Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.

These reviews contain spoilers.

“Lady Bird” (2017) — Charlotte Burks 

Greta Gerwig’s 2017 movie, “Lady Bird,” follows Lady Bird through her senior year at a Catholic high school as she pushes to break out of the mold and move from Sacramento to New York City for college. As she explores new friendships and digs deeper into family dynamics, Lady Bird faces the difficult decision of where to go to college — and if she should listen to her parents’ opinions on the matter.

What creates the true beauty of this film is the perfectly captured complexity of the relationship between Lady Bird and her mother. Despite multiple disagreements throughout the film — beginning with something as seemingly simple as what Lady Bird wants to be called — it is obvious to the viewer that Lady Bird and her mother care very deeply for each other. The film’s ending (don’t worry, I won’t spoil the film completely) is a poignant reminder that just because we don’t always agree with someone doesn’t mean we won’t miss them, a lesson that many students exploring the world for the first time might not realize initially. 

“Star vs. the Forces of Evil” (2015-2019) — Ellaheh Gohari

Daron Nefcy’s magical fantasy show “Star vs. the Forces of Evil” may seem like just another mindless children’s show on the surface, but a deeper look reveals the complex themes and storylines woven throughout. From critiques of imperialism to nuanced explorations of identity, friendship and personal growth, “Star vs. the Forces of Evil” challenges its young viewers to think critically about the place they inhabit in the world.

Part of what makes this show so special is the explosive relationship between the titular Star Butterfly, a chaotic 14 year old from the magical dimension of Mewni, and her mother, Moon Butterfly, the stoic Queen of Mewni. The mother-daughter duo’s mismatched temperaments serve as the catalyst for the entire show: after Star accidentally starts a fire with her birthright magic wand in the first episode, she is sent to Earth by an unforgiving and apparently cruel Moon. At first, Star is furious, but as she learns to wield her magic responsibly, she gains a greater understanding of her mother’s personality. 

Their relationship faces its ultimate test during the season two to season three interlude, when a persistent monster villain threatens to destroy magic altogether. Moon adopts the role of a warrior Queen, protecting Star at all costs and charging into battle in strong contrast to how we have seen her portrayed thus far. Viewers also learn that Moon lost her own mother and had to take on the responsibility of a wartime queen at a young age, helping us understand that all her decisions in the show were only to protect Star from that same fate. Star repays the favor later in the episode, unlocking her full magical potential with her mother’s support and killing the monster villain once and for all. Moon and Star’s relationship is so intriguing because it emphasizes that parents are people too, each with their own flaws, wants and interests, while also centering the mother-daughter dynamic as everlasting no matter what life throws at it.

“Dìdi” (2024) — Grace Zhao

In “Dìdi”, director Sean Wang lovingly crafts a portrayal of motherhood, highlighting the sacrifices that mothers make for their often ungrateful children. Chris is the titular dìdi, an angsty 13 year old growing up in Fremont in 2008. Amidst the turmoil of middle-school friendships, crushes and the boom of MySpace and YouTube, Chris also struggles to love his mother.

Actress Joan Chen shines in the film, embracing the role of the immigrant mother who suffers wordlessly for her children’s happiness. As Chris’ mother, Chen plays a woman who sacrificed dreams of becoming a painter to raise her children in the U.S. My favorite part of the movie is the end, when Chris returns home after running away for one night. He slips into his mother’s room and asks if his mom is she is ashamed of him. It’s a rare moment of Chris trying to understand what it’s like to be in his mother’s shoes; he finally emerges from his teenage self-centeredness in an embarrassed acknowledgement that maybe he’s the root of his mom’s unhappiness. His mom responds by saying she thought her dream was to open an art studio of her own. Now, she tells Chris, “You are my dream.” 

The movie does a brilliant job portraying how mothers and children can be messy, flawed and rude, each capable of saying things they may regret later. It’s also an affirmation that no matter how low you feel, it doesn’t change the fact that you are still your mother’s dream. 

