---
title: "Earth Mama"
year: 2023
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/earth-mama"
fi1m_id: "earth-mama"
imdb_id: "tt18382328"
tmdb_id: 980537
wikidata_id: "Q116025925"
fi1m_score: 82
critics_score: 81
critics_reviews: 15
published: "2026-10-03T03:12:30.195609+00:00"
updated: "2026-10-03T03:12:30.626091+00:00"
region: "SG"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Earth Mama (2023)

Directed by Savanah Leaf · 1h 41m · Drama

## Identity

Earth Mama

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/earth-mama
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** earth-mama
- **IMDb ID:** tt18382328
- **TMDB ID:** 980537
- **Wikidata ID:** Q116025925
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18382328/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/980537, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q116025925

**Fi1m score: 82** · Critics 81 from 15 reviews

*In a sentence:* Give Tia Nomore a close-up and leave the speeches to someone else

> *Earth Mama* is a patient, moving drama carried by Tia Nomore’s restrained performance. Savanah Leaf gives Gia room to be uncertain, though the film’s insistence on maternal instinct sometimes narrows its sympathy.

## Synopsis

Gia (Tia Nomore) is trying to find a way through the demands of motherhood. The welfare and foster care systems shape her life and her decisions about how she can care for her family. Miss Carmen (Erika Alexander), Mel (Keta Price) and Trina (Doechii) are among the women around her. Gia needs support while facing decisions about motherhood that other people cannot make for her. Her immediate struggle is to get through the demands of the present while working out what to do next.

## Review

*Earth Mama* is a compassionate drama that earns our concern for Gia without requiring us to approve of everything she does. Savanah Leaf, who writes and directs, approaches motherhood and the welfare system through a woman whose inner life deserves as much attention as her circumstances. The risk is that Gia might become a means of explaining foster care, with every scene arranged to prove a point. The director largely avoids that, giving Tia Nomore time to make her uncertainty felt.

The performance is the main reason to see it. We were moved by the close-ups of Gia’s face, because Tia Nomore makes her distress feel like something she is still working out how to express. There is vulnerability here, but also the ordinary difficulty of knowing what to say when a clear answer is expected. Staying with her gives us time to consider Gia without forcing a judgement, and the performance rewards that attention.

The film’s warmth comes partly from the solidarity among its Black women. The director does not make support look as simple as a kind word followed by a solved problem. The pressures remain, and the tenderness has value even when it cannot remove them. That helps keep the welfare-system material from becoming an exhausting procession of examples, each more hopeless than the last.

Jody Lee Lipes’s cinematography gives the natural surroundings a beauty that does not make Gia’s situation seem easier. The close-ups matter more: attention to a face can tell us something that another explanation of the system would not. Juliana Barreto Barreto’s production design keeps the surroundings from competing with the performance, which is the right priority here. The visual restraint allows us to spend time looking at Gia without feeling that every image has arrived with a lesson attached.

George Cragg’s editing accepts the risks of this unhurried approach. At 101 minutes, the film has room to linger, and we do not always feel that the extra space brings us closer to Gia. Kelsey Lu’s music works within the film’s gentleness, leaving the performance to carry its difficult feelings. There are passages where that collective restraint creates a little too much distance, although Tia Nomore usually gives us a reason to keep looking.

The larger reservation concerns the way motherhood is linked to the natural world. At times the film seems too sure that maternal longing is instinctive, and the images begin to tell us how a woman ought to feel. That is a narrow account of motherhood for a drama otherwise so willing to allow uncertainty. The performance keeps drawing us back to Gia’s particular difficulties, where the writing is more convincing.

These reservations do not undo the care in the writing or the force of Tia Nomore’s performance. *Earth Mama* belongs to the kind of social drama in which listening and looking are allowed to take time, and that patience mostly pays off. We recommend it with the warning that its quietness can occasionally feel like distance. Give it an evening when a small change in a face will have your full attention.

*Fi1m score 82, published 3 October 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics respond warmly to Earth Mama, with praise clustering around Tia Nomore’s restrained, expressive performance as Gia. The reviews repeatedly credit Savanah Leaf with treating her central character generously and avoiding easy judgements about motherhood and the welfare system. Closeups, quiet details and images of the natural world draw particular notice for conveying Gia’s inner life. Several critics also find warmth and solidarity in material that could have made for an unrelievedly bleak drama.

