Everest Entertainment, Cha Cha Cha, Mockingbird Pictures
Alexandria Salling, Connor Kramme, Annette Bening, Eileen Ryan, Samuel L Jackson, Naomi Watts, Cherry Jones, Kerry Washington, David Ramsey, Kay, D’Arcy, Bradford Alex, Jimmy Smits, Elipida Carrillo, Simone Lopez, Carla Gallo
Mother and Child is one of those trilogies in a single movie stories. It’s basically about 3 women. First is Karen (Annette Benning) who became pregnant when she was 14 and gave the baby up for adaption. Now 35 years later, she’s always regretted what she has done and is a very bitter, actually mean, person. The second is her daughter, Elizabeth (Naomi Watts) who has grown into a woman with hardly any heart. She’s a tough cookie and doesn’t trust anyone, especially men, but not opposed in the least to use her attractiveness to gain whatever advantage she can. She went to Mexico for a tubal ligation when she was 17 and was shocked when she suddenly turned up pregnant. The third story is about an African American wife who wants a child but cannot have one. She and her husband are given the opportunity to adopt, but later complications arise. The mother decides to keep the baby and the husband decides something even worse.
This is a typical indie type film, very, very slow to develop. In one way the story is very cut and dried and you’re certain where it’s going to end up. But there are a number of surprises coming along, and not what you would expect. The way the lives of the three women cross is really strange and amazing. There are twists and turns galore. Truly it’s very ironic and very sad, and I would say depressing in a lot of ways. This is not a friend family feel good picture by any means. It’s very dark and deep, and it develops very, very slowly. If you stick with it to the end, you will see that it’s very well written and the actors are very good as well. But my fear is that a lot of people are not going to want to stick through the whole thing to get the the twist ending where two people meet who you would never have expected to get together. If you like deep sincere indie films, you’ll like this one I’m sure, but be warned that it is a very slow developing relationship picture and not an easy thing to watch. If you’re looking just to be entertained, this isn’t it, but if you don’t mind working through an intense film, it’s good.
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