Filmsane

Have you heard of This is My Life? I couldn’t blame if you haven’t. But it’s my favorite Mother’s day movie of mine. I remember watching it a lot with my mom growing up, and on several occasions even on Mother’s day as well.

My mom loves this movie. Furthermore, I adore this movie as well. It’s one of my cozy, warm, and wonderful flicks that somehow make me feel better. It gives me that warm feeling, similar to a warm bowl of soup or a mug of hot cocoa can give.

This is my life is a special movie for me. Not just because my mom loves it, and I adore my mom too. No, part of the appeal is because we watched it together. So many times I might add. And we wouldn’t get sick of it. Perhaps she loved it so much because it had similarities with her own life. Much like the main character Dottie Ingels (Julie Kavner), she is also a mother of two daughters. And despite being married, with my dad’s absence growing up she felt like a single mom left on her own. On childbearing, household work, and even her career.

I watched it yesterday again with my mom, and frankly, it made her so happy. I revoked a nice memory of our time together and it made her feel good and special. I loved that.

But what’s the movie about? Well, first and foremost it’s Norah Ephron’s directorial debut. She wrote the script with her sister Delia Ephron, and a notable thing about the movie is that it’s filled with female presence.

The three main characters are females, and even some of the supporting ones are ladies too. Julie Kavner plays Dottie. A single mother to two girls Opal (Gabby Hoffman) and Erica (Samantha Mathis), who works as a cosmetics saleslady. She aspires to be a successful comedian and decides to put her career and life on hold to pursue her dream. But that means that she’ll have to be on the road for a large amount of the time, and away from her daughters. Will the sacrifice be worth it, or the daughters will start to resent her absence?

I’m telling you this is Nora Ephron’s finest movie. Its peak 90’s, it’s set in one of my favorite cities ever –New York and it’s filled with strong female presence. Kavner is a bad-ass bitch character is one of the best I’ve seen, while her daughters are sarcastic, critical, smart, and sassy. Just like her.

Not to mention that Carrie Fisher and Dan Aykroyd have very small but memorable roles here. But the movie as a whole is hilarious, touching, and emotional at the same time. It touches on some issues that very few people talk about nowadays. Is it OK for a parent to leave the kids at home (sometimes unsupervised) to pursue a career? And what happens when the help of childbearing runs out? The absent father theme is present as well here, and so is female sexuality.

This Is My Life was ahead of its time. Who knows, maybe because of all these (let’s call them controversial) themes were the reason the film got lukewarm reviews. I don’t like to thinks so, but at the same time, I think it’s true.

And if you’re a fan of Julie Kavner’s work (that’s not animated), then this is the perfect film for you. She wears polka-dots. She is hilarious and you’ll fall in love with her character. And the one-liners are fantastic!

Life lesson: Everyone in the world is two phone calls from everyone else in the world you just need to know who the phone calls are.”

Like I said. This was my mom’s (and mine) favorite film. I can’t remember how many times I’ve seen it so far. And the thing is, it never gets old for me. I could watch it over and over and I wouldn’t get bored of it. This is My life is fantastic! I highly recommend it.