“I will look after you and I will look after anybody you say needs to be looked after, any way you say. I am here. I brought my whole self to you. I am your mother.”

Author Maya Angelou from Mom & Me & Mom clearly knew what motherhood was about. Being a mother comes with conditionally love, affection and devotion to your kid(s) but also with uncertainty, vulnerability, and anxiety. With his latest film, Rodrigo Sorogoyen (May God Save Us, Frágiles) brings those struggles to the big screen with his incredible heart-wrenching Mother (Madre).

Even though this movie will be about emotions, nothing reveals that at the very beginning. It’s all quiet, dreamy and peaceful on the French seaside. However, it doesn’t take long before things take an unforeseen and very dramatic turn. While entering her house in Spain and chatting about the joys of life with her mother (Blanca Apilánez), Marta (Marta Nieto) receives a frightening and alarming telephone call from her 6-years old son Ivan (Álvaro Balas). After an afternoon in on the French seaside, his father hasn’t returned to get him so he’s being left alone, confused, disorientated and full of fear on the beach. Marta is trying to guide her son back to the cabin over the phone but the situation goes from bad to worse when her son’s telephone battery is running very low and her son sees a dark and mysterious figure.

From the very first second, Marta and her mother welcome you with open arms in their light, cosy and heart-warming flat and are clearly letting you into their lives. When both women embark the emotional rollercoaster in the search of their (grand)son, they’re taking you with them on a ride that will you leave breathless at the end of the movie. The intriguing and chilling music takes this movie to a whole new level

Another reason why this is such a gripping and moving film is actress Marta Nieto who’s taking on the role as the heartbroken and suffering mother. The Spanish actress from short films such as Zarpazo and Supercool gives an incredibly gripping and moving performance and you feel the pain, grief, and agony going right in the core of your body.  Blanca Apilánez (I Know Who You Are, El Caso. Crónica de sucesos) is wonderfully emotional at the grandmother who’s trying to do everything she can to help her daughter while giving her the moral support she desperately needs. We don’t see Ivan during this short film but fear and despair that runs through his voice make from Mother the great movie that it is.

This newest work from Rodrigo Sorogoyen won the award for Best Short film at the Miami Film Festival in 2018 and we’re sure that it will be able to take more prestigious awards home soon. It’s a short film about every parent’s worse nightmare portrayed by the incredibly captivating Marta Nieto that will captivate you from start to finish.

Liselotte Vanophem, Film and Celebrity Reporter – Just Celebrity Magazine