Film
My Mother and I
A nineteen-minute Dutch film about a daughter itching to leave home and the mother who can't quite let go. It's tender and uncomfortable in equal measure, finding the love and resentment that can live in the same breath. A small, fierce portrait of how we become ourselves by breaking away from the people who made us.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you love small, intimate dramas about a parent and grown child, where the quiet friction between two people in a car does more than any big event could.
Skip it if you want plot momentum or a clear arc; this is short, talky and built on mood, and its emotional weight arrives slowly rather than in set pieces.
What it asks of you: Nineteen minutes of close attention with no filler, moving at the unhurried pace of a long drive, and it stays emotionally tangled rather than tidying anything up.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Moonlight2016
Three chapters of a young man's life as he figures out who he is, told with such visual poetry and restraint that silence does more work than dialogue. You'll feel seen if you've ever been caught between versions of yourself.
But Glacially paced and sparse. If you need plot momentum or someone to explain what's happening, you'll feel adrift.
The Farewell2019
A family gathering in China becomes the stage for a woman torn between two cultures, two ways of being. It finds humour and heartbreak in the same moment—the way families actually operate when nobody's performing.
But Builds quietly. Early scenes feel like setup, which means some viewers check out before the emotional impact lands.
Aftersun2022
A father and daughter on holiday; the small gestures between them tell a story the dialogue never quite does. Aching and oblique and true. It sits with you differently the second time.
But Very little happens. If you want clarity about what the film is really saying, you won't get it, and that ambiguity frustrates some people.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from My Mother and I
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
The Climb2020
Both centre on a journey (literal and emotional) that doesn't resolve cleanly, where the relationship IS the story, and small moments carry the whole weight.
Two men try to cycle across Europe to scatter a friend's ashes. It's structurally a road film but thematically about how grief reorganises a friendship and whether people can change. Funny and devastating without ever deciding which one to be.
But The tone whipsaws. Comedy undercuts pathos, which undercuts joy. If you need emotional consistency, it's maddening. Some see it as unfocused.
More like this (8)
Cléo from 5 to 71962
A woman moves through Paris waiting for test results. Agnès Varda captures the texture of a single afternoon with such specificity and style that time itself becomes the subject. French New Wave minimalism at its most generous.
But Barely a plot. It's a mood piece about a woman's internal life, not a narrative that builds to anything you'd call a climax.
The Son2022
A divorced father realises his teenage son is in crisis. Florian Zeller makes you feel the weight of responsibility and the helplessness of love simultaneously. Piercing and very quiet.
But Relentlessly bleak. There's no comic relief, no redemptive turn. It's a film about someone drowning who may not be saved.
Manchester by the Sea2016
A man forced to return to his hometown and reckon with grief and guilt he's spent years outrunning. Kenneth Lonergan writes dialogue like real people speak—fractured, repetitive, full of what goes unsaid.
But Glacial pacing and misery without sentimentality. Some find it punishing. It refuses to let you off the emotional hook.
Minari2021
A Korean-American family chases the American dream on an Arkansas farm. It's about migration, belonging, generational difference, and what you're willing to sacrifice. Tender and rooted in the specifics of a real life.
But Quietly paced with a large non-professional cast. The story meanders; it's not engineered for maximum impact.
A Ghost Story2017
A ghost, represented by a white sheet, watches the world move on without him. It sounds gimmicky but it's a profound meditation on time, loss, and what it means to be left behind. Strange and hypnotic.
But The central conceit could feel precious. The middle section is deliberately tedious. It requires patience and a willingness to sit with strangeness.
First Reformed2018
A priest in upstate New York grapples with faith, climate anxiety, and his powerlessness to change anything. Paul Schrader's handheld camera and monochrome palette make despair look like art. It's difficult and unforgettable.
But Oppressively dark. There's no comfort here, spiritual or otherwise. The protagonist's crisis mirrors yours if you're already anxious about the state of things.
Stalker1979
Both are interested in what happens in the space between two people—where resentment and love coexist, where desire meets resistance, where nothing is straightforward.
Tarkovsky's masterpiece: a guide leads two men through a mysterious zone toward a room that may grant wishes. It's science fiction as spiritual meditation, about desire and disappointment and the gap between wanting and having. Slow cinema at its most hypnotic.
But One hundred and sixty-three minutes of philosophical dialogue and long takes. If you're watching for plot or spectacle, you're watching the wrong film. It demands surrender.
Red Road2006
Both explore the bind between a mother (or the role of mother) and the person she's tethered to—how proximity breeds both love and resentment, how we trap each other.
A woman monitors CCTV cameras in Glasgow. When she spots a man from her past, she begins a plan she can't quite articulate. Andrea Arnold's debut is about surveillance, obsession, and the ways mothers and daughters are prisoners of circumstance. Raw and unsettling.
But Bleak and sexually violent. It doesn't explain itself. Some scenes are hard to watch, and the ending offers no catharsis, only damage.
People
Cast
Directing
- Emma BranderhorstDirector
Writing
- Emma BranderhorstIdea
- Nena van DrielWriter
Production
- Annely ValkLine Producer
- Joram WillinkProducer
- Piet-Harm SterkProducer