I’m Glad My Mother is Alive
Filmfest 2010

As a teenager, Thomas (Vincent Rottiers) rejected his adopted middle-class parents and secretly searched for his birth mother, who gave him up when he was four years old. She now lives in a nearby suburb, having married and formed another family. Now 18, Thomas finally introduces himself to her, and, with flowers in hand, practically courts her. While he begins spending more time with her and his young half-brother, he lies to his adopted mother, telling her that he’s at his girlfriend’s (which, in a way, he is). Miller narrows down the complexity of Thomas’s emotional volatility and confusion more through many telling moments propelled by actions, big and small, rather than through dialogue—the awkwardly reunited son and mother have no idea how to articulate their incredibly ambiguous relationship. www.film-forward.com