Just to be transparent, this opens in theatres today, and I expect it to have audio description. I was given an advance screener, but I didn’t rush to the mountaintop because I didn’t want to be one of the first out of the gate to say this isn’t that great. hot Milk is a directorial debut, and an adaptation, releasing from IFC with a plot I should be more intrigued by, but sadly not. Emma Mackey and Fiona Shaw play daughter and mother. Mom has been unable to walk since her daughter was four, and they are seeking more medical clarity. this time, they are asking a new age-ish doctor (Vincent Perez), who is thinking both traditional medicine, and a more holistic approach. there’s this idea that Mackey’s life has stalled, that Shaw is overbearing, and sadly the film is seemingly required to be over in 90 minutes. rarely do I advocate for a longer runtime, but the complexities of mother and daughter just simply lay at surface level as we know next to nothing about their past and history except a few incidental stories that come up along the way. Vickey Krebs is totally wasted in a role as a roaming lesbian who seems to hit and quit Emma Mackey.

Emma should feel like a girl interrupted, whose life has been unable to ever materialize because she’s nothing but a groomed caretaker. the film even has a bit of a bold go for broke ending I felt it hadn’t really earned.

there’s a spoiler within Fiona Shaw’s character that makes the film darker and more depressing, but sadly, again it feels like a film that was forced into a 90 minute block. This is too complex of a story, with dark undertones, and problematic family history that is all not even scraped at skin deep. It’s like a light abrasion, and there’s so much beneath it. I hate getting an advance on a film that I can’t endorse, as I feel like it leads to me being removed from the next opportunity, but Hot Milk is a concept only partially realized that will leave you wanting things you never got.

No Grade Due To Lack Of Audio Description