Sundance 2023: 'Earth Mama' is a rough, challenging, and accomplished debut film

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Earth Mama
4 out of 5 Stars
Director: Savanah Leaf
Writer: Savanah Leaf
Starring: Tia Nomore, Erika Alexander, Doechii, Sharon Ducan-Brewster, Dominic Fiek, Mokeem Woobine
Category: Premieres
Genre: Drama
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SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) – Sundance Synopsis: Gia is a young mother fighting for her children. Her son and daughter are in foster care, and now her unborn child could also be taken away. Struggling to work enough hours with court-mandated classes, she’s barely making ends meet. Gia loves her children unconditionally, but how will she give them the future they deserve?

Review: What I love most about going to the Sundance Film Festival is that I’ll inevitably be given the opportunity to learn something about the world and ultimately that teaches me something about myself. I love being faced with questions that I’ve never really considered. "Earth Mama" took me to places I'd never get to on my own.

There is little exposition to be found in “Earth Mama.” The audience is dropped into the life of Gia (Tia Nomore), a struggling young Black mother who has two children in the foster system and a third child on the way. I don’t know how Gia got to where she is. I do know that she’s in a bad place and it’s going to take a small miracle to change her situation. And miracles aren’t forthcoming. Ever. Gia is on her own.

I love the immediacy of writer/director Savanah Leaf’s script. The way the story feels like it is going to outrun its protagonist. And yet, despite her ambiguous past, Gia is afforded a full character arc. Is it self-determined or predestined fate? I could debate both sides. A lesser script wouldn’t allow Gia, in light of her missteps, to remain a sympathetic character.

The cast, which features a mix of first-time and seasoned actors, is uniformly convincing. They're great.

Visually the film is completely unpolished. It’s grainy and rough in a way that beautifully serves the narrative. Even the moments of magical realism where Gia escapes to the wilderness feel dirty. It’s a harsh world with sharp edges. The only real reprieve comes when Gia is at work. A mall portrait studio that peddles the illusion of happiness. It’s emblematic in the most perfect of ways.