2004 Mothers Day Campaign:
Mothers - The Real Story

Recommended Movies

Here is a list of recommended movies and discussion guides for movie night events during the campaign. Check locally for availability before scheduling an event. If you have trouble finding a copy at a local video store:

1. Check your local library system. Many libraries allow you to check their card catalogs online from home, and to place requests and holds for items you're interested in. Libraries also enable you to check out a movie for a week for little or no cost.
2. Amazon.com sells used and new copies of movies for very reasonable prices on their site. If you look up Baby Boom, for example, you'll find that you can buy a brand-new copy for $12.99. There's also a box on the right side of the page that says "More Buying Choices". Under "More Buying Choices," there is a link that sys "36 used and new" copies available from $7.65. Click on the link, and you'll find a list of individual sellers who are selling this movie at various prices. Most are selling brand-new copies that are heavily discounted.

Barbra Streisand stars as Margaret, an at-home mom in the middle of New York who's feeling the strain of her narrow life. Frustrated by her self-involved husband and the emotionally rewarding but mentally unstimulating tasks of motherhood, she escapes into fantasies. The movie's strength lies in these fantasies' slippery nature; some are over the top, but others are so subtle you're not always sure where they start and stop, making the portrait of Margaret's psyche intriguingly complex. This movie shows a slice of a young woman's life from a very new, challenging, confusing time in our history, especially for women. The story line may seem tame now, but at the time it was truly a provocative and controversial film.

Movie Guide

Mikhail Baryshnikov made his film debut in this lightweight but entertaining drama about the relationship between a renowned ballerina (Anne Bancroft) and the woman (Shirley MacLaine) who had trained with her but had given up dance to become a wife, mother, and teacher. Between MacLaine's envy over her friend's career and the attention her own ballerina daughter (Leslie Browne) is getting, MacLaine's character goes through a complicated crisis.

Movie Guide

Diane Keaton stars in a sweet satire about a high-powered yuppie executive who unexpectedly becomes a mom and finds she can't successfully integrate the role into her busy life.

Movie Guide

Directed by Ron Howard, this is an original comedy about contemporary life and the eternal responsibilities of raising children. Steve Martin has never been better. Dianne Wiest as his older sister won an Oscar nomination, and Martha Plimpton plays a mother torn between her husband and her young daughter. Parenthood and choices and pressures and not having the answer and what to do with family... all rolled up into one great film.

Movie Guide

Kavner hits a homerun in this dramedy about a divorced mother of two who wants to be a stand-up comedienne in Nora Ephron's directorial debut. Dottie Engels (Julie Kavner) is a single mother with aspirations of becoming a standup comedian. When her Aunt Harriet dies, Dottie gets an apartment in Manhattan with her daughters, teenaged Erica (Samantha Mathis) and ten-year-old Opal (Gaby Hoffmann). Soon, Dottie's career is taking off and her agent, Claudia Curtis (Carrie Fisher), gets her on a comedy tour. Everything seems to work out well for Dottie, except that her daughters are left without a mother. Julie plays a character who needs to be sympathetic for us to accept her following her ambition at the cost of her responsibilities to her family.

Movie Guide

Thanks to Jan Lisa Huttner for her help in compiling this list. Jan Lisa Huttner the managing editor of "Films for Two: The Online Guide for Busy Couples" (www.films42.com), lectures around the country on female filmmakers.