Mom & Me – Film Review by Frank L

Directed by Ken Wardrop

His and Hers was Ken Wardrop’s successful documentary released in 2009. The subjects of those interviews were Irish girls and women of a variety of ages talking about their brothers, husbands, fathers and sons. In Mom and Me he concentrates on the relationship between a man and his mother. His chosen territory is Oklahoma city which has been recently proclaimed the manliest city in the Unites States, whatever that might mean and goodness knows how it could be judged. In order to connect with his subjects, Wardrop uses the callers to Joe Cristiano’s radio show which is receiving requests from sons for their mothers coming up to Mother’s Day. This stratagem provided a rich haul of mothers and sons as Wardrop goes to visit the callers and their Moms.

There is an easy, unforced intimacy in the relationships which Wardrop so generously observes. Mostly but not always, the sons are visiting the mothers in their homes and the pleasure of the mothers as they spend quiet time with their son on their home turf is palpable. Indeed the pleasure is mutual as is made clear by an early sequence of a mother assisting a son to choose a suitable straw hat from a vast number in a shop. She wants her boy (a very big man) to look his best. It is clear that each has a profound respect and love for the other.

None of the mothers or sons are exemplary, each has faults which are not difficult to discern but it is the patent humanity on display which is so captivating. Each mother and each son is an individual whose various characteristics are for the most part commonplace. It makes for a documentary into which every man is easily drawn as each has a mother. It would be interesting to know how mothers of sons react to the documentary and also women who have not had a son.  Wardrop in this well-executed documentary has made universal the complex bond that exists at the heart of the relationship between a mother and a son, some achievement in itself.

It is not often that a film seems to be a little short in duration. Maybe leaving the cinema wanting to see more is another compliment to be paid to Wardrop. It is a documentary to be seen.