Mother Roger Mitchell

After her husband passes away on a family visit, grandmother May (a commanding Anne Reid) stays with her son Bobby (Steven Mackintosh) in suburban London. Bobby is a yuppie who looks more successful than he appears; he is a family man with a wife, kids and a house under renovation. The genial builder is Darren (Daniel Craig), a married man having an affair with May's daughter, Paula. Paula (Cathryn Bradshaw) is a single parent and struggling writer who suffers pent-up conflicts with her mum. May winds up having an affair with Darren, a man half her age. On the surface, this May-November romance is what The Mother is about. Really, the film concerns a woman in her 60s discovering her long-repressed identity. May is part of a vanishing generation of British women that never pursued a career so that she could care for her children and husband. Her husband's death awakens May and she explores unexplored corners of her life. She visits the Tate Gallery, puts on make-up and wears colourful clothes. Most of all, she discovers her hidden sexuality, which remains undimmed over the years. This personal exploration, however, wrecks her family. Though director Roger Mitchell does a fine job capturing the mood and tempo of this sensitive drama, The Mother is Hanif Kureishi's film. One of England's best writers, Kureishi focuses on different segments of modern British society in his films: South Asians and homosexuals in My Beautiful Launderette; London leftists in Sammy and Rosie Get Laid; or down-and-outers in London Kills Me. He continues to impress with The Mother, which bravely explores seniors and sexuality, a subject that Hollywood would rather ignore. (Mongrel Media)