Tumbleweeds

An American film about a mother and daughter. When a relationship ends, Mary Jo always does the same thing: throws her things in the car, takes her daughter and moves to another state. This is the fourth or fifth move; nobody is counting exactly. Her daughter Ava is twelve. Every new place means a new school, a new class and a new neighbourhood. The girl is used to the pattern but now wants to stay. They settle in California. Mary Jo takes a job and starts seeing a lorry driver named Jack. Ava joins the drama group at school and finds something of her own for the first time. When the man starts staying at the house things break down. Mary Jo wants to return to her habit; this time her daughter refuses to get in the car. What the film is interested in is not a failure of motherhood but two people exchanging roles: the daughter is more careful, more organised and more tired than the mother. Janet McTeer plays Mary Jo and Kimberly J. Brown plays Ava. McTeer was nominated for an Academy Award for the part. Gavin O'Connor directed; he wrote the screenplay with his producing partner, who also acts in it, and the story is drawn in part from a real life. A good choice for anyone who likes American independent film and character drama. For a viewer looking for plot, the film describes a repeating cycle and offers no great turn.