20 Best Movies Of 2023
7. Earth Mama
The feature length debut of former athlete Savanah Leaf, based on her and actress Taylor Russell's short film The Heart Still Hums, is surely one of this year's most underrated productions, a svelte and often heartbreaking look at single motherhood prevailing against insurmountable odds.
Its emotional weight driven by crushing silences and a deeply atmospheric score, Earth Mama follows Gia (a transcendent Mia Nomore) as she attempts to restore her family and combat the very systems that are supposed to protect her, a journey coloured with evocative dream sequences and tender, unflinching veracity.
An equally bleak, beautiful look at womanhood and community, Leaf's careful direction allows Gia's story to be at once her own and representative of a world often unexplored, tackling misogyny, racial bias, gender inequality and generational trauma with a powerfully humanistic eye that eventually becomes truly life-changing.