PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Korky Films and Director Lee Charlish present the animated short, Mother, for this year’s Boston Underground Film Festival. The short sci-fi film opens with a woman who speaks candidly about desperately wanting to become a mother. One night, she is visited by some kind of extraterrestrial creature who attempts to put a seedling in her. Although Mother is under five minutes long, the underlying message about motherhood is heavily felt throughout. There is an emphasis on the great lengths some women will take to give birth to a child. The example of how these leaps and bounds have an effect on spouses is innocently featured. Anguish plays a silent character, as it places separation between the woman and her partner. Charlish’s Mother links the bond and protective instinct between offspring and mother, regardless of species.
This short film was beautifully animated in a way that exhibits the perfect illusion of reality. The simplicity maintains the focus on the bigger story at hand. It allows the viewer to set up their own timeline and details which lead up to this point. It opened up my mind to so many questions regarding our existence. It posed questions like, “Are we rooted more with the provider of the semen that fertilized our embryo? Or with the body in which we’re protected in utero?” Of course, this film is open for each and every interpretation, but it definitely gets the mind wondering.
Final Thoughts
Sci-fi stories are not my usual cup of tea. However, Mother was a harsh and terrifying cup to swallow. It was brewed with mystery and heartbreak that lured me towards the curiosity of its category. For someone who likes to think outside the box, Mother is undoubtedly one to make you question fiction and reality. Some might even agree with me when I say that there is some amount of truth in fantasy.
