Mother Nocturna review.
The slow burn Mother Nocturna reaches hypnotic, surreal heights that shine through its oppressive darkness.
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Mother Nocturna
Directed by Daniele Campea
Written by Daniele Campea
Starring Susanna Costaglione, Sofia Ponente, Edoardo Oliva, Elena Battarin, Vincenzo Mambella and Ricardo Pellegrini
Mother Nocturna Review
We talk about werewolf movies a lot on this website. In fact, we talk about one every time a full moon hits the night sky. When you read the plot summary for Mother Nocturna…you may think this is going to be a move we would cover during that lunar cycle. It’s about a wolf biologist who wants to run into the woods whenever the full moon comes around, after all. I’ve been tricked before. Twice, in fact. Two times a plot summary that pointed towards a classic werewolf story turned out to be something else entirely. Is Mother Nocturna another case of mistaken identity? Kind of.
Don’t go into Mother Nocturna expecting to find fast-paced werewolf action. There are no wolf prosthetics on display. Still, as someone who covers at least a dozen movies a year within this specific subgenre of horror…I feel confident in saying that this is a story best viewed through such a lens. It has some interesting things to say about lunar phenomena, the animals within, and the stress on harboring an internal monster on the people around you. Is Mother Nocturna a werewolf movie? It may as well be.
Agnese (Susanna Costaglione) returns home from a stay at a mental institution. Her reserved daughter Arianna (Sofia Ponente) finds herself in a caretaker role when her father is hospitalized with Covid. Agnese is having serious issues. She spends all day in bed…sleepwalking when she manages to get some sleep. Something is calling her towards the woods…and the pull is becoming stronger as the full moon approaches.
Whether you consider Mother Nocturna a werewolf movie or not…it explores the plight of a cursed person better than most. The call of the wild, the stress on the person carrying it and those around them…it’s all there. Even if it’s not. This is a slow burn horror movie. It keeps you away from any discernable plot for most of its runtime. What it gives you is the strained relationship between the bedridden Agnese and her daughter Arianna.
Most of Mother Nocturna is dependent on the performances of its two leads…one of which spends much of the film sweating it out in bed. Cosaglione gets to show off some strong performance skills when her moments come. An excellent monologue reveals a tragic backstory…and she ups the creepy factor when the time is right. Ponente carries the majority of Mother Nocturna on her back. I couldn’t find another performance from the young actress prior to this. She is terrific here.
When I tell you that Mother Nocturna is slow and largely directionless…I mean it. It’s hard to decipher exactly what the movie wants to be about for a long time. And that’s not just because so much of the screen is shrouded in darkness. It isn’t until late in the game that the story gets moving…and the reason for its previous formlessness is revealed. When it needs it most, Mother Nocturna becomes a hypnotizing, bewitching film. The patience that precedes the tense finale pays off as intended.
Speaking of that finale…let’s just say that things get considerably weirder. This is where, had Mother Nocturna been a traditional werewolf story, things would have gotten, pardon the pun, hairy. It takes a path that is a bit more interesting…but not that far removed from that idea. The story can be confusing in both good and bad ways. It’s more interested in building atmosphere than spelling out what’s going on. The slight plot purposely pushes itself away from us…leaving the viewer as detached and confused as Arainna feels much of the time.
Mother Nocturna’s commitment to building a quiet, surreal atmosphere comes at a cost. It is a long wait to anything resembling a point. At times, it almost feels as if the story should have been even less coherent. The lack of inertia often feels like the point…if only because there is so little else to hold on to. When the movie picks up in its final minutes…the desired effect has been created. It will be too late for many, however. Over an hour spent wondering what the purpose of Mother Nocturna is may be too big of an ask. Even with some strong performances at the center of it.
Which is why this is a movie that may be best viewed under the guise of a werewolf movie…no matter its intentions. No, you won’t be seeing a full-on wolf transformation complete with throat ripping and howling at the moon. But…you kind of do. What comes beforehand is a slow, patient, darkly lit and largely unformed narrative. One that fits comfortably as the story of a woman suffering from the same affliction that we’ve seen everyone from Lon Chaney Jr. to Benicio del toro suffer from. The effect it has on their loved ones…the darkness just under the surface…the beast waiting for it’s time to shine in the light of the full moon. Mother Nocturna has all those things. Presented like you’ve never seen before…heading to a road that runs parallel to the one we’ve walked before.
Scare Value
The slow, strange way in which Mother Nocturna may be too much (or too little) for some viewers. You have to rely on some great performances in a long stretch of very little to get you to the point. I can’t even promise you that the ultimate destination is worth the trip…but it is an interesting, if slow, ride. One, perhaps, best experienced as a companion piece to the werewolf films we all know and love. Even if that isn’t exactly as the movie intends. Then again…it might be.
2.5/5
