The Colombian-born writer and director of Mother and Child, Rodrigo García, is a man clearly fascinated by the complexities of familial relationships. His previous work includes a TV drama entitled Fathers and Sons, and another of his big-screen pieces, Nine Lives, examined the lives of several women in layered vignettes. Mother and Child marks no great departure from the theme, as a pastiche of American lives focusing on three separate women and their own maternal bonds. Karen (Annette Bening) is a middle-aged woman, riddled with guilt and haunted by the loss of her daughter, whom she gave up for adoption many years earlier, after having become pregnant at the age of 14. Her daughter, Elizabeth (Naomi Watts), is completely unknown to her but has subsequently forged her way in life as a successful but prickly lawyer, who has troubled relationships with the men that fall in her path. Her boss, Paul (Samuel L Jackson) is one of these unfortunates. His is a brief but impassioned role. Completing the female triumvirate is Lucy (Kerry Washington), a young, married woman who cannot have children and has embarked, with resignation, on the process of adoption. All have their own reasons for grief, which are carried magnificently to the screen. Bening, in particular, spends much of the film's two hours with hollowed eyes, crippled by pain. The pace is plodding in parts, with a few scenes that err on the side of contrived. And yet the emotionally charged performances from everyone involved manage to hold the attention. Just remember your tissues; several of the baby shots seem designed to have you reaching for them.
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The bio
His favourite book - 1984 by George Orwell
His favourite quote - 'If you think education is expensive, try ignorance' by Derek Bok, Former President of Harvard
Favourite place to travel to - Peloponnese, Southern Greece
Favourite movie - The Last Emperor
Favourite personality from history - Alexander the Great
Role Model - My father, Yiannis Davos
Coming soon
Torno Subito by Massimo Bottura
When the W Dubai – The Palm hotel opens at the end of this year, one of the highlights will be Massimo Bottura’s new restaurant, Torno Subito, which promises “to take guests on a journey back to 1960s Italy”. It is the three Michelinstarred chef’s first venture in Dubai and should be every bit as ambitious as you would expect from the man whose restaurant in Italy, Osteria Francescana, was crowned number one in this year’s list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.
Akira Back Dubai
Another exciting opening at the W Dubai – The Palm hotel is South Korean chef Akira Back’s new restaurant, which will continue to showcase some of the finest Asian food in the world. Back, whose Seoul restaurant, Dosa, won a Michelin star last year, describes his menu as, “an innovative Japanese cuisine prepared with a Korean accent”.
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
The highly experimental chef, whose dishes are as much about spectacle as taste, opens his first restaurant in Dubai next year. Housed at The Royal Atlantis Resort & Residences, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal will feature contemporary twists on recipes that date back to the 1300s, including goats’ milk cheesecake. Always remember with a Blumenthal dish: nothing is quite as it seems.