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Thursday, May 28, 2015

Thursday Movie Picks #46: All in the Family Edition: Mother-Son Relationships (Biologically Related)




Hello there and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks a weekly series where you share three movie picks each Thursday. The rules are simple simple: Each week there is a topic for you to create a list of three movies. Your picks can either be favourites/best, worst, hidden gems, or if you're up to it one of each.For further details visit the series main page here.
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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is All in the Family Edition: Mother-Son Relationships (Biologically Related)

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Every last Thursday for the first nine months of 2015 I'm running the All in the Family Edition and this is the fifth theme for the edition. Here are three of my picks:

Animal Kingdom (2010)
The film follows a criminal family and features the relationships between the family members: between brothers, uncles and nephews, and mother and sons. Jacki Weaver plays Janine the matriarch of the family who may seem like just a loving and fussy mother at first, but she has a very strong hold on all her sons. Animal Kingdom has almost a silent but intense air of menace that permeates throughout the film that have you anticipating something bad to happen at every turn. I highly recommend this movie.
 
Mother (2009)
In Mother, Yoon Do-joon suffers from some unnamed mental/learning disability making him slower than most of his peers. When a girl is murdered, he becomes the prime suspect; it doesn't help that he's too slow to defend himself. Despite Yoon Do-joon being seen as guilty by the police and public, his mother believes he is innocent and will do whatever it takes to prove it; how far will she go to protect her child?

Nowhere Boy (2009)
The movie follows the teen years of John Lennon and features his relationship with his aunt that raised him and his absentee biological mother who comes back into his life after years away. The two women are opposites. One is mature and likes order, The other free-spirited; encouraging Lennon's interest in art and music. Nowhere Boy is kind of the perfect pick today since you'd basically get two mothers here.

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 So that's it...my three picks. What three movies made your list today?

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17 comments:

  1. AnonymousMay 28, 2015 at 12:44 AM

    Phew! You used Mother, so I can strike it from my list and use the other three! I had four I really wanted to use...now I can stick with my three. I need to see Nowhere Boy! Loved both Mother and Animal Kingdom so much. Great picks.

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  2. Brittani BurnhamMay 28, 2015 at 1:11 AM

    I love Animal Kingdom! And Nowhere Boy has been in my Netflix queue for ages. I really need to see that, as I've become a big fan of Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Great picks!

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  3. DellMay 28, 2015 at 1:42 AM

    I've only seen Mother, and it is a wonderful film. Nearly picked it myself.

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  4. Big Screen Small WordsMay 28, 2015 at 7:08 AM

    Haven't seen any of your picks but they all sound interesting. Animal Kingdom and Mother have been in my watch list for far too long.

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  5. DanielMay 28, 2015 at 12:52 PM

    LOVE these! I very nearly picked Animal Kingdom and Mother myself.

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  6. joel65913May 28, 2015 at 8:21 PM

    Animal Kingdom is definitely a portrait of the downside of mother love, Jacki Weaver is brilliant. Nowhere Boy was okay, I didn't love it but Kristin Scott Thomas makes anything better. There for a minute I thought we had picked the same film since I picked a film called Mother as my bonus but it turned out to be another film with the same title. Haven't seen yours.

    My three and bonus pick:

    Beautiful Thing (1996)-Wonderful tale of two youths in working class London and their slow realization as they discover their true natures and fall in love. One, Ste, lives with his abusive father and brother but the other, Jamie, lives with his extremely direct and down to earth mother. Their sometimes combative but always strong relationship is a key factor in the film beautifully played by Linda Henry and Glenn Berry and all set to a great Mama Cass Elliott soundtrack.

    I Could Go On Singing (1963)-Despite being a world famous singer Jenny Bowman played by Judy Garland is lonely and adrift. During an engagement in London she visits an old love, Dr. David Donne played by Dirk Bogarde, with whom she had a son years before. Having relinquished the boy, Mark, with the agreement that David and his wife would raise him as their adopted son, never letting him know his true paternity. However David is now a widower and Mark is living at boarding school. Jenny requests to see him and despite some reservations David allows the visit with a reminder of her promise. Secret mother and son hit it off and while visiting Jenny invites them both to her opening night and again with some trepidation David accepts but then is called away to an emergency in Rome. While he is gone Jenny attempts to forge a relationship with Mark...but will she be able to keep her promise? Not a musical but a drama with musical performances. This was Judy's last film, she and Bogarde have an incredible scene near the end that the two rewrote to make it more impactful, and while not looking her best she's in full command of her talents which she amply demonstrates.

    The Mating Season (1951)-A mother who wants to help her only son allows his new wife to think she's the maid to help them out and not interrupt their "mating season". He objects but she tells him it's this way or she leaves for parts unknown and he reluctantly goes along. Because of their close relationship everything goes along fine at first but then the wife's snobbish mother comes to stay with them and things get rocky. The film is fill of sly humor and terrific performances by all but the real standout is Thelma Ritter as the mother, she was Oscar nominated (in support but she's the lead) and this is the role she should have won for. A real hidden treasure.

    Honorable Mention-Mother (1996)-A neurotic writer (Albert Brooks) moves back in with his mother (Debbie Reynolds) after his second marriage falls apart to try and figure out what's at the root of his problems with personal relationships. Their sometimes contentious usually humorous interchanges, you’ll learn terribly useful things like freezer burn is really just a protective ice coating that must be removed to get to the perfectly good food trapped beneath it!, provide the crux of the story. Debbie drives the film with a warm, non-jokey turn in one of her best performances.

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    Replies
    1. DanielMay 28, 2015 at 9:18 PM

      Joel, you should absolutely see Bong Joon-Ho's Mother. Kim Hye-Ja is really incredible in the title role.

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    2. WandererJune 3, 2015 at 11:47 PM

      As usual Joel, I don't think I've heard any of your picks before. I definitely agree with Daniel...the ending of it is shocking.

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  7. AnonymousMay 28, 2015 at 9:06 PM

    The only one I've seen is Animal Kingdom but it's a cool call that I didn't even think of. Jacki Weaver was fantastic in that.

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    1. WandererJune 3, 2015 at 11:54 PM

      I can understand that; The movie is J's story. But Janine is such a strong character and Jacki Weaver gave a standout performance.

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  8. WhitneyMay 29, 2015 at 12:47 AM

    Animal Kingdom is the only movie I've seen on your list, it was several years ago but thought it was interesting.

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  9. Katie HoganMay 29, 2015 at 4:26 AM

    I have been dying to see Animal Kingdom for ages, the story just clicked with me. Interesting picks, completely forgot about Nowhere Boy.

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  10. AnonymousMay 29, 2015 at 6:01 AM

    https://sarahblogger94.wordpress.com/2015/05/28/thursday-movie-picks-motherson-relationships/
    Here's mine. :) "Animal Kingdom" was a good choice- I just thought of it after I finished the list and I was like "Damn!"

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  11. UnknownMay 29, 2015 at 10:34 AM

    Animal Kingdom! Every time she kissed one of her sons, I felt like I needed a scalding shower.

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    1. WandererJune 3, 2015 at 11:59 PM

      I know right! She had power over them, big strong men, and she this tiny lady.

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  12. MyerlaMay 31, 2015 at 4:20 AM

    I've had Animal Kingdom in my DVD collection for...er....abut three years and never watched it. Perhaps I should...heard nothing but great things about it

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    Replies
    1. WandererJune 4, 2015 at 12:09 AM

      Totally understand. I didn't want to watch It for a long while because with a title like Animal Kingdom it just sounds so menacing and I wast just never in the mood to see it.

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