Motherhood

Katherine Dieckmann

Eliza Welsh (Uma Thurman) is the frazzled mother of a six-year-old girl and a toddler boy. She is trying not to lose her identity by writing and she needs to come up with a short essay on motherhood for a shot at landing a column.

Naturally, the deadline is on the day she has to put together her daughter’s birthday party.

Thurman (Kill Bill: Vol. 1, 2003) manages to look good despite being harried by her husband (Anthony Edwards) and harassed by a movie shoot taking place on her street. She even makes the sometimes selfish Eliza sympathetic.

Writer-director Katherine Dieckmann also uses the New York setting to good effect. She works in celeb-spotting (Jodie Foster in a game cameo) at a public park playground and gently pokes fun at neurotic parents. However, she does not have much to offer beyond generic motherhood statements and Hallmark sentiments on the subject of parenting.

For a more rewarding exploration of the maternal instinct, check out Bong Joon Ho’s Mother instead.

(ST)