Jaafar Jackson as Michael Jackson in ‘Michael’. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Lionsgate.
Preview:
‘Michael’ has set records for biopic movies on its first weekend.
It topped the domestic box office with $97 million.
Elsewhere, new releases struggled.
It may have arrived laden with controversies about re-shoots and didn’t exactly strike a chord with critics, but audiences have certainly embraced ‘Michael’, the biopic of troubled music superstar Michael Jackson.The film, directed by Antoine Fuqua, has kicked off its run at the box office as an instant success, earning $97 million for first place.
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The movie’s ticket sales rank as the best start of all time for a biopic, smashing the record set by 2015’s ‘Straight Outta Compton’ ($60 million). And they tower above 2018’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, which opened to $51 million. Can it match the latter’s huge run, though? That’s a bigger question. Still, with $217 million globally in one weekend, it’s a solid start.
What else happened at the box office this weekend?
(L to R) Luigi (Charlie Day), Mario (Chris Pratt), Yoshi (Donald Glover) and Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) in Nintendo and Illumination’s ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’, directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic.
Previous champion ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ was pushed down to second place after three weekends in the No. 1 spot. Universal’s animated sequel added $21.2 million, boosting revenues to $384 million domestically and more than $800 million globally.
‘Project Hail Mary’, meanwhile, was third with $13.2 million, a remarkable tally for a film in its sixth weekend of release. So far, the space epic has generated a mighty $305 million in North America and $613 million worldwide.
What about other new releases?
(L to R) Michaela Coel and Anne Hathaway in ‘Mother Mary’. Photo: A24.
Besides ‘Michael,’ other new releases fared less well. A24’s thriller ‘Mother Mary’, starring Anne Hathaway as a pop star on the eve of a comeback, earned $1.3 million.
And ‘Lorne’, a documentary about ‘Saturday Night Live’ boss Lorne Michaels, struggled to break out with $70,000 from 248 theaters. The film has collected $426,000 while playing in limited release.
Jaafar Jackson as Michael Jackson in ‘Michael’. Photo Credit: Bruce Talamon.
Anne Hathaway on the set of ‘Mother Mary’. Photo: A24.
David Lowery is nothing if not unpredictable. From Disney product like ‘Pete’s Dragon’ and ‘Peter Pan & Wendy’ to weird experimental dramas like ‘A Ghost Story’ and ‘The Green Knight,’ the director’s career has taken one wild swing after another. With ‘Mother Mary,’ he pivots back in the direction of arthouse fare, with the story itself (according to Lowery) inspired by his own bifurcated career choices.
The result is an original, compelling — if not always coherent – hybrid of love story, psychological horror, and pop musical in which Anne Hathaway is outstanding as the title character, a mega pop singer about to make a comeback but unsure of who she is and aching with grief over a fractured relationship. Joining her is Michaela Coel (‘I May Destroy You’), the other half of that relationship, with both women yearning to repair their broken hearts and going to extreme lengths to do so.
Story and Direction
(L to R) Director David Lowery and Anne Hathaway on the set of ‘Mother Mary’. Photo: A24.
Mother Mary (we never know her real name) is a massive pop star – modeled after female musical icons ranging from Madonna to Taylor Swift – who’s about to attempt a career comeback after being derailed by a breakdown. On the eve of her first performance in years, she flees from rehearsals in L.A. to the English home and workshop of Sam Anselm (Coel), the fashion designer who created all her stage outfits for a while and with whom she shared a deeply symbiotic friendship (and perhaps more), until Mary’s fame fractured their relationship and put Mary’s costumes in the hands of top designers.
Estranged for a decade, with Mary asking Sam to make her a new dress for her show, the two circle each other like wary combatants: Mary, so confident, charismatic and larger than life onstage, is a meek, shattered shell of herself, not sure of her music or even her identity anymore, while Sam, having established her own career, is nevertheless barely able to repress her fury at Mary after all these years.
The two go through a long night of the soul in Sam’s atelier, a centuries-old converted barn full of shadows and mysteries, with ever-present rain and thunder rumbling in the background like restless spirits. As the two explore their past together and separately, a spirit literally comes into play as well – a red entity that, real or not, symbolizes both the creative spirit and sense of loss that both women feel, and that is equally comfort and torment to them both.
(L to R) Michaela Coel and director David Lowery on the set of ‘Mother Mary’. Photo: A24.
Lowery stages all this as a mix of horror movie, character study, and pop spectacle, with scenes from Mary’s past stadium gigs filling the screen with light, sound, dancers, and hordes of people, alternating with the moody, dark sequences in Sam’s atelier and brooding home. The scenes between Mary and Sam come across almost as a stage play sometimes, while the narrative involving the spirit (known as the Red Woman, and initially conjured up by a medium played by FKA Twigs) heads into more phantasmagoric, almost Ken Russell territory visually. It’s a bracing, ever-changing cinematic style that certainly makes this Lowery’s most ambitious film yet.
Yet the hallucinatory, expository nature of the story makes it self-consciously arty – much like ‘The Green Knight’ – which often keeps it at an emotional arm’s length. The result is a movie that is visually stunning, not easy to categorize, but also difficult to fully invest in.
Cast and Performances
(L to R) Michaela Coel and Anne Hathaway in ‘Mother Mary’. Photo: A24.
Anne Hathaway (who has four other movies coming out this year) has been veering between mainstream titles like ‘The Hustle’ and more daring material like ‘Eileen’ in recent years, but ‘Mother Mary’ may be the most immersive performance she’s given in some time.
As Mary, she must sing onstage (all original songs, penned by Jack Antonoff, Charli XCX and FKA Twigs) and project the veneer and physicality of a major pop star, complete with elaborate choreography which she replicates on her own for Sam in one riveting sequence. But she also exposes the wounded woman inside who is longing to find her creative spark again and grieving for the one true relationship she lost.
Michaela Coel’s Sam is grieving as well, but turns it into a weapon of scorn, sarcasm, and rage that she coolly wields against Mary like a knife. But Sam herself is lonely and unmoored, and her interrogation of Mary slowly brings back her energy and inner light. Both women are fantastic in the film, giving such dominant performances that there’s little room for anyone else to shine – except for FKA Twigs, who shows off some eerie physical work in her one major scene, in which she opens the way for the Red Woman.
Final Thoughts
Anne Hathaway in ‘Mother Mary’. Photo: A24.
‘Mother Mary’ is a deliberately experimental narrative, flashing back and forth in time and space, and despite what may seem like a conventional premise it delves into the mystical, spiritual, and existential in often bold ways, bolstered by its two fearless leading ladies.
While a feast for the eyes and ears, the film is perhaps not as moving as it could be, thanks to its dislocating narrative shifts. Yet the bond between Sam and Mary, strained and torn as it is, is still made powerful by the work of the two actors. ‘Mother Mary’ is ultimately about healing one’s soul and rediscovering one’s muse, a potent message from a filmmaker who seems to have done just that.
‘Mother Mary’ receives a score of 80 out of 100.
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What is the plot of ‘Mother Mary’?
Long-buried wounds rise to the surface when iconic pop star Mother Mary (Anne Hathaway) reunites with her estranged best friend and former costume designer Sam Anselm (Michaela Coel) on the eve of her comeback performance.
