"A Light Beneath Their Feet" (2015 release; 90 min.) brings the story of a mother and daughter. As the movie opens we see the daughter Beth doing dishes, while her mom Gloria is taking prescription medication of some sort. Pretty quickly we get the idea that something is really "off" with mom (probably bi-polar), which pushes Beth, a senior in high school, in the unusual position of having to care for her mom, rather than the other way around, In the meantime, Beth, already accepted at Northwestern (her mom's school of choice because it's nearby) and also at UCLA (Beth's school of choice because it 's far away and the weather is perfect) needs to decide what to do. On top of all that, Beth has developed a small crush on a boy. At this point we're 15 minutes into the movie, but to tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.
Couple of comments: this movie is directed by up-and-coming director Valerie Weiss. Here she brings a tough topic, namely how a mother and daughter must tackle life when mom needs help. "You know can't take care of myself" Mom tells Beth early on. Can you imagine having to deal with that as a 17 or 18 yr. old? The movie is helped immensely by the lead performers, Taryn Manning as the mom and Madison Davenport as the daughter. Weiss paces the movie nicely and before you know it, the movie has flashed by. There are tons of great songs throughout the movie, many of them of the female indie-rock variety.
I never heard about this movie until I saw it at my local library the other day. So I basically took a flyer on this, and I'm glad I did. Nothing earth0shattering, but simply a nice 'little' movie about a mother-daughter relationship under some trying circumstances. "A Light Beneath Their Feet" is worth checking out!
