While it’s true that having a completely original premise helps your movie immediately earn accolades, it’s not the only way. Sometimes you can engage viewers with something well executed. The “one great night” movie existed before Richard Linklater created Before Sunrise, but his execution is so perfect that the layers of cynical moviewatching just melt away. I Am Mother isn’t as flawless as Linklater’s movie, but it executes the “post apocalyptic/scary robots” story and makes it compelling enough to make most viewers put the movie in the positive column when they consider renewing their Netflix subscription.
At the point I Am Mother starts, the apocalyptic event has already occurred. Humanity has prepared however, with Mother (a robot, voice of Rose Byrne), raising humankind’s next great hope, Daughter (Clara Rugaard) as her first test of motherhood. The two form an atypical family bond as Daughter ages to her teens. As Daughter ages, her thirst for exploration and answers to questions push against Mother’s hope that she stays put. Life was always going to threaten this simple existence as you’d expect. One day, Woman (Hilary Swank) show’s up at their fortress, forcing all of Daughter’s teen angst and rebellion front and center to Mother’s ever growing dissatisfaction at her loss of control.
Most of I Am Mother’s story you can see coming, and know what first time writer Michael Lloyd Green is going for. Thankfully, I Am Mother doesn’t rely on twist after twist to keep you interested in the material. Green opts smartly to put Daughter in the middle of Woman and Mother’s tug of war for her trust. He also smartly flips the traditional story; he makes the robot less heartless that is usually presented, and disengages the viewer by unleashing Rose Byrne’s calming sweetness on Daughter. Conversely, Hilary Swank is brash and emotionally distrustful, kind of like Sigourney Weaver in Aliens, clearly traumatized by what has befell her outside in the world. Young unproven Clara Rugaard holds her own either acting against a piece of plastic or a two time Oscar winner in Swank, selling the audience on Daughter’s inner conflict and her unorthodox but familiar coming of age.
Usually the third act of these movies is where a sci-fi story falls apart. This can be for many reasons, but usually it’s because the audience is too dependent on the plot because the characters suck, or the ending is botched by either being hilariously open ended or incomprehensible. Michael Lloyd Green slowly develops the triangular relationship between the three leads and their relative arcs, so it’s not hard to get invested in their fates regardless of where the story goes. When it comes to the plot, Green saves his best swerves for late in the film when you think the movie is hitting its logical ending. It gets there…and then keeps going, and takes a route mildly unexpected but fitting the story and the characters he’d set up. The ending is up for interpretation, but it’s clever and bullet proof enough that you’re not really second guessing it, but more interested in what happens next, a testament to how well thought out I Am Mother is.
For everyone lamenting the superhero/sequelization of the cineplex, I challenge you to go no further than your home or mobile device. Netflix has been putting out all those pieces of original content you’ve been lacking in your life, and at least one of those releases a weekend is something solid like I Am Mother. Also, props for finding Hilary Swank in whatever acting banishment she was in. Always good to see her in movies, even when she’s Mr. Miyagi’s next protege.