Movies for Mother's Day

Today’s episode of Sounds of Cinema featured music from Mother’s Day related films. Here is a recap of the movies discussed on the program as well as some additional titles.

20th Century Women (2016)
Set in the late 1970s, a teenage boy comes of age under the guidance of his mother and two other women. The film features a terrific central cast including Annette Bening, Elle Fanning, Greta Gerwig, and Lucas Jade Zumann.


Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974)
A recently widowed mother takes her son on the road in pursuit of a singing career. Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore features a terrific performance by Ellen Burstyn in the kind of substantive female role that is still all too rare in mainstream motion pictures.


I Remember Mama (1948)
Adapted from the stage play (which was based a novel by Kathryn Forbes), I Remember Mama tells the story of a Norwegian family immigrating to San Francisco in the early twentieth century.


The Joy Luck Club (1993)
Based on the novel by Amy Tan, four Chinese-American women explore their family histories and their relationships with their mothers through a series of flashbacks.


Kill Bill (2003/2004)
Quentin Tarantino’s two-part ode to kung-fu movies does not initially start as a tale about motherhood but this theme emerges over the course of the film. Kill Bill is a revenge story that morphs into a rescue and creates an unexpected emotional payoff in the ending.


Mildred Pierce (1941 & 2011)
James M. Cain’s novel Mildred Pierce tells the story of a working mother who divorces her husband and struggles to raise her difficult daughter. The book was adapted twice, first in 1941 starring Joan Crawford and again in 2011 in a miniseries for HBO that starred Kate Winslet.


Mommie Dearest (1981)
Mommie Dearest was based on the memoir by Christina Crawford which alleged that her mother, screen legend Joan Crawford, was an abusive and erratic train wreck. The film was a commercial success but it was also regarded as an artistic disaster. In the years since, Mommie Dearest has become a cult classic.


Philomena (2013)
A dramatization of the nonfiction book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee by Martin Sixsmith which documented a woman’s search for the son she was forced to put up for adoption while she was living in an Irish convent. Philomena was named one of the ten best movies of 2013 on Sounds of Cinema.


Tallulah (2016)
Ellen Page plays a vagrant young woman who comes across a neglectful high society mother and her toddler. The young woman absconds with the child and takes shelter at the home of her mother’s boyfriend, claiming the child is her own. The film is a thoughtful examination of womanhood and motherhood built around a complex ethical conflict.


Terms of Endearment (1983)
James L. Brooks scored a commercial and critical hit with 1983’s Terms of Endearment. The film takes place over three decades and explores the relationship between a mother and daughter played by Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger.