Mother and Child (2009)

This is Colombian writer/director Rodrigo García's fourth delicate, smart, ironic ensemble piece about women and I just loved it. Starring Annette Bening, Naomi Watts, and Kerry Washington, who are all superb, it's about longing for maternal relationships and, often, women behaving badly. They refuse to fit in the way society expects them to, they tell their own truths, and they live their lives their own way. García's earlier ensemble pieces were Things You Can Tell Just By Looking at Her (2000), Ten Tiny Love Stories (2001), and Nine Lives (2005), and he also wrote/directed/produced much of In Treatment for HBO, among other things. He writes/directs women very well.

Bening (deservedly Oscar-nominated for The Grifters (1990), American Beauty (1999), and Being Julia (2004); some of my other faves are Running with Scissors (2006), The American President (1995), and Bugsy (1991) during which filming she met her husband Warren Beatty) plays Karen as dead inside, with her pain palpable behind her pale, drawn face (though we did laugh at some of her prickly, almost Asperger's outbursts). Watts' (first noticed in Hollywood for David Lynch's creative Mullholland Dr. (2001), she was Oscar-nominated for 21 Grams (2003), many of you will remember her in the Peter Jackson King Kong (2005) remake, and I really liked her in We Don't Live Here Anymore (2004) and The Painted Veil (2006)--my loyal readers know how much I liked that) Elizabeth is better than Karen at blending in socially and professionally but she has her own extremes, which I will leave unsaid. Washington (not only is she powerful onscreen, she has been cast in some fabulous movies, e.g. The United States of Leland (2003), The Human Stain (2003), Ray (2004), The Last King of Scotland (2006), Lakeview Terrace; and, although Chris Rock's I Think I Love My Wife (2007) may not have been noteworthy, her performance as the temptress was) does the most emoting as Lucy, which is welcome compared to the other two.

The excellent supporting cast includes several García veterans: Amy Brenneman, Elizabeth Peña, Lisa Gay Hamilton, as well as Samuel L. Jackson, Jimmy Smits, Eileen Ryan, S. Epatha Merkerson, David Morse, and especially Shareeka Epps, who was so good in Half Nelson (2006), as the deep-voiced pregnant girl Ray. The soundtrack (by Ed Shearmur, who has collaborated with García before; plus a few songs--here's Little One) is delightful. You can preview some tracks on amazon or iTunes. Among the executive producers are Mexican directors Alfonso Cuarón (Y tu mamá también (2001)) and Alejandro González Iñárritu (Amores Perros (2000), Babel (2006), and 21 Grams). Good company. Go see it!