Mommies

The film is made of separate stories all set on 8 March, and their subject is the same: somebody trying to reach their mother. A soldier tries to get leave and travel home. A man turns up at the door of the mother he has not called for years. Another settles accounts with his own childhood. The stories do not connect; each begins and ends on its own, and all of them happen on the same day. In Russia 8 March, International Women's Day, is a big day, and the film was made directly for that day's audience; it is put together from episodes shot by more than one director. The cast holds well known names from Russian television and cinema. The story does not use feeling with restraint and does not hide that; the aim is plainly to make the audience cry. A hundred and two minutes. The best thing about the film is that some of the short episodes genuinely land; the weakest is that all of them arrive at the same conclusion.