JO | Omeleto Drama

A mother tries to keep her athlete daughter on track.
JO is used with permission from Ben Hector. Learn more at benhector.com.
Jo is a single mother, raising her 16-year-old daughter Rosie and serving also as her badminton coach.
But Rosie is at an age where she starts to strike out on her own, wanting to make her own decisions, leading to an unexpected collision between an increasingly independent daughter and a mother who seems to have given up everything for her.
Writer-director Ben Hector's short drama is a study of a dysfunctional parent-child relationship. Quiet, observational and even almost minimalistic in style, the film is attuned to the small psychological currents swirling between mother and daughter, and how those small wrinkles of tension can escalate into larger, more cataclysmic conflicts.
The film begins with Jo at work at the bank she's employed at, being railroaded by a customer and trying to accommodate his anger. But as the film proceeds, the audience watches as Jo exerts her authority and sovereignty in another area of her life: as coach to her athletic daughter Rosie.
The crux of JO are its terrific performances, especially in the crucial roles of mother and daughter. Lead actor Emma Keele has the task of playing the difficult role of manipulative mother Jo, but her quietly contained, resonant performance is able to hint at the hidden tensions and buried feelings that often unconsciously drive her. It is difficult to watch a parent hurt a child, however unintentional or well-meaning, but Keele makes Jo understandable, even quietly tragic, even as she betrays Rosie in a hidden yet powerful way.
Young actor Fabienne Piolini-Castle plays Jo's daughter Rosie with precision, able to capture both a tricky moment in any young person's life when she asserts her independence, while balancing a still very active need to please and listen to her mother and coach. Rosie has her own inner conflicts, and they drive her in ways that cause her to clash with Jo and pull away from her. Jo reacts with an unexpected yet cataclysmic choice, asserting her control but driving a wedge between her and her daughter.
JO may seem a quiet film on its surface, with its understated dialogue, soft, often luminous cinematography and simple, grounded camerawork. But it's emotionally explosive under its surface, an intimate look at the symbiosis between a parent and child, and how that relationship can curdle when the parent, unconsciously or otherwise, displaces feelings of dissatisfaction and unfulfillment elsewhere, instead of confronting them head-on. It ends on an uneasy note, both for the small family at the core of the film and for the audience, which has watched how seeds of family alienation can be planted at the most smallest, most shadowy moments in life.

[@marita2007aus]

Well he sure let the mother off the hook. Her behaviour is disgusting

[@SuperCHERISHED]

The mother is parenting with fear. What she did to the teenage boy was absolutely inappropriate. No matter how much you want to protect and direct your children they must eventually make their own choices and decisions.

[@nicholasvanorton7840]

Looks like Jo pulled a Mrs. Robinson on James.

[@towelanyirongo212]

Being a parent isn't an easy thing, you are in constant fear of your children not making it in life. But the key is to guide them and not control them, they have the right to make their own decisions based on your guidance.

[@natureboytom]

Well that was some fancy lip work… mission accomplished. (That’s the way I see it) 🤭

[@clasencoach]

[SPOILER ALERT]
So in the end, it is not about her fear of losing the connection with her daughter, but about her frustration with not getting laid?!? Weird twist, in an otherwise finely acted and up until then well-told and realistic story.
Also not clear why she stops the call from her ex(?)-husband; why the daughter takes up playing again; and what those looks are about in the very last sequence.

[@dfb2913]

The mother is a narcissist

[@p5rsona]

People should not have kids anymore. Most of the reasons are beyond selfish.

[@dfb2913]

Not everyone is like this

[@p5rsona]

@@dfb2913 having a child is bringing a being into a world of suffering and for what?? so you fulfill your selfish need to not be alone?

[@natureboytom]

All my dad wanted was for me to take over the business. Take over the business and live his life. Very selfish man with no bonding and to continue with hi ego. Hence, I decided no to have children. A pity I denied myself but that’s decisions we make in life. And then we’re dead. Aah.

[@p5rsona]

@@natureboytom for what its worth i think you made the humane choice. kids are not object, toys. you are bringing forth another living being into this messed up world for purely selfish reasons. it aint right