"Mother and Child" ... Annette Bening does great!

So, there I am waiting in the ticket line, and wondering whether anybody ahead was for Mother and Child.  After all, it is a drama--a little more than artsy, and a little less than a tearjerker--with a whole lot of conversations, and a relatively relaxed pace of storytelling.

I hear one clearly Hispanic-looking guy--perhaps my age--asking for Mother and Child.  And then about three of four people later, a middle-aged couple, appearance suggesting Far East Asian, get their tickets.  I get into the movie hall, and I see the couple, the Hispanic guy, and one other much older White guy in a cardigan reading a book.  Interestingly enough, they were all on the right half of the aisle, while I was the only one on the left.  I thought to myself that I had never seen such demographics at any movie I have ever been to.

The first of the previews had just about started when an all-female contingent walked in and took up a row-and-a-half of seats on my side of the aisle.  Later, after the film ended and when the lights came back up, it seemed like there were only two Whites among that group of women, and the rest were all Blacks.

One of the most interesting audiences ever, I would think.

The cast included: Annette Bening, Naomi Watts, Samuel Jackson, Jimmy Smits, Kerry Washington ... well, these are the names/faces I could recognize in the poster. 

I have never cared much for the acting abilities of Jackson and Smits.  I am yet to see any movie of Naomi Watts where she plays anything close to a "normal" person.  In this movie too Watts' character is a complicated one, and she does her part well.

I liked Annette Bening's performance the most.  The first time I saw Bening in a movie was in Bugsy, and I remember one scene all too well when her character snarks at Bugsy to go jerk himself a soda.  I am pretty sure that was the line. (A preemptive note to the editor: I don't care to Google and verify this.)  Later, I was positive that she would win the Oscar for her performance in American Beauty, but Hillary Swank edged her out. And then as Julia she delivered a convincing and believable character, but was yet again beaten to the Oscar finish line by Swank--this time as the boxer.  But, I don't think her acting here was anywhere near the other two that yielded the Oscar nods.

Anyway, in Mother and Child, too, Bening makes the character come across quite well.  There were moments when the transition seemed sudden, but I would think that it was more the problem with the direction and storytelling, than with the acting.

And the best part is this: all this for an admission ticket price of $1.75. Can't beat that.