“Crazy Rich Asians” (2018) — Kelly Wang

A perfect airplane rom-com film, Jon M. Chu’s directorship of this book-turned-movie storyline explores the complexities of family dynamics and the mother-child relationship. In the film, New York University economics professor Rachel Chu visits East Asia for her first time with her boyfriend Nick Young to attend the wedding of Nick’s best friend. Despite their different socioeconomic backgrounds, Nick and Rachel both discover the sacrifices that underlaid their mothers’ lives. 

Nick’s mother, Eleanor, sacrificed time with her son in an effort to give Nick a stronger foothold in the family, labeling such a gesture as one that Rachel’s American ambition could never live up to. Meanwhile, Rachel’s mother, Kerry, relinquished past relationships in order to raise Rachel in a safe and encouraging environment. These experiences shaped the perspectives of family that each mother imparts upon her child, sparking friction in the couple’s relationship. Growing fresh in her role as a mother, Nick’s cousin, Astrid, also seeks a balance between striving for her own happiness and building a family for her young son.

The raw emotion and symbolic movie shots make moments of motherly sacrifice really hit home. I nearly trembled in my aisle seat as Eleanor confronted and stood above Rachel on the stairs in a domineering stance, conveying that Rachel would never be enough. And though Eleanor’s apparent closed-mindedness irks me every time I rewatch the film, I can never find in me hate for the mother who just wants the best for her child. Director Chu weaves into the plot and characters nuance that’s reminiscent of real-life experiences, encouraging reflection upon all that our own mothers have done for us and what we could ever do to repay them. 

“Everything Everywhere All At Once” (2022) — Yinlin Zhao

The Daniels’ 2022 film, “Everything Everywhere All At Once” is simultaneously a high concept sci-fi epic, immigrant narrative, surrealist comedy, tragic romance and martial arts movie, all at once. It tells the story of a middle-aged Chinese immigrant, Evelyn, who finds herself selected to fight off a multiversal threat in the midst of her laundromat being audited.

The narrative core behind EEAAO is Evelyn and her daughter Joy’s struggles to understand each other, a subject the film approaches with immense care for both sides of the relationship. My favorite part of this movie, however, is the way it substantiates Evelyn as a character beyond her motherhood. Within the endless possibility space of the multiverse, we get to see Evelyn’s endless lives, from her childhood to the many futures where she is more or less successful and fulfilled, with or without children. In a world that so frequently defines women by their reproductive role, EEAAO successfully creates a fully realized character whose motherhood is important and meaningful to her, but is not consumed by it. It’s through this that the story of Evelyn and Joy succeeds. The film presents a nuanced and refreshing perspective on the classic Asian-American familial dynamic that has enough grace for all of us, in the end.

“All About My Mother” (1999) — Blyss Cleveland

After losing her son in a tragic accident on his seventeenth birthday, Manuela (Cecilia Roth) travels from Madrid to Barcelona to find his father and finally reveal that she was pregnant before she fled their marriage. She reconnects with her friend Agrado (Antonia San Juan), a charismatic transgender sex worker and befriends Sister Rosa (Penélope Cruz), a young nun who is at a crossroads in her professional life. Manuela also gets a job working as a personal assistant to an actress starring as Blanche DuBois in a production of Tennessee Williams’s “A Streetcar Named Desire” — a play that has punctuated major events in her life. As Manuela channels her caregiving energy into these complex relationships, she learns how to be a mother after losing her child. 

The Oscar-winning metatextual melodrama is generally considered one of director Pedro Almodóvar’s best films. Not only does it define motherhood expansively and problematize gender roles, it highlights the use of art to work through interpersonal problems. Additionally, Agrado is one of the most delightful characters to appear in one of Almodóvar’s films. Her name translates to pleasure — as in pleased to make your acquaintance — and she riffs on this phrase to great comedic effect throughout the film. Despite the heavy subject matter, “All About My Mother” is told with much humor and ends with a sweet dedication to various individuals, including Almodóvar’s mother and all the people who want to be mothers.