Critics’ reviews

Earth Mama (2023)

15 reviews from 15 publications. Critics’ score 81: 13 positive, 2 mixed, 0 negative.

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81
Positive
13
Mixed
2
Negative
0

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.

Sight and Sound
16 October 2023 · BFI
90*

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.

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The New Yorker
13 July 2023 · Richard Brody
90*

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.

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Slant Magazine
30 June 2023 · ★★★½/4 · Gregory Nussen
88

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.

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Los Angeles Times
13 July 2023 · Justin Chang
85*

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.

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The Guardian
6 December 2023 · Peter Bradshaw
85*

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.

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The Hollywood Reporter
21 January 2023 · festival review · Lovia Gyarkye
85*

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.

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IndieWire
20 January 2023 · B+ · Ryan Lattanzio
83

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.

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Little White Lies
7 December 2023 · 3/4/4 · David Jenkins
80

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.

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Time Out
7 December 2023 · ★★★★ · Nila Varman
80

The review presents the film as a deeply human, piercingly intimate drama. It praises its honest portrayal of single motherhood and the welfare system.

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Variety
20 January 2023 · Peter Debruge
75*

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.

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Screen Daily
20 January 2023 · festival review · Tim Grierson
65*

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.

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Paste
7 July 2023 · 8.5/10 · Natalia Keogan
85

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.

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The Wrap
21 January 2023 · festival review
78*

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.

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Film Stories
7 December 2023 · Lauren Miles
70*

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.

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The Playlist
20 January 2023 · festival review
64*

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Ordered by the weight we give each publication, then by score. Scores are normalised to 100; * means inferred from an unrated review. Summaries are ours, not quotations; follow the links for the reviews themselves. How we rate