I gasped, actually. They filmed Mother Mary from May 2023 till August 2024. And… then nothing. No festival premiere. No trailer. Crickets. Rumors say it could be 2026—if it ever hits screens.
Lowery's made a career leaping between the intimate and the grand—from A Ghost Story to Pete's Dragon. This one's the former: two women, a barn, no fireworks, just their words echoing off wood panels. He described it at Melbourne International Film Festival as “a weird, weird film,” and sighed when asked about it last year—it feels unmoored, even to him.
Barn‑bound Drama
Michaela Coel plays a costume designer for Anne Hathaway's scandal-hit pop star character. The star shows up on her doorstep asking for a comeback—new costumes for a new tour. That's… mostly it. Hunter Schafer pops in for ten minutes. The rest? Repetitive tension pulsing in a claustrophobic loop.
Where it Goes Quiet
Critics say: “A bewildering mess.” There's no sharp dialogue to hold tension. No real rising stakes. It's all interior—perhaps too much so. The cinematic equivalent of staring at a blank wall and waiting for it to speak.
In His Own Words
On The Last Video Store podcast, Lowery confessed:
“I'm in the edit right now and I have been wondering, ‘what is this movie?' … it is so wild. … consistently surprising me in ways I did not anticipate.”
He wrote the first draft during Peter Pan and Wendy, wanted a small two‑person “gentle filmmaking experience”—then thought, “what if one's a pop star?” And suddenly the barn felt bigger, filled with weird echoes.
It wound up “the hardest thing I've ever done.”
Why It Matters
This isn't just a delayed release—it's a crack in A24's art-house armor. We're used to tight character studies, but this one feels self-indulgent, maybe unfiltered to a fault. When Mother Mary quietly lands—if it does—it might provoke love‑it-or‑hate‑it reactions. Lowery wants strong feelings. But it's a gamble: will anyone actually have the time—or patience—to feel them?
Final Thought
I'm torn. On one hand, I'm obsessed—Lowery's voice is honest, his choice brave. On the other, everything I've heard whispers “a movie about nothing.” Something so minimal that maybe.. maybe it has to be seen to be understood. Or maybe it's just a barn door swung open on silence.
Lead still?
No confirmed premiere or release dates—just that odd lull. Melbourne reactions. Podcast confessions. A director wondering what the hell he's made.
And us? We wait.
