Mothers and Mother's Day
This week we present films that explore motherhood, prospective and actual, from a variety of perspectives and in contexts ranging from the legal to the supernatural. These films chart the complex and often determinative ways that mothers shape their children's lives, and conversely, that children shape the lives of their mothers.
Bantú Mama
A woman evading arrest finds shelter with three children in a dangerous neighborhood in Santo Domingo.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Dominican Republic • 2022
- Director Iván Herrera
- Cast Clarisse Albrecht, Scarlett Reyes, Euris Javiel, Arturo Perez, Donis Taveras, Jarold Santos
- Genre Drama
- Available on Netflix, Netflix basic with Ads
Cow
An empathetic portrait of the life a dairy cow on an industrial British farm.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 2022
- Director Andrea Arnold
- Cast Lin Gallagher
- Genre Documentary
- Available on MUBI, Sundance Now, MUBI Amazon Channel, AMC+, AMC+ Amazon Channel, AMC Plus Apple TV Channel , IFC Films Unlimited Apple TV Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Kanopy
Saint Omer
A novelist attends the trial of a Senegalese immigrant accused of murdering her baby in this haunting portrait of the immigrant experience.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2022
- Director Alice Diop
- Cast Kayije Kagame, Guslagie Malanda, Aurélia Petit, Valérie Dréville, Xavier Maly, Robert Cantarella
- Genre Drama
- Available on Hulu, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube
The Wonder
An English nurse travels to Ireland to see a girl who has supposedly survived for months without eating.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Ireland, United Kingdom, United States • 2022
- Director Sebastián Lelio
- Cast Florence Pugh, Kíla Lord Cassidy, Tom Burke, Niamh Algar, Elaine Cassidy, Ruth Bradley
- Genre Mystery, Thriller
- Available on Netflix, Netflix basic with Ads
Happening
(L'Événement)
A college student deals with an unwanted abortion when it was still illegal in1960s France.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2021
- Director Audrey Diwan
- Cast Anamaria Vartolomei, Kacey Mottet Klein, Luàna Bajrami, Louise Orry-Diquéro, Pio Marmaï, Sandrine Bonnaire
- Genre Drama
- Available on Hulu, AMC+, AMC+ Amazon Channel, AMC Plus Apple TV Channel , IFC Films Unlimited Apple TV Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube
Lingui, The Sacred Bonds
(Lingui, les liens sacrés)
A single mother goes against the church and the patriarchy to obtain an illegal abortion for her fifteen-year-old daughter.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Germany, Belgium • 2021
- Director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
- Cast Achouackh Abakar Souleymane, Rihane Khalil Alio, Youssouf Djaoro, Briya Gomdigue, Saleh Sambo, Mounira Michala
- Genre Drama
- Available on MUBI, MUBI Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video
Parallel Mothers
(Madres paralelas)
Two single mothers give birth at the same time in the same place, and their chance connection will change their lives forever.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Spain • 2021
- Director Pedro Almodóvar
- Cast Penélope Cruz, Milena Smit, Israel Elejalde, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Rossy de Palma, Julieta Serrano
- Genre Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand
Petite Maman
(Petite maman)
A young girl ventures into the woods around her grandmother's house and forms a friendship with a lonely local girl.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2021
- Director Céline Sciamma
- Cast Joséphine Sanz, Gabrielle Sanz, Nina Meurisse, Stéphane Varupenne, Margot Abascal
- Genre Drama, Family, Fantasy
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, Kanopy
The Lost Daughter
A woman unexpectedly confronts her past while vacationing in Greece.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United States, Greece • 2021
- Director Maggie Gyllenhaal
- Cast Olivia Colman, Dakota Johnson, Jessie Buckley, Ed Harris, Peter Sarsgaard, Paul Mescal
- Genre Drama
- Available on Netflix, Netflix basic with Ads
Beginning
(Დასაწყისი)
Yana is the wife of a Jehovah’s Witness who begins to question her faith — with dramatic and devastating results.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Georgia • 2020
- Director Dea Kulumbegashvili
- Cast Ia Sukhitashvili, Rati Oneli, Kakha Kintsurashvili, Saba Gogichaishvil, Giorgi Tsereteli, Ia Kokiashvili
- Genre Drama
- Available on MUBI, MUBI Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Fandango At Home
I Am Mother
A teenage girl is raised underground by a robot named “Mother,” designed to repopulate the earth following a mass-extinction event.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Australia • 2019
- Director Grant Sputore
- Cast Clara Rugaard, Hilary Swank, Rose Byrne, Luke Hawker, Tahlia Sturzaker, Maddie Lenton
- Genre Science Fiction, Thriller
- Available on Netflix, Netflix basic with Ads
The Truth
(La Vérité)
A French film superstar's decision to publish her memoirs causes old tensions, feelings, and conflicts with her daughter to resurface.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Japan, Switzerland • 2019
- Director Hirokazu Kore-eda
- Cast Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche, Ethan Hawke, Clémentine Grenier, Manon Clavel, Alain Libolt
- Genre Drama
- Available on AMC+ Amazon Channel, IFC Films Unlimited Apple TV Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube