By Ryan Simmons

simmons on cinema

REVIEW: Netflix takes deep dive into sci-fi with “I Am Mother”

Jun 10, 2019 | 6:02 AM

I Am Mother, the latest release from Netflix, evokes some of the greatest in sci-fi history. But does it live up to the genre heavyweights it tries to play alongside?

This movie takes place in one contained base, like claustrophobic classics The Thing and Alien. You’re awakened into the movie with Daughter (Clara Ruugard-Larsen), an embryo hatched from a little egg by its robot caretaker Mother (voiced by Rose Byrne). This relationship, between human Daughter and robot Mother, is the main driver of the movie.

Their relationship is quickly disrupted, however, when Daughter meets a human from outside the base known only as Woman (Hilary Swank) and mysteries begin to stack up. Why are Daughter and Mother here in this base? Is it safe to be outside? Are there other humans? And most gripping of all… who can Daughter trust?

The most impressive thing I Am Mother delivers is incredibly captivating performances from a trio of actresses.

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First, you have the breakout; Clara Rugaard-Larsen playing Daughter. Given that she is often the only character on screen for a very big chunk of the movie, this is a must-land-performance for the film to succeed. Luckily we’re gifted with a career-making portrayal from the 21-year-old Ruugard-Larsen and I honestly wouldn’t be blown away to see her receive attention if the critics can remember this one until awards season.

Next, you have the veteran; Hilary Swank. The two-time Academy Award winner comes bursting into the movie as the outsider known as Woman. She brings with her a frantic tension and gripping distrust that throws the previously sanitized and peaceful life of Mother and Daughter into disarray. Her fear and anxiety becomes our fear and anxiety, a bit of evocative emotion only the strongest actors can pull off.

Lastly, we have the career-defining performance; Rose Byrne. Mother, the robotic helicopter mom from the future, has many different comparable characters in cinema. Her presence definitely provokes comparisons to pretty much every other Artificial Intelligence in movies, like 2001: A Space Odyssey’s HAL 9000 or David in the recent Alien prequels. Rose Byrne does such a great job of keeping Mother on track though, and keeps the character from becoming a cinematic stereotype. Her doting voice mixed with a deadpan, robotic confidence makes trusting or distrusting Mother one of the hardest choices for the audience to make. Is she a scary movie AI like her counterparts, or is she the protector Daughter needs?

Whether you trust her or not, it’s hard to believe Rose Byrne won’t be asked to read lines in that voice at comic conventions for the rest of time. If sci-fi fans embrace this movie, it will be because of Mother’s classic A.I. presence and that presence lives and dies on Rose Byrne’s voice performance.

The main weakness of I Am Mother is in the familiarity of its story. Anyone who has seen a few movies in the genre has certainly seen these themes in play before. I Am Mother is kept afloat though, by the three main actresses who remain mesmerizing even as the movie plays a little bit with genre clichés. Though sometimes familiar, I Am Mother never gets boring and feels like a fresh approach.

I found I Am Mother to be a delightful surprise. I didn’t know what to expect going in, as I heard about it literally 15 minutes before watching it, and what I found was a sci-fi thriller that not only evokes some of the greats in the genre, it lives up to them. While the themes, setting and story might be a bit familiar to veteran viewers of the genre, in the end the two-hour run time was well spent watching a thrilling, mysterious, thought provoking film with indisputably great performances.

If you have a Netflix subscription and like sci-fi, you’d be crazy not to hit play on this one.