Instinto Materno

This little thriller starts out well, with a mother and daughter sequestered in the countryside--which the latter is growing bored and petulant about, while the former is clearly afraid of whatever they're running from, which we assume is a violent husband/father. Eventually there are intruders, and this home invasion soon changes the dynamic of who did what and who should be afraid of whom. Those factors keep changing, and "Motherly's" plot twists would be decent enough if it didn't make a big mistake. I won't spoil that here, but suffice it to say the script eventually places far too great a burden on the sole child actor, who can't pull it off (no one her age could), and it turns the whole thing ridiculous. The film ends on notes that are both mean-spirited and cheesy, really destroying its modest but real initial potential. It's all decently crafted and acted, and resourceful considering a low budget. But when a plot goes this far off the rails, it takes the whole movie down with it.

This isn't bad. It's just familiar. There's a lot of foreshadowing that was too obvious and took away from the ending. Not awful. Not amazing. It was an average watch for my night on the couch.

The first half was very slow & boring even though the writing, acting & direction are perfectly fine. The second half is pretty good. If you can make it through the first half, then the second half is worth the wait.

I gave this 5 stars, because it's quite a good idea for a story, and the mum is a good actress, only thing is that it's totally obvious what the outcome/twist will be.

I didn't enjoy watching this film as I was distracted and annoyed from the start at how horrible the kid is. She should spend the whole movie on the naughty step. I suppose it does make a change from the usual goody goody kids in American films, but she so rude it's actually annoying that the mum doesn't spend the first half shouting at her for being a total brat.

Better than I thought it would be. The acting was pretty good all around. However, the storyline was predictable. I knew when I watched the trailer. Just hoping I was wrong.

Still, not bad at all.