Movie #385 ........................."Mother & Child"

Movie #385 "Mother & Child" is a slow moving character study on the effects of giving up a baby for adoption on the life of the mother and the child. This is one of tbose New Year's Eve movies (this is a sarcastic comment --- i.e. a film that is so sad maybe we'd be better off in life NOT seeing it because it leaves a bad taste in your mouth -- and it certainly would take away from any New Year's Eve celebration that you had planned) when the film travels from one story to another and to another --- Annette Bening is the mother who gave away her child 37 years ago and she's mean spirited and dour (of course, she lives with an ailing mother, so that might help the meanness on -- It's really hard to like her --- once again (like in "The Kids Are Okay" we are asked to find something redeeming about Bening's character (and we finally do, but well past the time most people would care); her story is juxtaposed with her daughter's, who is now 37 and also mean spirited, cold, empty, who happens to be a good lawyer. The third story was the most interesting to me --- Kerry Washington and her husband have been trying to conceive a child with no success, so they go to Cherry Jones to adopt one. Cherry Jones is the link because she's the one that set up Annette Bening's original adoption, and the movie works toward a satisfying conclusion, but it's painful along the way. There is one really good scene that should be shown to every high school student --- anti abortion scene, and it's handled really well --- shows the emotional and physical trauma that goes into that decision. Well done. And the acting is good --- all three women are very strong.




You rated this movie: 3
Mother and Child
(2009) R
Fifty-year-old Karen (Annette Bening) regrets giving up her daughter, Elizabeth (Naomi Watts), for adoption; years later, Elizabeth questions her own approach to life. Their stories intersect with that of Lucy (Kerry Washington), who hopes to fulfill her dreams of motherhood through adoption. Rodrigo García writes and directs this drama about parenting, sacrifice, romance and self-fulfillment. Eileen Ryan and Samuel L. Jackson co-star.
Genre: Social Issue Dramas, Romantic Dramas, Tearjerkers
This movie is: Emotional, Heartfelt, Romantic
Format: DVD and Blu-ra