Earth Mama (2023)

3 1/2 Stars (out of 4)

Expecting & Connecting

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

An extraordinary feature debut by Savanah Leaf — who also happens to be an Olympic athlete (playing volleyball in the 2012 Games) — Earth Mama opens on a shot of an unnamed woman. She's participating in some kind of group therapy session. An unseen voice asks "why should we care if you make it?" It's such a bold opening, simple, but challenging, and it leads us into the story of Gia (played by Oakland rapper Tia Nomore, making her acting debut). Gia is a young mother with two kids stuck in the foster care system. She's only allowed to visit them once a week, for one hour. She's also required to take classes and participate in counseling and therapy sessions, all of which subtracts from her hours spent at her job in a photography studio. She is also pregnant.

Her counselor, Miss Carmen (Erika Alexander), brings up the subject of adoption, and while Gia initially recoils, she soon begins to consider it as a real option. Her friend Trina (Doechii) sneers at the idea, believing that adoption is just another way of people taking away things that belong to a struggling Black woman. While Trina and Gia begin to have a falling-out, Gia grows closer with tomboyish neighbor Mel (Keta Price), who seems ready and willing to help any way she can.

Leaf tells this story with an unhurried, poetic grace, shooting on 16mm film and paying special attention to offscreen sounds, and a willingness to drift from reality to dreams. (The backdrops at the photography studio provide some wonderful visuals.) She concentrates on moments, the feel and sounds of spaces, and weaves it all together to form a compassionate look at organic support groups between women. It's a film of hard-hitting material that succeeds with its soft touch. In the end, we do care. Bokeem Woodbine and Sharon Duncan-Brewster play the couple looking to adopt Gia's baby.