Recommendations for movies with a positive mother-son relationship?
 

Are there any good movies that prominently feature a positive mother-son relationship out there? By positive, I mean movies where the relationship is akin to the father-son ones in Finding Nemo and A Goofy Movie.

When I Google "mother and son movies," by the way, here are some of the results:

Home Alone
Psycho
The Babadook
Throw Momma from the Train
We Need to Talk About Kevin

The opposite of any of these, in other words. Thanks!

That’s hilarious. I’m sorry, I know that wasn’t the idea but boy, do you have a point. I also don’t think it’s “googlable” - it’s more a question of remembering it if you see it.

Off the top of my head:

I Am Not A Serial Killer
Super Dark Times
Back To The Future
Jojo Rabbit

Re: Recommendations for movies with a positive mother-son relationship
 

Forrest Gump?

Re: Recommendations for movies with a positive mother-son relationship
 

The Long Day Closes

Depending on how loose your definition of positive is...


https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/w440_...kCHDPyjXkh.jpg

LOL, positive is one thing, but sex positive is another one.

Good recs so far, but it sure seems like the exception to the rule, doesn't it? Did that many screenwriters out there have distant mothers?

Re: Recommendations for movies with a positive mother-son relationship
 

Taking up where Rock left off...Malle's Murmur of the Heart.

I will say that the movie I suggested is a lot more in tune with the anxieties of a middle aged woman than one might expect given the premise, likely because it's written by a woman. And the lead actress gives a very committed peformance, even if she seems to be in a completely different movie than the rest of the cast. Not my favourite in the genre, but worth a watch.


See, it wasn't entirely a joke post.

Room
The Royal Tenenbaums
20th Century Women (jeez, do you have to fight about that?)
The Blind Side
Almost Famous
Boyhood
Wolf Children (animé)

To a lesser extent:
Ordinary People
Philadelphia
Terminator 2

I think that when parent-child relationships are at the center of a film, it's often about that parent and child working through issues.

Because of the social perception of women being "natural" mothers, you get a lot more movies about men learning to care about children (their own or, like, foundlings). Hence a billion movies about men protecting girls or ending up in the custody/father role to kids (things like About a Boy) and on the flip side there's, um, Gloria and Those Who Wish Me Dead.

I think that a lot of movies have positive mother-son relationships (like in Mitchells vs the Machines), but those relationships are rarely at the heart of the film, they sit more at the periphery.

In a way, Sons of Katie Elder. In the recent film Old the kids had a positive relationship with both of their parents.

Generally, though, parent-child bonding movies tend to center on fathers.

Oh, I didn't like the movie very much, but I guess JoJo Rabbit counts?

I certainly considered Room, but is that really that positive? In the book at least she comes to resent Jack and exhibits no “maternal” feeling once they’re out. Sure, she doesn’t give him up, but how positive is that really?

Came in to post "Boyhood", but TD beat me to it.


How about "The Sons of Katie Elder", lol.

I also think there's this weird cultural fixation on fathers as actual caretakers. Oop, that wacky dad is trying to braid his daughter's hair!!! Whoa, that boy wants to kiss that dad's daughter!!

I remember a male friend posting in bafflement that he'd had multiple experiences where he was walking around doing errands with his daughter in a sling or whatever and people would come up to him and really sincerely be like "Good for you!". (And one time he overheard someone go "Ooh! Here comes that tasty daddy!" LOL). I don't think there's quite the cultural fascination with mothers (much less single mothers), and especially not with the relationships they have with their sons.

Father-child films often have the loss of the mother as an inciting incident which shifts responsibility for caretaking to the father and then they have to work out that new dynamic. If you lose a father I'm not saying that's not a loss (NOT AT ALL!) but chances are the mom was probably more of the primary caretaker, so the shift is in a different dynamic. As a teacher, people often make it a point to mention that a child is being raised by only their father, but it can be much longer before I learn that a child is being raised only by their mother. It's just seen as being more remarkable and interesting.

You know what's a good one, though, and a family film to boot? Rookie of the Year. She supports him in his athletic goals, keeps him from being exploited, and in the end they bond over realizing that she was a great baseball player and she gives him the advice he needs to be victorious.

In terms of the "new caretaker" dynamic I described with fathers, there are probably a few with foster mothers.

Scorsese, 1974

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QbGK-J8RWR...rstyn_1974.png

These are good. I've been meaning to see Alice and Boyhood.

I thought of one myself: Little Man Tate, although it's been a while since I've seen it.

Well.... there's a very interesting mother/son relationship in 1990's The Grifters, with Anjelica Huston, John Cusack, and Annette Bening.

I suppose it depends upon how one defines "positive" relationship...:) But the film is a good Martin Scorcese production.

Too late to use Only God Forgives.

And whoever mentioned Ordinary People is maybe thinking of another movie. Or maybe I am. Mary Tyler Moore and Timothy Hutton right?

Just my opinion, but I really don't consider the relationship between Huston and Cusack in The Grifters to be a positive one.


Positive mother and son relationships off the top of my head:



Anne Bancroft and Ron Silver in Garbo Talks



Cicely Tyson and Kevin Hooks in Sounder (1972)



Marsha Mason and Matthew Broderick in Max Dugan Returns



Beah Richards and Sidney Poitier in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?



Thelma Ritter and John Lund in The Mating Season



Angela Lansbury and Elvis Presley in Blue Hawaii