"Mother and Child" is a new film that follows one of the biggest cinematic trends in the last decade. Starting with "Crash" in 2006 and continuing with "Babel" the next year, Hollywood has been smitten by films featuring stories of seemingly unrelated individuals, whose lives become entangled in mysterious and life-changing ways. After Paul Haggis' "Crash" won the Best Picture Oscar, a slew of other thematically similar films emerged, including "21 Grams," "The Burning Plain" and now "Mother and Child." The film been shown at both the Toronto and Sundance Film Festivals and will have a limited release starting on May 7.
"Mother And Child" tells the overlapping stories of three women impacted by adoption. Annette Benning plays Karen, a bitter nursing home worker who gave her daughter up for adoption as a teenager. Naomi Watt's Elizabeth is a driven and commitment -phobic lawyer who was adopted at birth, never knowing who her biological parents were. Kerry Washington and David Ramsey portray a newlywed couple desperate to adopt, after learning of their inability to have a child. Through so-called plot twists, these miserable people's lives are intertwined through fate and adoption papers.
If any praise is to be given to the this film, written and directed by Rodrigo Garcia and produced by "Babel" filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu, it is to be handed to the actors. Benning digs into her role with an Oscar glint in her eye. She is both fragile and fiercely independent; creating a character that is neither likable nor pleasant, at least until the castle walls come down in act three. Naomi Watts, who is proving herself to be Generation Y's Meryl Streep, gives a strong and uncompromising performance as the guarded, man-eating Elizabeth. Kerry Washington's emotional, if not histrionic, take on the mother-to-be is another standout in this starry ensemble cast. Jimmy Smits, Cherry Jones, David Morse, and S. Epatha Merkersn give fine supporting performances as well. Although the biggest surprise came from Samuel L. Jackson, whose turn as a widowed lawyer almost makes you forget "Snakes on a Plane." All of these roles are ones that scream Oscar bait and, at times, their scenes come across like the compilation clip of Best Actor nominees. The only way to ensure a win would be the addition of a handicapped character – oh wait, there's one of those too!
The area where the film falls flat is its script. Many complained that "Crash" was manipulative and forced, but I was able to overlook that, given the film's fable-like tone. Whatever inkling of forced coincidence was in "Crash" has been magnified a hundred fold in "Mother and Child." What should feel organic comes across as utterly manipulative. And soon, the protagonists' lives start to feel more like a big chess game being played by the screenwriter, with the characters becoming more pawns than three-dimensional people. The movie was almost universally predictable, step-by-step. Anyone with a few solid hours of melodrama under their belt can figure out many of the film's twists a good half hour before they happen.
The film falls into cliché-ridden traps far to many times, too. A pivotal line about family being made up of memories rather than bloodlines appears in the middle of the film. Quoted in a somber, self-reflective tone, you can almost see it on the film's posters as it's being said. As if the on-the-nose message wasn't obvious enough, it gets repeated, almost word- for-word by another character not more than 20 minutes later. It quickly becomes this film's "with great power comes great responsibility." Although, the moment the film fully jumped the shark was the introduction of a wise beyond her years teenager, who just happens to be blind. The sagely adolescent bit is tired enough, but the insightful blind person shtick has been overused since "The Odyssey." Shouldn't we move on to exploiting other disabilities?
"Mother and Child" sets out to be a moving weepy whose message is both inspiring and thought-provoking. It would not surprise me if many film-goers are sucked into its overblown vortex. But for every viewer who finds it authentic and riveting, there will be others who feel bored and utterly manipulated.
18 out of 38 found this helpful