Sunday, June 22, 2008

Mom's Girl

Author: Juan Ascencio
Location: Mexico

"Mom's Girl"

Directed by: Stephen Daldry
Screenplay by Buck Henry
Music by Gustavo Santoalalla

Principal Cast:

Sophia Blanchard- Julianne Moore
Natasha Walters- Naomi Watts
Charles Norton- Jamie Bell
Patrick Norton-Jeff Daniels

Tagline: "A mother’s life is always sincere but not always understood"

Synopsis: Sophia is a divorced working woman whose marriage failure was caused by a severe lack of communication with her husband and confusing feeling that she hid to her family. She lives with her teenage son, Charlie, and her daughter Maureen; even she tries to live peacefully and demonstrate them her sincere love, both blame her for their father’s abandonment, causing a pitiful family instability. Feeling lonely and confused, Sophia finds unconditional understanding and support with one of her best friends, a woman called Natasha, who seems to be confused about her feelings just like her. Both clear their feelings up and their innocent friendship turns into a secret romance. Charlie discovers her mother’s secret relationship and runs away, getting involved in serious drug problems. Sophia’s life becomes a real torment when she has to help her son and solve many other problems such as her daughter’s exaggerated reject, her husband’s resentment and all the difficulties that her new relationship will bring to her life, counting only with the companion of her unconditional friend, Natasha, and the hope of getting her children trust back.

What the press would say:

Mom’s girl is film full with real aspects of real life, in the story, we can witness the way human beings surrender to their internal emotions whenever they have a chance as a way of escape from a tired routine life, totally consumed by social pressures that force them to develop an established identity. When this happens, that person leaves behind all those thing that became them a “normal” person, such as love.

It is really special the authenticity that Julianne Moore gives to her role, Sophia, having the power of making us part of her confusion and need to escape from a existence full of conflicts and the devastating consequences of her actions, the loss of her children’s love and the fear of finding support in a forbidden relationship. Naomi Watts is also impeccable, showing a tremendous acting capacity and capturing her character, who suffers a hard emotional crisis that only ends when she meets Sophia, but that causes another crisis that makes her feel guilty. Jamie Bell and Jeff Daniels add the necessary bitterness to the story, that indirectly helps Sophia to find herself, without ignoring their own identity, characters hurt by life looking desperately for a solution to their problems. Evan R. Wood, as Maureen, makes a perfect performance, playing a girl that, without understanding her mother’s pain, gets emotionally affected, trying to blame someone for all her sadness.

In conclusion we can say that Stephen Daldry made an extraordinary work, paying attention to every detail, directing a great team that makes the story a real piece of art. The screenplay by Buck Henry is a true jewel to movies, and the music by Santoalalla is the perfect frame to represent human loneliness and confusion. This kind of projects can not be ignored by the AMPAS because of its originality, sensitivity, touching performances and the big talent of Stephen Daldry directing a big team

Awards for consideration:

Best Picture
Best director (Stephen Daldry)
Actress in a leading role (Julianne Moore)
Supporting Actress (Naomi Watts)
Supporting Actor (Jamie Bell, Jeff Daniels)
Original Screenplay
Music Score

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