CAPSULE: A young woman (played by Clara Rugaard) has lived her whole life in a huge cyber-controlled-hard metal environment/bunker. This environment is the only refuge from some unspecified sort of holocaust that has killed off the human race. Meanwhile the machinery tries to use the natural mechanics of the girl to re-cultivate a new human race through use of the woman. She is to be both the last of the first human race and also to be the first of the new race of human scientists are creating. Directed by: Grant Sputore; written by: Michael Lloyd Green. Rating: low +2 (-4 to +4) or 7/10

The characters on the screen are referred to only as their generic roles. The main character is known as "Daughter;" the robot who lovingly cares for the daughter is "Mother". The depth but artificiality of a mother's love are provided by a sugary musical quote from Disney's DUMBO.

Mother has been designed to be the ideal loving mother. Mother and Daughter are kept apart emotionally by the formality of their situation, but still love each other. The girl has been told that the world outside their environment and bunker has been destroyed in an unexplained (at least for the viewer) environmental apocalypse. The machine mother is part of a plan to nurture daughter, and to comfort and to do her part in the reboot the human race, whatever that turns out to be. So the girl is to be both the last of the dead Earth and the first member of the new human race

But everything the girl knows is called into question when a human (Hilary Swank) from outside the machine arrives--badly wounded--at the door of the bunker. How is this possible if the entire human race has been obliterated? So far this is reminiscent of two or three different episodes of the old "Twilight Zone" or perhaps 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE.

I AM MOTHER is an Australian-US co-production. The plot is fairly familiar and bits are clichéd. While it has some fresh ideas, sometimes catching the viewer off-guard, the production design could have used a little more work to make it believable. The walls of the bunker were pieced-together units in a style that may go back to ALIEN. Most of the new SF films bad action films on a on a tech-looking background. Here the story is better and the fungible sets are about par. There are some ideas but not enough to make the trip fully worthwhile. I rate it a low +2 on the -4 to +4 scale or 7/10.

Release date: June 7, 2019.

Film Credits: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6292852/reference

What others are saying: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/i_am_mother

					Mark R. Leeper
					Copyright 2019 Mark R. Leeper