Review of Mother and Child (2009) by Ceph J — 15 Dec 2010
An emotional movie about women but, particularly, adoptions and "Mother and Child" reunions. Movie follows three women played by Annette Bening, Naomi Watts and Kerry Washington. Bening is the bitter middle-aged woman who gave up her daughter at 14. Watts is the calculating lawyer with abandonment issues. Washington is the unhappy housewife who can't conceive. Their stories run paralel but converge at the end. It's the convergence which drowns the movie into sentimentality and robs it of an A grade.
It's well scripted and directed by Rodrigo Garcia and I look forward to watching more movies by him. The acting is excellent by all three women plus memorable supporting turns by Samuel L. Jackson (a change of pace) and Cherry Jones as the nun. Watts and Bening start off as particularly sarcastic and rude but then "the winds change" about midway and they become softer. I thought they were least interesting as "softer" characters. Washington's character is different; the importance of her character comes at the end and we're reminded of other movies like "Babel." Altogether, a movie that teaches us about women and the choices they make regarding children.
This review of Mother and Child (2009) was written by Ceph J on 15 Dec 2010.
Mother and Child has generally received positive reviews.
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