The differences are mostly about how fully that approach works, rather than a divide over the film’s worth. IndieWire finds the final act less assured, while Film Stories argues that the detached style can make Gia harder to connect with. Paste questions the treatment of motherhood as an innate biological desire, despite its otherwise enthusiastic response. Reservations remain limited across a broadly positive set of reviews, with no outright negative verdicts.

## Straight answers

**Is Earth Mama worth watching?**

*Earth Mama* is worth watching for Tia Nomore’s restrained, moving performance, and we score it 82 out of 100. We recommend it to anyone drawn to patient social drama, with two reservations: its quietness sometimes creates distance, and its insistence on maternal instinct narrows an otherwise compassionate view of motherhood.

**How long is Earth Mama, and what is it rated?**

*Earth Mama* runs 1h 41m. It is a drama film.

**Where can I watch Earth Mama in Singapore?**

*Earth Mama* is not on any streaming or rental service in Singapore at the moment. It is available in 2 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

**How violent or frightening is Earth Mama, and is it suitable for children?**

*Earth Mama* has a UK 15 certificate and is not suitable for children under 15. We recommend it for older teenagers and adults comfortable with a patient drama about maternal distress and the pressures of welfare and foster care; the certificate warrants caution, but we cannot give a specific violence or fear warning from the information available.

**How does Earth Mama compare to Secrets & Lies?**

*Earth Mama* offers a quieter, more restrained treatment of motherhood than the funny, painful family drama of [*Secrets & Lies*](https://film.one/film/secrets-and-lies). We recommend *Secrets & Lies* for difficult conversations carried by Brenda Blethyn and Marianne Jean-Baptiste, and *Earth Mama* for Tia Nomore’s expressive close-ups. Both reward attention, though the former sometimes overexplains feelings while the latter occasionally holds us too far away.

**What should I watch after Earth Mama?**

After *Earth Mama*, try [*Secrets & Lies*](https://film.one/film/secrets-and-lies) (1996, Fi1m 88): Another patient drama in which motherhood resists everyone’s preferred version of events. Then [*Nobody Knows*](https://film.one/film/nobody-knows) (2004, Fi1m 87): A child’s view of neglect, with performances that make quiet details hurt.

