his father (Avijit Dutt) for cremation, a scene that clearly lets us know a host of things about this family, such as that they are Hindu, British, and wealthy, as well as establishing Hamlet’s devastated emotional state, all within a few moments. The key to all this is in what we see – expressions, body-language, visual details – more than what we hear, so well-crafted performances are required.

Mostly, the play is intact despite the shifted time period, but a few scenes are deleted or redirected in Michael Lesslie’s fine script. Some dialog takes place between different people, and a few characters are eliminated or combined, but the changes serve this retelling well. Often it is the settings and the behavior and tone of the actors that modernize the play, a surprisingly effective approach. Most of the action, and all the emotional power, remains, delightfully so. While the beauty of Shakespeare’s words remain, the nature of some characters, their relationships and intentions, and meanings of scenes are sometimes altered to serve this new modern version.

Riz Ahmed delivers a striking powerhouse performance, and he is on screen nearly the whole time, but he is also well supported by a fine cast. The film eliminates some characters and scenes but sometimes incorporates parts of them in a refreshingly original way. Horatio is absent but some of his role is taken by other characters. Ophelia and Hamlet have more of a relationship, and he confides in her, not Horatio, about seeing a vision of his dead father. Rosencrantz and Gildenstern are also absent but some of their scenes, and hints of their character, at times fall to Laertes, which gives his character a new slant. Fortinbras takes on a new meaning, and other things and characters are re-interpreted, with new dimensions. There are no traveling actors to put on a play, but they are replaced by colorful South Asian dancers.

Polonius, the father of Laertes and Ophelia, is generally portrayed as talkative, meddlesome but well-meaning, but Timothy Spall plays him as a darker, more calculating character, the businessman uncle’s right-hand man, tasked with keeping tabs on Hamlet to head off potential interference in their plans. Morfydd Clark’s Ophelia plays a greater part in the story, as well as being more assertive and involved in what happens. Joe Alwyn’s Laertes is also more complex, Laertes but also a bit Horatio, and a bit of Rosencrantz and Gildenstern, who do not appear in this version. Other characters, and scenes, are transformed, sometimes in surprising ways, yet all the changes support moving the story into its modern form.

Unlike some time-shifted versions, director Aneil Karia puts much more thought into what we see as the actors speak their lines, not just the sets and costumes but their posture, actions, and body-language, along with vocal tone. A great deal of information is transmitted wordlessly in every scene. An example is where Polonius encounters Hamlet as he is strolling and reading a book. In this film, Hamlet is not reading a book but instead, is in his late father’s office, going through business papers and looking for clues, when he is interrupted by Polonius, who asks what he is reading. The words are the same but the meaning is entirely shifted. Another more powerful example is Hamlet’s famous “to be or not to be” soliloquy, delivered while an upset Hamlet is driving his sports car, angrily weaving in and out of traffic, as clear and harrowing a depiction of a young man unbalanced and on the verge of suicide as you can imagine. The scene is powerful and frightening, yet entirely fresh and original.

There is little that is stage-y about this version, and in fact, it is remarkably visually dynamic. The action is not confined to the family’s lush estate or its many, sometimes claustrophobic rooms. Scenes take place all around London, in a club with driving music, driving along city streets, in event spaces, or on lush lawns festooned with party lights, all of which work incredibly well for the film’s storytelling.

Altogether, this HAMLET has to rank as one of the best screen adaptations. It is a remarkable film re-setting of Shakespeare’s drama, a fresh view of Shakespeare’s great classic in a striking, modern setting, yet a version that still retains the original’s emotional power and tragedy while putting it entirely in our world. With outstanding acting, particularly by Riz Ahmed, and excellent visual and production values, this HAMLET is sure to thrill Shakespeare fans as well as general audiences.

HAMLET opens in theaters on Friday, Apr. 10, 2026.

RATING: 4 out of 4 stars