Solidrariol Am I Missing Something?

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Borserie it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

Karlee The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Prismark10 The Mother is a harsh, severe film about relationship and families. The characters are not physically abusive but mentally with children who simply do not care or are just distant from their parents.The emptiness of the parent-child relationship is there to see from the beginning as we see Peter Vaughan and Anne Reid travelling on the train to London to see their selfish son and equally selfish daughter.Reid soon becomes a widow and lives with her children for a while and starts an affair with his son's friend and builder (Daniel Craig) who also happens to be married as well as having an affair himself with Reids's daughter.Reid who raised her children, had a job and was almost dutiful to her husband is emotionally re-awakened by her affair with the youthful and physical Craig and this is depicted by her etchings. Contrast this when her daughter tries to set her up with an older man for which she has no emotional connection.The film does not entirely explain why Craig beds Reid, or why the children are so selfish and even bitter. The ending leaves a visceral punch to the gut. Almost all the characters are unlikable but at least Reid makes a journey of discovery and decides she does not want to waste away in her former marital home.The film is uneven, its a glorified television film but writer Hanif Kureshi, despite a few sex scenes handles the themes in a more sensitive and subtle manner than his earlier works.

rondine This movie is a haunting slice of life because it takes people, complicated, humanly weak and messed-up people and lets their complexities speak for themselves.The titular character, May (Anne Reid) is COMPLETELY believable as a widow who has subjugated her whole life to being a wife and mother. There are things about this movie that remind me of "Shirley Valentine" and "The Subject was Roses" - yet it stands on its own as a powerful story of many people, all trying to find their way.There are many relationships - daughter, son, mother, handyman - yet they all intersect in a way that is complex and mirrors life more than the average movie - luckily for us the viewers, this movie is anything but average. There will be some that will be put-off by the sexually explicit scenes and drawings- yet to leave them out would be a cheat in a movie like this one. It is about someone that is closer to the end than the beginning trying to live and do the things that we take for granted when we are young. It puts the issue of ageism right in your face and if you are honest, it makes you ask, as she does in the movie, "Why not?"All of the performances are first rate and believable. Add to that wonderfully realistic dialog, beautiful, natural cinematography and a lovely score and you have a real gem.I don't want to go too far into details of the movie because it is one to be experienced. Even trying to write a review I felt someone inadequate to the task because this is a movie that you must feel as you watch it. That said, I highly recommend this movie- I haven't stopped thinking about it since I saw it days ago.

Sebastian (sts-26) The Mother is one of those films that you know is good, maybe even great, but it is like eating vegetables or doing math homework is to a kid - too much work and a whole lot of pain to get invested in.The story is potentially distasteful in many ways: the death of a character within the first half hour, the December-May romance, the idea of a man cheating on his wife and then cheating on his lover with her mother, the collection of weak and rather unpleasant thirty-something characters, the apparent indifference of the adults to the children in their lives. This movie was made in the 2002 or 2003, but is a throw back to a collection of British (usually made-for-TV) movies from the late 1980's - it has a moral severity that never lets up, which produces an enveloping throbbing angst.The Mother is flawless, but that is in part the problem; if a film dealing with so many sensitive issues has some flaws - inconsistencies of script, some lesser actors - it takes the edge off, but if such a film is so pitch perfect, the experience of watching it is raw and painful. Even the technical qualities - lighting, editing, etc. - make the viewer ache; the London in this movie is bright and open, filled with harsh, cutting light.If you are tough as nails, or are one of those super-sensitive people who likes to torture themselves with gut-wrenching sad movies or novels, then you will enjoy The Mother. Anyone in between, give it a miss, or be prepared to squirm. And be warned: as tough as the movie is from beginning to near-end, the worst is to come.Toward the end of the movie, the mother asks her daughter what she can do to make up for it (for having slept with her boyfriend), and the daughter calmly says that she has thought about it and would like to hit her. The mother agrees to this, they both stand up, and - instead of a well primed slap - the daughter clenches her fist and delivers a boxer's blow. Argh!!!

Poseidon-3 In what has to rank as one of the mainstream cinema's most daunting pieces of subject matter, this BBC produced film explores the sexual relationship between a 60-something woman and a handyman 30 years her junior. Reid plays a grandmother (pushing 70!) whose feeble husband has managed to keep her tied to him and mostly subservient to him throughout their marriage (mostly due to the times, more than from a deliberate cruelty on his part.) While visiting their upwardly mobile and emotionally distant son in London (and also their daughter, who lives in the same vicinity), the husband (Vaughn) dies abruptly. Faced with a life of sitting in a chair watching the telly, Reid decides to return to London and reconnect with her children and grandchildren, who barely know her. Her extraordinarily neurotic and selfish daughter (Bradshaw) is carrying on an affair with the same handyman (Craig) who is building a conservatory onto the son's townhouse and asks Reid for advice about how to handle him. As Reid begins to strike up an acquaintance with Craig, she begins to find him appealing to herself and starts to unlock a lot of pent up feelings regarding her long lost sexuality and feelings of intimacy. Craig, who appreciates Reid's kind manner and thoughtful intellect, becomes drawn to her as well, causing plenty of drama and turmoil in an already unstable family. What could have been the world's most tawdry and tasteless film is saved by the deeply committed performance of Reid in the title role. She is given plenty of time to paint her character before the more sensationalistic scenes take place. It's a bit of a commentary on society that there's any discomfort at all in seeing a woman in her late 60's go to bed with a man far younger when when do the same thing quite frequently, but the disparity exists nonetheless. The scenes here are handled about as well as they could be in presenting the passion and sexuality of the situation without becoming too explicit. Craig does a very nice job here as well (displaying a much skinnier and less tantalizing body that he would later present in "Casino Royale"), but his character does seem to pendulum a lot with little or no explanation. He and Reid establish a nice chemistry between them in the scenes prior to their sexual liaisons. Other performances are strong, if not always appealing. Davies appears as a suitor more close to Reid's age and is alternately pleasant and repellent. The pace of the film is sure to test the patience of some viewers as it takes its time to build the story and includes a lot of quiet, dreamy scenes. London has rarely been presented this sunnily (the director also did "Notting Hill") which makes for a nice contrast to the sometimes downbeat goings-on. The film was shot using only natural or ambient light which may be why the director shot during so many sunny periods versus the stereotypical cloudy ones. It's a challenging work, but not without rewards. Just as in 1955's "All That Heaven Allows", a widow with two snotty children, who long for her to stay at home with the TV, creates a stir when she begins seeing a younger laborer with whom she's established an emotional connection. Now, of course, it's been ratcheted up with sexuality and the angle of the man being the daughter's lover as well, but the story thrust is pretty much the same.