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Every now and then it's good to be reminded that social realism doesn't have to be a dreary, meat-and-potatoes affair. Earth Mama, the debut film from London-born writer-director (and former volleyball Olympian) Savanah Leaf, follows Gia (Tia Nomore), a young black single mother in California's Bay Area.
She is determined to regain custody of her two children, who were taken into care because of past drug problems. She works in a photo studio and at the same time struggles with everyday stress: her card was declined and her phone credit was running low. She is now pregnant again and has to make a decision about the future of her next child. We also see Gia in sessions with her social worker (Erika Alexander) and in group workshops, where she reluctantly stands back while other people eloquently tell their own stories, not least about their experiences of growing up in care.
This could suggest some heavy-duty docudrama material – in fact, Leaf based it on a documentary she previously made with Canadian actor Taylor Russell. But Leaf takes a surprisingly poetic approach. The appearance of the film, shot on 16mm by Jody Lee Lipes, emphasizes not the earth, but water, air, the physical, a clearly fluid sense of time and – in a sequence in a redwood forest near Oakland – the dreamlike and elemental. Lipes' cinematography favors a soft palette of lilac and smoky pink, while Kelsey Lu's jazz/ambient score emphasizes the swimming mood.
Nomore, an Oakland rapper making her acting debut, delivers a captivating performance of delicate but resilient introversion, and the way Leaf incorporates the statements of other people around Gia creates a choral feel that extends the drama beyond its protagonist resonates. “Earth Mama” sits at a strange intersection between politically charged statement cinema and borderline new age style, but the quiet boldness of Leaf’s approach makes it something eloquent and unique.
★★★★☆
In UK cinemas from December 8th
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