The Eyes of My Mother

2016 1h 16m EN

😐

6.2

MID

★6.2TMDB · 375

DramaHorror

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A young, lonely woman is consumed by her deepest and darkest desires after tragedy strikes her quiet country life.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Kika Magalhães
Francisca
Diana Agostini
Mother
Will Brill
Charlie
Clara Wong
Kimiko
Olivia Bond
Young Francisca
Joey Curtis-Green
Antonio
Flora Diaz
Lucy
Paul Nazak
Father

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Nicolas Pesce
Writers: Nicolas Pesce
Languages: English, Portuguese
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Tight 76-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.3M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 16% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 10 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Portuguese.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Nicolas Pesce, shot by Zach Kuperstein. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Ariel Loh. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Nicolas Pesce shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Nicolas Pesce directs. Zach Kuperstein behind the camera. Ariel Loh scores. Nicolas Pesce cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Portuguese.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Tight 76-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.
2Shot for just $0.3M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
3Earned back only 16% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
4Released 10 years ago.
5Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Portuguese.
6Directed by Nicolas Pesce, shot by Zach Kuperstein. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Ariel Loh. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Nicolas Pesce shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Kika Magalhães and Diana Agostini and Will Brill carry the top of the cast.
10IMDB entry: tt5225338 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Zach Kuperstein
Original score: Ariel Loh
Editing: Nicolas Pesce
Production design: Sam Hensen
Costume design: Whitney Anne Adams
Makeup / hair: Cat Martin
Runtime: 76 min · 1h 16m
Status: Released
Budget: $300,000
Box office: $48,539
Return: 16% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The Eyes of My Mother (2016)

Also by

Nicolas Pesce

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Gimly2017-02-06
★ 6/10
Reminiscent of films like Excision and May. Final rating:★★★ - I personally recommend you give it a go.
Reno2017-04-26
★ 6/10
Incomplete lessons and unexpected events of a girl's life! The film story has a deeper thought than just what you see it as a psychological drama. Everything is simply like what the title says. A young woman grew up in an isolated farmhouse with her father without many visitors. But her interest in the eyes came from her mother who was a surgeon killed by an intruder. So her character was built on those circumstances and where her future head is to come in the later parts. The concept looked much better, but the film was too slow, even though it was a little shorter than the average film runtime. It is also a black and white film, and looked fine for such theme. Even though there were not strong gore. Limited cast and shot most of the parts is a single location and its surroundings. So it is a small budget film with good casting. But I'm having a mixed feeling for it. I think some would like it, and some wouldn't, but the majority would be like me stand in the middle. So I conclude saying it is an okay-okay film. 6/10
prabhushakti2018-03-17
★ 4/10
Young director, Nicholas Pesce wanted us to watch a movie with the eyes of the psychopath he has created. So we see a dark horror film with so much emptiness everywhere across the film. But personally, what I never forgive, is when characters act absurdly. I am talking about the father, mother as well as their daughter. Her mother performs surgery of a head of a cow and teaches her little daughter about eyes. I am now sure how appropriate for a medical practitioner to behave in such a way in front of a child. After a psychopath kills the mother, we see the father becomes depressed and the child cleaning blood - taking care of the imprisoned psychopath in an unkind, psychopathic way. So that means this girl was born without empathy, kindness and all those basic human attributes. From this point, I am convinced both the father, the mother never behaved like normal human beings. And I don't want to think about what goes on in this film, how this little girl maintains a daily life. In the end, even we saw police cars straight heading to the insane psychopath's house. I was thinking, a woman, lived years in such prison, who we found in a scene she has become speech impaired, somehow able to tell the exact place under couple of hours of being rescued. Another unusual yet terrible thing is when the insane psychopath, who I absolutely have no sympathy for, when was performing rough surgery, the victims didn't even scream. I really cannot imagine what was in the director's mind before making such a story or scene. We see full shots, sometimes narrow shots through windows, or typically entrance of doorways. I appreciate the cinematography and the way it is directed but there is nothing new about it that we haven't seen before and nothing good about it that we haven't felt before.