FOUR MOTHERS
(Darren Thornton, Ireland, 2024, 89 minutes)
Just because I don't have kids doesn't mean my life has no value."
--Edward (James McArdle) to his mother
Darren Thornton's followup to his directorial debut, 2016's pleasingly prickly A Date for Mad Mary--also cowritten with his brother Colin--revolves around mild-mannered Edward (Mare of Easttown's
James McArdle, a Scottish actor with a credible Irish accent), a
put-upon YA novelist who doubles as a caretaker for Fionnula Flanagan's Alma, his
81-year-old widowed mother.
Alma, who is
recovering from a stroke, can't walk or talk, but her mind is sharp, and
she communicates by way of a robot-voiced speech tablet. Edward's
best friends–even his longtime therapist–are all in similar straits. They may love their
mothers, but care-taking can get pretty exhausting.
Worse
yet, Edward has a book to promote, but he can't leave Alma alone, and
when he suggests alternatives, she resists. If he can afford a cute physiotherapist, his ex-boyfriend Raf (Gaetan Garcia), he can't afford round-the-clock home care, and I get it. When my mom was receiving that kind of care, the
cost was $11,000 per month before she moved to assisted
living.
Then, the two friends and the therapist, all of whom are gay, dump their
mothers (nicely played by Stella McCusker, Dearbhla Molloy, and Paddy Glynn) on Edward to attend a pride fest weekend in Spain, and his problems
quadruple. I'd say he needs new friends, but that's a matter for another
day. The friends are thoughtless, the ladies are demanding, and he's a doormat.
If you've seen
Gianni Di Gregorio's 2008 film, Mid-August Lunch, which served as inspiration, the basic outline may seem familiar, though most of the details have been changed, like the fact that Edward is both younger and gayer than Di Gregorio's unemployed, debt-ridden, wine-sozzled bachelor.
Left: Flanagan in Four Brothers
Four Mothers has its comic moments, but it's more melancholic than Thelma,
in which June Squibb and Richard Roundtree hopped on motorized scooters to
expose a con artist targeting seniors, but it's certainly more upbeat
than John Singleton's 2005 western-inspired crime thriller Four Brothers
in which Flanagan plays the adoptive mother of sons
played by Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, André Benjamin, and Garrett
Hedlund. When their beloved Irish-American matriarch meets her maker,
they band together to avenge her death. Let it not be said that Ms.
Flanagan lacks range.
Though I missed hearing her speak in Thornton's film, she makes her presence known, much as Alan Arkin did in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter and Tilda Swinton in A Bigger Splash, other films in which gifted actors brought complex characters to
life with every tool at their disposal–except their voice. Nonetheless, the real star of the show is James McArdle, an experienced supporting actor of stage and screen, proving here he can easily command the screen--and your sympathies--as the leading man.
After the Four Mothers screening with writer Colin Thornton in attendance, the opening night party begins on 9th and Pine at 9:30pm with drink tickets, food trucks, and music from KEXP DJ Darek Mazzone. Since this year's theme is Escape to the Reel World, vacation-oriented attire is suggested.
For more information about the opening night festivities, click here. Four Mothers is one of three Irish films playing at this year's SIFF. In the next dispatch, I cover Blue Road, a profile of Edna O'Brien. The third, Ready or Not, plays next week. Images: MSP Film Society (Gaetan Garcia, Fionnula Flanagan, Stella McCusker, Dearbhla Molloy, Paddy Glynn) and Plymouth Arts Cinema (James McArdle and Flanagan), and the IMDb (Flanagan).
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