Mother's Day isn't known for being a particularly well celebrated occasion in the movies. And it begs the question, why not? The occasion doesn't exactly get the blood pumping when it comes to getting bums on cinema seats with a gripping premise, but there are plenty of great movies to see featuring plenty of memorable mums.
These aren't necessarily 5 recommendations that are all about Mothers Day because why watch a film about mothers day with your mum on mothers day? If you want to do that, watch 2016's Mother's Day (8% Rotten Tomato rating by the way).
Instead, here's 5 great movie recommendations about or featuring some great movie mothers that you can feel free to watch with yours!
Even if you're not with mum or mum's not with you, it's always nice to remember just how fantastic they are, right? Because, in the words of Roald Dahl, "even when their own child is the most disgusting little blister you could ever imagine, mum still thinks that you're wonderful".
1 - Mamma Mia!
On the face of it, Mamma Mia! might look like its about a girl working out she has three dads, but I think you'll find (as the title suggests) it's all about mamma (and ABBA). Set on a sparkling Greek island, Amanda Seyfried stars as Sophie as she prepares for her wedding by secretly inviting three men. Who are they? Three of her mother's past lovers, one of them her father.
With the injection of some nostalgic tunes and inspired British casting, Mamma Mia! is a camp and glossy celebration of ABBA's greatest hits that stays true to the nature of the ex-eurovision champions' high-spirited Swedish music.
The question you'll be left with is this: does it matter if Sophie knows who the dad is? At least she's got mum. When times are tough and they don't have any money, money, money, Meryl Streep is there to take a chance on Amanda Seyfried and lays all her love on Sophie. It's a truly cheesy testament to the many qualities of motherhood.
Mamma Mia! is now available on Netflix
2 - Hereditary
If you've ever made the mistake of being responsible for your mother's rage (which of course I never have) then it's likely that she's expressed herself in a similar fashion to that of Toni Collette in Hereditary. And the reasoning for her outburst is only fair given the circumstances.
Now heralded as one of the 21st Century's greatest horror movies, Hereditary's about what happens when the matriarch of the mysterious Graham family passes away. Her daughter and grandchildren slowly start to unravel some terrifying secrets about their ancestry and realise they may not be able to outrun the sinister fate they've inherited.
Watch Hereditary on Mothering Sunday for Toni Collette's superb perfromance as the quintessential unromanticised motherly figure of an unassuming American family. It's a deeply unsettling and highly alarming movie all about the weird quirks you inherit from mum.
Hereditary is now available on Netflix
3 - Room
Adaptated from a novel of the same name, Room is a desolate but moving drama starring Brie Larson as the mother of a young boy who has never experienced the outside world. Why? Because she's been held captive in a ten-square-foot garden shed for seven years since she was kidnapped at 19. Eventually, somehow, they escape and she finally gains freedom for her and her boy.
To her, the shed was a prison cell. To him, the shed was home. Inanimate objects were his friends as he grew up, her mother was the only person he knew or trusted. Adjusting to the real world outside that bubble is never going to be easy.
Room is a sincerely beautiful watch, centring around the dependancy that these two charactes have on one another. Leaving the shed was never going to be easy for him, but it's made possible by his mother; an Academy Award winning perfromance from Brie Larson.
Room is now available on Netflix
4 - Mother!
Ah Darren Aronofsky's Mother! How on Earth can this film be summed up in a few sentences? The director of this particular mother-oriented flick is known for excrutiating titles like Requiem For A Dream and 2010's Black Swan. So straight off the bat it's safe to say that this won't be your typical Mother's Day celebration.
It's a psychological horror movie about a young woman (Jennifer Lawrence) whose tranquil but somewhat constrained life with her poet husband (Javier Bardem) at their isolated country home is disrupted by the arrival of a mysterious couple (Ed harris and Michelle Pfeiffer). The longer they stay, the more unbalanced their world gets.
It's definitely not a simple movie to get to grips with but, once comprehended, comes across as an allegorical recognition of a very particular kind of mother. It's disturbing, it's creepy, it's unhinged as hell. You won't forget Mother! in a hurry.
Mother! is available to rent on Amazon Prime Video
5 - Little Women
Little Women's not specifically about a mother per say, but what a mother wants and achieves for her children.
Greta Gerwig's 2019 film is a retelling of Louisa May Alcott's renowned 1868 novel about the lives of four sisters all with differing ambitions coming of age in the 19th century. While the story focuses on the four girls, there's very little doubt that they'd have been such remarkable women without the moral compass of their fearsome mother Marmee to guide them.
The highlights of this heavily Oscar-snubbed movie come in the form of a sharply written script, excellent performances and, typical of a mother, a sense of love and care oozing throughout the story. It's often fun, it's often emotional and it's always uplifting.
Little Women is now available on Sky Cinema