While Gutnik has assembled a talented cast, the constraints of a 105-minute runtime means the stories feel underdone in places, including anything about that furiously entitled man in the subway.
As it stands, the glue uniting these women of different ethnicities and backgrounds reads like a failed attempt to carve a more ambitious meaning out of individual stories already brimming with possibility.
It’s tempting to blame the broadness of Materna on the short runtimes of each segment, Gutnik and his screenwriters having little time to establish and explore each character’s identity.
50
Slant MagazineChuck Bowen
Slant MagazineChuck Bowen
Rarely do the filmmakers show people mutually affecting one another in cycles of pain and control, rather than blaming phantom figures.
50
RogerEbert.comTomris Laffly
RogerEbert.comTomris Laffly
The strongest point Gutnik makes with his film is that we all have a concealed story when we share common spaces in silence. But that sadly isn’t enough of a hook to carry out this scattershot effort.