Mother and Child

Deb 5 Me 8

A few years ago there was a delightful little movie called Juno. In it a young girl decides to give her baby up for adoption. She is a sharp gal with a great attitude, who has the support of her parents, making it a light-hearted look at the issue of adoption. Mother and Child would be the opposite of Juno. The anti-Juno. There are few healthy minded people here.

A lot of famous people signed on for this one. There are actors from TVs The Practice, two from Law and Order and two from NYPD Blue. They are joined with several big name movie stars and a few who are just recognizable; but there’s a boatload of talent here. Coming in at just over two hours, it feels like a long movie. The movie touches on a lot of topics, from workplace relations to religion, and makes no real stand on anything.

There is no joy in Mudville. Not a feel-good movie (although it eventually succumbs to typical Hollywood formulas), it did keep me watching. Acting is credible throughout. Although I didn’t really like many of the characters, the story kept me wondering what decision they’d make next. Before and after rack focus shots there is a tendency for scenes to stay out of focus longer than expected, but after I realized it was a tool, I kind of liked it.

Most stories seem to be based on dysfunctional people struggling through life’s perils making questionable decisions and getting happy endings. A typical post-Disney Disney formula. Biopics are usually the same formula except they are about famous people and have tragic endings. This movie shows us that even the mundane people on the street have the ability to make the same dreadful mistakes as celebrities.

The movie presents activities that are to be resolved after the movie ends. We don’t see the consequences of some of the actions, we can only speculate about them. Usually this pisses me off, but in this case it adds an air of real life credibility to the movie. I like adoption, and this film took an odd stance of presenting the perils of adoption, how it can ill-affect so many people's lives. But I really got the feeling these people are just goners and if it weren't this issue it would be something else. I gave it a lot of points, not because it was light or happy or even interesting. It was just a new type of train wreck that I couldn’t turn away from. Deb gave it a five, a much more realistic rating for the story.