Hungarian director Marta Meszaros adds unprecedented depth, humanity, and a whole other meaning to the question asked in countless groan-worthy bumper stickers: “Who adopted who?”

A lonely middle-aged widow is picked by a teenage girl from a nearby state-run home for children as a kindred spirit and unlikely ally.  Identities like mother, daughter, friend, sister, confident, and advocate are intentionally and unintentionally tried on for size as both struggle against the constrictive demands of the well-meaning, but institutionally-bound men in their lives.

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If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Kinjji Misumi’s The Tale of Zatoichi (1962).