12/18/25 - If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (2025) - 7/10

Rose Byrne gives the performance of her life as she paints an angst soaked portrait of a mother on the the brink. It was a film that I had to break up my viewing because it was triggering my anxiety too much. Byrne brought you into the suffocating mind grappling with her love and responsibilities while grasping on to her dwindling tether of sanity. All the more highlighted by the trippy hole elements that Bronstein added to the mix.

The placement within the frame and direction of each scene traps you in the unfiltered sense of dread and impending problems. Not showing the daughter’s face, the absence of the husband, the use of the feeding machine and the parking line; it all feeds into this disquieting cone of isolation and stress. Extremely effective.

Byrne deserves award worthy recognition.