The Eyes of My Mother
Magnet Releasing | Release Date: December 2, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
63
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
5
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Time OutJoshua RothkopfNov 23, 2016
If you can stomach the fear, go. Confident hands created this film. Its nightmare lingers for weeks. Read full review
91
ConsequenceJustin GerberSep 23, 2016
Though it doesn’t end with quite the punctuation it deserves, The Eyes of My Mother is a beautiful nightmare from start to finish. Read full review
90
VarietyGuy LodgeSep 23, 2016
Pesce’s spare script doesn’t seek to obscure, but its quiet, matter-of-fact handling of drastic dramatic events will catch some off-guard. Read full review
83
The PlaylistNoel MurraySep 23, 2016
It’s intense as hell, and a supreme example of how the morally repugnant can be made to look weirdly beautiful. Read full review
80
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisDec 1, 2016
Unfolding with a minimum of dialogue, Francisca’s maturation from watcher to doer would be laughable if performed with less nuance or photographed with less originality. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangDec 1, 2016
[Pesce’s] sense of horror craftsmanship is at once meticulous and oblique. Read full review
80
Village VoiceApril WolfeNov 29, 2016
I've been watching horror films since I was three years old. They've never given me nightmares. Until now. Read full review
80
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoSep 23, 2016
There’s a brooding tonal growth that Pesce is able to establish, as he unravels a film that becomes more horrific with each passing second. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterBoyd van HoeijSep 23, 2016
The Eyes of My Mother is both strange and strangely enthralling. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzDec 15, 2016
The Eyes of My Mother is not for the easily queasy. It is a stark, dreadful vision – but one that is fascinatingly executed, with a compelling central performance from Kika Magalhaes as a matter-of-fact monster. Read full review
75
Rolling StoneDavid FearDec 2, 2016
If The Eyes of My Mother is occasionally stylistic to a fault and ends way too abruptly, it's also the mark of someone who isn't afraid to make something that leaves scars. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonDec 1, 2016
It is an original and might give new parents a valuable reminder: Environment matters in child rearing. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Nov 30, 2016
The Eyes Of My Mother is a grotesque, depraved genre movie with the skin of an art film pulled tightly over its bones. If Ingmar Bergman had helmed "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre," it might look something like this exquisite nightmare. Read full review
67
The VergeTasha RobinsonDec 12, 2016
Nicolas Pesce’s gory writing and directing debut Eyes of My Mother goes all-in on the idea of a remote location where horrible things can happen, and no one will ever know. But Pesce does a lot more with the idea of isolation — emotional, physical, and even moral. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreNov 30, 2016
Nicolas Pecse’s debut feature as writer-director is a patient, pitiless thriller, a macabre tale set in the rural South where random violence is the stuff of folk legend, and morbid bluegrass ballads. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsDec 2, 2016
Arthouse horror flick The Eyes of My Mother actively alienates viewers by presenting episodes in a woman's life from a post-human, God-like perspective. Sometimes. Usually. Probably? Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsEdward DouglasNov 30, 2016
In some ways, Pesce's film is often more disturbing for what it doesn't show than what it does, with the last act probably the hardest to watch. Read full review
50
The Film StageDan MeccaSep 23, 2016
This film is so unabashedly, so unflinchingly evil that it is extremely impressive and extreme unlikeable. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyDec 1, 2016
The film has a stunningly hypnotic look thanks to Zach Kuperstein’s crisp black-and-white ­cinematography. It feels like a waking nightmare. It’s just enough to make you wonder how a film that’s so ugly managed to look so damn good. Read full review
40
Total FilmMatt GlasbyApr 9, 2017
Immaculately poised but almost completely pointless, it moves from chin-strokingly pretentious to profoundly depressing. Read full review
37
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanDec 1, 2016
The Eyes of My Mother looks marvelous.... But that’s about all this absurd, illogical and underwhelming thriller has going for it. Read full review
20
The GuardianLanre BakareSep 23, 2016
Pesce asks viewers to go along with the absurdity while offering nothing to justify any of it. It’s a murder ballad gone out of tune. Read full review
0
Slant MagazineChuck BowenNov 27, 2016
Though the film strives to be audacious and galvanizing, it's easily shaken off as an exercise in stunted necrophilia erotica. Read full review
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