SPOILERS OK I saw this for free at a downtown LA showing, thought it was pretty good but not amazing as everyone else makes it out. First off I hated the shaky camera work and there is no reason to like the main character - at most you pity her but more likely you'll pity the kids because their mom is so negligent and mean.
The first half of the movie doesn't really go anywhere or have much point other than to "shock" the audience and grab their attention. Once it enters the bar it picks up, but once the conclusion comes you're glad it's over. Yes there are good performances and it's unsettling but not really about anything. And the imagery is as subtle as a brick in a pillow hitting you in the face.
Oh and one more thing which bothered me since this movie wanted a realistic and depressing tone: the wasp (which is clearly paralleled with the mother at various points since wasp = White Aanglo-Saxon Protestant and both are caged, dangerous, etc) which is attracted to the honey on the baby's face (by the way the CGI in this part is awful) doesn't kill the baby since it doesn't sting its mouth, HOWEVER, the fact that the baby ate honey means it WOULD die since babies can't digest honey/antioxidants albeit not immediately. Since the movie was trying to be realistic and a sad statement on single mothers, etc. you'd think someone would have thought of this, but instead it makes a happy ending as if apologizing for all the horrors the mom puts her kids through.
Decent overall but nothing to write home about. 5/10
The first half of the movie doesn't really go anywhere or have much point other than to "shock" the audience and grab their attention. Once it enters the bar it picks up, but once the conclusion comes you're glad it's over. Yes there are good performances and it's unsettling but not really about anything. And the imagery is as subtle as a brick in a pillow hitting you in the face.
Oh and one more thing which bothered me since this movie wanted a realistic and depressing tone: the wasp (which is clearly paralleled with the mother at various points since wasp = White Aanglo-Saxon Protestant and both are caged, dangerous, etc) which is attracted to the honey on the baby's face (by the way the CGI in this part is awful) doesn't kill the baby since it doesn't sting its mouth, HOWEVER, the fact that the baby ate honey means it WOULD die since babies can't digest honey/antioxidants albeit not immediately. Since the movie was trying to be realistic and a sad statement on single mothers, etc. you'd think someone would have thought of this, but instead it makes a happy ending as if apologizing for all the horrors the mom puts her kids through.
Decent overall but nothing to write home about. 5/10