My Mom's Name is Jean

Myles David Jewell
2008
27 minutes

 

Since moving away from home, filmmaker Myles Jewell realizes that rather than becoming independent of his mother's care, he is actually still dependent on her despite their growing adult friendship.

Myles Jewell is not proud of the fact that he still relies on his mother Jean to make his doctor's appointments, keep track of his bills, and buy his undies - even though he lives 300 miles away. As the youngest of four boys, Myles is the last brother to leave his parents' house in native Massachusetts, and since being in New York City, he realizes that rather than becoming independent of his mother's care, he is actually still dependent on her despite their growing adult friendship. In an effort to retire from his adolescence and kick-start his adulthood, Myles moves home for a month to call his mom by her first name in hopes of getting to know her as more of a friend in the process. Will his experiment help him to stop depending on her or will Myles fall into the same old habits he's trying to break? 'My mom's name is Jean?' will make you laugh, and make you cry while exploring a son's relationship to his mom, and what it means to be family.

 

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