Just perfect...

Awesome Movie

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Young director, Nicholas Pesce wanted us to watch a movie with the eyes of the psychopath he has created. So we see a dark horror film with so much emptiness everywhere across the film. But personally, what I never forgive, is when characters act absurdly. I am talking about the father, mother as well as their daughter. Her mother performs surgery of a head of a cow and teaches her little daughter about eyes. I am now sure how appropriate for a medical practitioner to behave in such a way in front of a child. After a psychopath kills the mother, we see the father becomes depressed and the child cleaning blood - taking care of the imprisoned psychopath in an unkind, psychopathic way. So that means this girl was born without empathy, kindness and all those basic human attributes. From this point, I am convinced both the father, the mother never behaved like normal human beings. And I don't want to think about what goes on in this film, how this little girl maintains a daily life. In the end, even we saw police cars straight heading to the insane psychopath's house. I was thinking, a woman, lived years in such prison, who we found in a scene she has become speech impaired, somehow able to tell the exact place under couple of hours of being rescued. Another unusual yet terrible thing is when the insane psychopath, who I absolutely have no sympathy for, when was performing rough surgery, the victims didn't even scream. I really cannot imagine what was in the director's mind before making such a story or scene. We see full shots, sometimes narrow shots through windows, or typically entrance of doorways. I appreciate the cinematography and the way it is directed but there is nothing new about it that we haven't seen before and nothing good about it that we haven't felt before.

The Eyes of My Mother is director Nicolas Pesce's directorial debut, and an impressive one at that. It's an extremely intentional black & white art-house horror film, with more attention to detail than gore throughout.The story centers around Francisca (played by Olivia Bond first and then Kika Magalhães who was particularly awesome), a young girl whose quiet, simple life is turned upside-down by the murder of her mother (Diana Agostini) and, shortly after, the passing of her father (Paul Nazak).** SPOILERS! **I thought the choice of black and white was excellent. There were many scenes that played out like beautiful, striking photographs set in motion. It also dulled the gore (that was more plentiful now that I think about it in retrospect than I honestly noticed in the moment) while letting us focus on more of the emotion (or lack thereof) in the more brutal scenes. But some shots, like Francisca climbing into the tub while bathing her father's body, are made into pure heartbreaking art by the color choice.Charlie (Will Brill), the man who kills Francisca's mother with an unabashed enthusiasm that was disturbing to see, was a great character that I almost wish we saw more of. He just immediately made me feel uncomfortable even before having any inkling of his true intentions.Each scene — every single one — felt very intentionally placed and timed. Nothing was left out, and nothing was there just as a frill… it was meticulously planned.Francisca both as a child and as an older teenager (we're never really sure of her true age but she seems to be 20 at the oldest) has this detached fascination about her. You get the sense that she's barely ever had to focus on anyone but herself. Her mother's mention of "loneliness can do strange things to the mind" couldn't be more apt. She works in silence, methodically playing out some truly twisted acts with the casual mood one might have while slicing a cucumber (I didn't mean for that comparison to be so accurate but there it is), and yet there's such a desperation about her, such a yearning to be less alone, and an unwillingness, or inability, to see how her desires affect others. Her stealing the woman's baby was another example: watching her cuddle and coo at the baby, finally having someone who will be forced to be her companion, as the child's mother crawled, gasping, towards her was chilling.One of the few times she breaks this blankness is when she finally kills Charlie after he escapes from the barn. Her stabbing him is almost sensual, especially as she rubs his hair and kisses his neck, and it made it one of the most disturbing murder scenes I've seen in a LONG timeUltimately, less is more, and Pesce really knew how to use that to his advantage with a brilliant combination of artful shots, a heartbreaking desire to ease pain and loneliness, and unapologetic views of violence and sadism, a sort of Americana-gone- very-wrong.

I went into this knowing a little about it and came out pleasantly surprised. A fantastic psychological horror film and a great character study. I loved the black-and-white filter. It added to the already unsettling feel. The music and camera work also added to the suspense. Clocking in at just 76 minutes, it may seem short but the run time is actually one of it's many strengths. It never feels bloated and never overstays it's welcome. It's a slow moving film, but I never felt disinterested. In fact, I was sucked in from beginning to end. This is indie horror at it's best. I loved it so much, that right after it ended, I ordered the Blu-Ray off of Amazon. Who said that the horror genre was dead?

"The Eyes of My Mother" gets under your skin - it's disturbing, poetic, beautiful, twisted, and for this viewer, unforgettable. Most horror movies these days (or any kind) don't have much happening on the subconscious level, a lot of them tend to be more self-conscious, skating along on the surface, with twists and turns in the plot, jump scares, etc., but occasionally a film comes along that taps right into the unconscious, ala "Night of the Hunter", "Psycho" - I would consider "Eyes" to fit in that grand company. The fact that this film was written and directed by a 26 year-old, Nicholas Pesce, (his directorial debut) is amazing - his control and mastery would seem to require multiple efforts - but talent is a mysterious thing. I could go on and on, the cinematography is sublime, the sound design, the acting, everything is pitch-perfect. I'll be anxiously awaiting Pesce's next film, the boy has a vision.