### Reviews we read (15)

- **Sight and Sound**, BFI (90/100, inferred): The critic calls the film an astonishingly accomplished, nuanced take on a difficult social issue. They particularly praise Tia Nomore’s understated performance and the film’s compassionate visual approach. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/earth-mama-intimate-piercing-debut-feature)
- **The New Yorker**, Richard Brody (90/100, inferred): Brody praises the film as an accomplished, deeply affecting work that restores the closeup’s central place in cinema. He especially singles out Tia Nomore’s expressive performance and Leaf’s closeups, which convey Gia’s inner life with striking intensity. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/earth-mama-reinvigorates-the-closeup-the-beating-heart-of-the-cinema)
- **Slant Magazine**, Gregory Nussen (3.5/4): Nussen finds the film warm and resilient despite its bleak subject matter. He praises the solidarity among the Black women and Tia Nomore’s vulnerable performance. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/earth-mama-review-savanah-leaf/)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Justin Chang (85/100, inferred): Chang finds the film deeply affecting, compassionate and impressively assured. He particularly praises Tia Nomore’s expressive, restrained performance and the filmmakers’ ability to convey Gia’s longing through images and quiet details. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2023-07-13/earth-mama-review-a24-savanah-leaf-tia-nomore)
- **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (85/100, inferred): Bradshaw finds the film a deeply felt, piercingly emotional drama that resists easy answers. He particularly praises Tia Nomore’s natural, dignified performance as Gia. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/dec/06/earth-mama-review-a-piercingly-emotional-portrait-of-motherhood-in-difficult-times)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Lovia Gyarkye (85/100, inferred): Gyarkye finds the film a delicate, affecting portrait that treats Gia with generosity and resists easy judgment. She singles out Leaf’s intimate, nurturing approach to Gia’s inner life and the natural world. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/earth-mama-review-savanah-leaf-1235305948/)
- **IndieWire**, Ryan Lattanzio (B+): Lattanzio calls the film a tremendously moving triumph that largely avoids the clichés of welfare-system dramas, though its final act loses some footing. He especially praises Tia Nomore’s naturalistic performance and the film’s docu-realist power. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/earth-mama-review-a24-savanah-leaf-1234800998/)
- **Little White Lies**, David Jenkins (3/4/4): Jenkins calls the film must-see filmmaking and praises Leaf as a fully formed new talent. He singles out the film’s sublime craft and dreamlike tranquility amid its vital, difficult subject matter. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/earth-mama)
- **Time Out**, Nila Varman (4/5): The review presents the film as a deeply human, piercingly intimate drama. It praises its honest portrayal of single motherhood and the welfare system. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/earth-mama-2023)
- **Variety**, Peter Debruge (75/100, inferred): Debruge finds the film a tough, sensitive, and nuanced portrait that avoids easy answers. He especially praises Tia Nomore’s compelling, restrained performance as Gia. [Read](https://variety.com/2023/film/reviews/earth-mama-review-savanah-leaf-1235496166/)
- **Screen Daily**, Tim Grierson (65/100, inferred): Grierson presents the feature debut as sensitive, suggesting a cautiously positive verdict. The standfirst singles out its portrayal of a pregnant single mother trying to stay afloat. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/earth-mama-sundance-review/5178211.article)
- **Paste**, Natalia Keogan (8.5/10): Keogan finds the film illuminating and heartfelt, though its treatment of motherhood as an innate biological desire can feel reductive. She particularly praises Tia Nomore’s resonant performance and the cinematography’s striking portrayal of the Bay Area’s natural beauty. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/savanah-leaf/earth-mama-review)
- **The Wrap** (78/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a powerful, hopeful tragedy that exposes how society fails young Black mothers. Tia Nomore’s emotionally vivid performance is especially praised, alongside Savanah Leaf’s subtle social commentary. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/earth-mama-review-savanah-leaf/)
- **Film Stories**, Lauren Miles (70/100, inferred): The review finds Earth Mama illuminating and emotionally affecting, though its detached style can make it harder to connect with Gia. It especially praises Tia Nomore’s performance and the film’s exposure of the broken foster care system. [Read](https://filmstories.co.uk/reviews/earth-mama-review-tia-nomore-shines-in-down-to-earth-drama/)
- **The Playlist** (64/100, inferred): The page appears to be a review of the specified film, but its verdict is unavailable. The page text provides no praise or complaint to report. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/earth-mama-review-savanah-leafs-social-drama-nurtures-bleakness-sundance-20230120/)

## Details

- **Director:** Savanah Leaf
- **Director:** Savanah Leaf
- **Writer:** Savanah Leaf
- **Cinematography:** Jody Lee Lipes
- **Editor:** George Cragg
- **Music:** Kelsey Lu
- **Production design:** Juliana Barreto Barreto
- **Costume design:** Natasha Hester
- **Producer:** Sam Bisbee, Cody Ryder, Savanah Leaf
- **Cast:** Tia Nomore as Gia; Erika Alexander as Miss Carmen; Keta Price as Mel; Doechii as Trina; Sharon Duncan-Brewster as Monica; Bokeem Woodbine as Paul; Kami Jones as Amber; Slim Yani as Ari
- **Runtime:** 1h 41m
- **First release (the US):** 20 January 2023
- **Genres:** Drama
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA-Jhu938vY

## Where to watch in Singapore

Not streaming, renting or buying in Singapore at the last check.

Also available in: GB, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Secrets & Lies* (1996), Fi1m 88: Another patient drama in which motherhood resists everyone’s preferred version of events. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/secrets-and-lies.md)
- *Nobody Knows* (2004), Fi1m 87: A child’s view of neglect, with performances that make quiet details hurt. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/nobody-knows.md)
- *The Kid with a Bike* (2011): A child needs reliable care; the film takes that need seriously.
- *Saint Omer* (2022): For a sterner examination of motherhood, judgement and the limits of understanding.
- *A Thousand and One* (2023): Another mother struggles to keep her family together under relentless outside pressure.

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/earth-mama