Earth Mama, 2023.
Written and Directed by Savanah Leaf.
Starring Tia Nomore, Erika Alexander, Doechii, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Dominic Fike, Bokeem Woodbine, Keta Price, Kami Jones, Slim Yani, and Marley Thompson.
SYNOPSIS:
An intimate coming-of-age story of a pregnant single mother who embraces her Bay Area community as she determines the fate of her family.
Writer/director Savanah Leaf’s riveting character study Earth Mama (based on her and Taylor Russell’s short film The Heart Still Hums, but with a perspective reversal) offers a devastatingly moody look into how institutions such as foster care or practices such as adoption, while meant to be helpful and provide better lives for the children of a flawed parent (it is implied that she was heavily addicted to drugs), also serve as painful reminders of that guardian’s failure to live up to those expectations. It’s familiar storytelling from a different enlightening angle.
Tia Nomore’s Gia (perhaps wordplay on Gaia) is a 24-year-old woman who receives monitored visitation rights to her young children. They greet her presence differently, with one ecstatic to see her, hopeful that they can come home soon, while the other turns away from her, refusing to say a word, perhaps feeling abandoned or betrayed by her mother. Gia does have a court case coming up where she might be able to regain custody, provided CPS inspections go well, but she is also expecting another baby (and any day within the month, judging from the appearance of her baby bump).
Gia attends mandated group therapy sessions but doesn’t open up much during them. Instead, Savanah Leaf allows her documentarian instincts to take over, letting viewers get to know other mother characters and what troubles they are facing and trying to overcome. Still, the silent treatment during the sessions is also counterproductive toward Gia getting her children back on good behavior. Then again, such requirements, including receiving signatures from friends and relatives that she is fit to be a mother, are also insulting (she verbally lashes out at a polite caseworker, humiliated that she needs a “gold star” from loved ones to dictate that she is a supportive and loving mother.
Nevertheless, Gia wants what’s best for her children, expressing an interest in possibly giving up the third baby for adoption. She is even set up with a well-meaning family who treats her with kindness and respect, detailing private reasons for their desire to adopt. However, Gia sometimes reacts in offputting ways, not because she is unlikeable but because everything about this situation is a harsh reminder of her failures. She also doesn’t have much family to lean on for advice and support (her sister is a drug dealer), whereas her best friend is more concerned with a new relationship and pushing religious ideologies onto her. There is also the possibility that this all might become overwhelming and cause Gia to relapse.
Savanah Leaf wisely doesn’t judge Gia with Earth Mama, but gives just enough information about her work, surroundings, and who she is as a person for viewers to understand her behavior and not only why young mothers might have trouble trusting social support systems, but how those very structures could further psychologically break someone. This is also aided by a tender, soulful, emotional arrest and performance from Tia Nomore. The ending is perhaps wrapped up a bit too clean, and some more details regarding the iinner lives of Gia and her family could have further fleshed out the generational cycle aspect, but the journey there is an absorbing character study.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
