Another trailer that has been knocking around for awhile is for Rodrigo Garcia’s “Mother and Child.”
The warm reception awarded to the film at the 2009 Toronto Film Festival can charitably be called surprising, given the tenuous success rate for the hard-hitting-ensemble-drama genre in recent years. For every “Babel” and “Crash” – two films that were successful, awards season bait – there are complete misfires like “The Burning Plain” or “Crossing Over.”
But Garcia has proven himself to be a subtle talent with previous efforts “Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her” and “Nine Lives,” two admittedly dry actress showcases that weren’t particularly “sexy,” but were certainly involving. “Mother and Child” looks to be a return to intimate form for Garcia, following the jumbled Anne Hathaway-starring mess that was “Passengers.”
The topic is adoption, the actors are household names (Naomi Watts, Samuel L. Jackson, Annette Bening), and the trailer is worrisomely overwrought, all tinkly-piano and forlorn gazes. But given the talent involved, it just might work. Watts has been wasted since, oh, “I Heart Huckabees,” Jackson hasn’t been in a true adult drama in about a decade, and Annette “If I don’t get an supporting Oscar for this or ‘The Kids Are All Right’ I might as well call it a day” Bening seems ideal as a woman still dealing with the effects of giving up a child years earlier (“I have nothing to give,” would be just fine for a nominees’ clip, thank you).
Popping up in smaller roles are such old reliables as Cherry Jones (back in the nun’s habit again), David Morse, Jimmy Smits, Kerry Washington, Shareeka Epps (the little girl from “Half Nelson”) and S. Epatha Merkerson, a sign that Garcia’s eye for creating a well-oiled ensemble remains strong. If he avoids the sledgehammer “profundity” of Alejandro González Iñárritu and Paul Haggis at their worst, “Mother and Child” might draw a nice audience seeking a breath of human drama amidst the early summer cinema stampede.
“Mother and Child” opens on May 7. — Christopher Schobert