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Do you remember that time your mother sat you down and told you the story of how your embryo was taken out of the cold storage containing the last of humanity and incubated before you were born? No? Me neither, but that seems to be the way of the world in the new trailer for Netflix’s I Am Mother.
This new Netflix movie takes place in a dystopian future when humanity is extinct. A robot dubbed ‘Mother’ is in charge of acting as a surrogate mother to the next generation of humanity. She raises a daughter who will act as her test run for the rest of humanity. The daughter loves Mother and Mother loves her back, but then an intruder busts in on their lives. Turns out humanity may not be so extinct.
The trailer starts off with a rather uplifting score and feeling. Mother is bringing back humanity, but first Mother needs to learn how to be a mother to a human child. Mother helps the child walk, teaches the child, and safeguards the daughter from the hostile world outside their protected home. Mother has raised the daughter so that they can do the job together, then someone appears at the door.
Another human?!
The daughter is left questioning the truth of the world she has been presented and what she thinks is going on outside her protected walls. The new arrival asks her who told her that outside was contaminated and implies that robots are the enemies of humanity. The visitor is distrusting of Mother and can’t believe one is different than the rest.
The rest of the trailer is full of tension and raises questions of who the daughter can believe. Mother is voiced by Rose Byrne and she definitely brings a motherly quality that you want to believe is telling the truth. On the other side is Hilary Swank playing the new arrival who distrusts the Mother robot and may be hiding secrets of her own. The daughter, played by relative newcomer Clara Rugaard, is torn between the two. She is struggling with the life she knows and the life that could be. This cast looks up to the task of the balancing act this trailer implies that the movie is going for.
This trailer shows that I Am Mother has the potential to bring some of the best aspects of sci-fi to Netflix. The trailer plays up the uncertainty of Mother and if it has raised this daughter out of genuine feelings or if there could be an ulterior motive. It also casts doubt on what the new visitor is saying in regards to the world. What has the world become? Is humanity to blame or are the robots the real enemy? The daughter is left guessing and will likely have to make a decision regarding who is has her best intentions at heart.
I’m always excited to see new sci-fi and I’m curious if this brings a new aspect to this story when it premieres on Netflix June 7, 2019