FILMS/
THE MOTHER OF TEARS
La terza madre
Spotlight: The Late Show
Italy/USA, 2007, 98 minutes
SHOWTIMES
Fri, Apr 25 / 10:30 / Kabuki / MOTH25K
CREDITS
- dir
-
Dario Argento
- prod
-
Dario Argento, Claudio Argento
- scr
-
Dario Argento, Jace Anderson, Adam Gierasch
- cam
-
Frederic Fasano
- editor
-
Walter Fasano
- mus
-
Claudio Simonetti
- cast
-
Asia Argento, Daria Nicolodi, Udo Kier, Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni
- source
-
Myriad Pictures, 3015 Main St, Suite 400, Santa Monica, CA 90405. EMAIL: pamela.rodi@myriadpictures.com
It’s been 30 years since Dario Argento began his Three Mothers trilogy with Suspiria, his modern horror classic. Followed by Inferno, both films told the story of a mother witch and her coven wreaking spectacularly murderous havoc. And now the Third Mother is here and boy does she mean business! This witch’s powers take first form in the Rome Art Academy, where an ancient urn containing her ashes is uncovered and delivered into the unwitting hands of Sarah (Argento’s daughter Asia, star of this year’s Opening Night film The Last Mistress), an art restoration intern. After opening the urn with her not-long-for-this-world colleague, she unknowingly releases demonic forces and one extremely malevolent monkey. It’s not long before various ill-meaning practitioners of the dark arts are descending on the city, attacking innocents, killing babies and reveling in pagan ceremonies. It’s up to Sarah, the daughter of a powerful white witch (played by real-life mom Daria Nicolodi), to vanquish the evildoer and return Rome to normalcy. Those familiar with Argento’s cinema will be thrilled to witness his return to form. Mother of Tears offers the prowling camerawork associated with his best work, several graphic murder sequences accompanied by Claudio Simonetti’s over-the-top score and Udo Kier (as a priest) popping up fortuitously to explain what’s going on. With lesbian psychics, villainous alchemists and an orgy scene out of Hieronymous Bosch, this is a fitting capstone to the director’s decades-long project.
—Rod Armstrong
Presented in association with Another Hole in the Head. U.S. Premiere. Sponsored by Stella Artois and the Italian Cultural Institute, San Francisco.
