Blessed

TIFF: Filmmaker Ana Kokkinos last appeared at the Festival with The Book of Revelation, her third feature after Head On and Only the Brave. Fans of these powerful and provocative films will be enthralled with Blessed,for it shows us an evolving artist in full command of her craft as she tackles the subject of mothers and children.

Set in a working-class suburb of Melbourne over the course of one day and one night, the film introduces us to seven different children, none of whom live in circumstances that make it worthwhile to stay home. Each has a personal odyssey, with problems that need solving and messes that need cleaning up, and none of them can, at first, really articulate what they need and what they want. But they search for it anyway. When dawn breaks at the end of the night, we experience the same twenty-four hours from the point of view of the children's mothers. We learn so much more about these women than we could see when looking only through the eyes of their offspring. The mothers are hostages to their unspoken love for their children, and their powerlessness against it is achingly familiar to any parent. Toward the middle of the film, one of the mothers encounters one of the children, not her own, in a highly charged situation. Sensing his need, she quietly remarks, “Your mother loves you.” “No, she doesn't,” he replies, to which she responds, “Yes, she does – there's nothing she can do about it.”

Kokkinos has lived in Melbourne all her life, and her knowledge of and affection for the city is evident throughout the film. With a meaty and substantive script (based on the play Who's Afraid of the Working Class?) as bait, Kokkinos has gathered a remarkable cast made up of some of the finest actresses working in film today, including Frances O'Connor, Miranda Otto, Deborra-Lee Furness, Victoria Haralabidou and young Sophie Lowe, also appearing at this year's Festival in Beautiful Kate. Emotionally and structurally, Blessed is a challenging film, and like a cinematic fishnet, it casts itself wide and slowly draws everything in – and it's a good catch.

--Jane Schoettle

Ana Kokkinos was born in Melbourne, Australia, and worked as an industrial lawyer before her career in film. After graduating from the Victorian College of the Arts and making several short films, she co-wrote and directed her first feature, Only the Brave, which played at the 1994 Festival and won three Australian Film Commission awards. Her other films are Head On (98), The Book of Revelation (06) and Blessed (09).
_______________________________________________

Larry Richman: Many of my Top Picks from all festivals I attend have come from Australia, and that's already proving to be true here. So I had high hopes going into Blessed, and was not disappointed. This is just the kind of film I go to festivals for -- a sweet little gem that will make you laugh and cry. Blessed follows five mothers and seven kids -- three boys and four girls -- aged 14-18, as they wander the streets after having run away or been abandoned by their parents. Left to fend for themselves, each teen's plight is poignantly portrayed by a talented young group of Australian actors culled from thousands. Mostly unknowns, I did recognize Harrison Gilbertson as Daniel, who starred in Accidents Happen, one of my Top Picks from this year's Tribeca Film Festival. The mothers are appropriately anguished at the apparent loss of their loved ones, not knowing whether or not they'll ever come home. The vulnerable teens fall prey to their own as well as others' desires, and there are enough twists and turns to add additional layers to an already compelling set of stories.

Blessed left me with a smile on my face and a tear in my eye. It gets a 5/5 from me as a superb character-driven study of the bond between mothers and children. Director Ana Kokkinos was present for a touching Q&A afterward before a clearly emotional audience.