Mother and Child: R: sexuality, nudity, language;

 2:05; $ $ $ $ (out of $5)

 The first sure-fire Oscar nomination of the year so far emerges from the sparkling “Mother and Child” and the glorious Annette Bening, as an aging daughter and profoundly sad woman who gave up her own child as an unwed 14-year-old.

Now a shrewish health-care worker and bitter caretaker for her sick and elderly mother (Eileen Ryan), Bening’s ever-regretful and lonely Karen still writes daily diary entries to the daughter she was forced to surrender to adoption almost 40 years earlier.

When Karen finally decides to do something about that loss in a moving story from writer/director Rodrigo Garcia, Bening’s often heartbreaking performance remains consistent and at the center of the piece. (Note that Bening’s countenance stays intact even as we get to know her further, through a mostly icy relationship with a very patient co-employee, nicely played by Jimmy Smits).

Garcia expertly weaves in two more essential plot elements, both also connected to motherhood. One involves the tough and smart Elizabeth (Naomi Watts), herself an adopted child who endured to become a successful lawyer with a definite distrust for men, not to mention a possible dislike.

Meanwhile, cute and bubbly Lucy (Kerry Washington), a devoted wife who apparently can’t get pregnant, decides to take the emotional route of adoption to maternity. How all three journeys weave together is not without some predictable moments. A few even might not seem constant with outcomes suggested during various conversations involving the sparkling ensemble.

In an almost effortless offbeat role, Samuel L. Jackson plays the law-firm boss whose affair with the seemingly in-control Elizabeth takes us to unexpected places. There’s also fine work from Lisa Gay Hamilton, S. Epatha Merkerson, Shareeka Epps and Cherry Jones in a full spectrum of maternal roles. May every offspring grow up to be so wise.

Read more by John M. Urbancich at http://jmuvies.blogspot.com/