LET LIV | Omeleto

Omeleto
Omeleto
8,081
36
Published 2024-05-13
An alcoholic runs into her estranged mother at an A.A. meeting.


LET LIV is used with permission from Erica Rose and Olivia Levine. Learn more at ericarosefilms.com/.


Liv is attending an A.A. meeting for the first time, with the encouragement of her new girlfriend Marty. Liv is apprehensive and nervous about what to expect, saying that she doesn't need the help of an organization to address her problems. She arrives at the meeting, and she's snarky and judgmental at first. But the stories shared by others begin to draw her in.

But then Liv gets a difficult surprise: her long-estranged mother, Judy, arrives at the meeting. The collision brings up painful memories for Liv, who was abandoned by Judy years ago at a crisis point. And now she's forced to confront her painful memories, as well as the scope of her addiction.

Directed by Erica Rose and written by Olivia Levine, who also plays the lead role of Liv, this powerful short explores the intergenerational nature of alcohol addiction. Often addiction is portrayed as an isolated experience, but through the thorny yet vulnerable portrayal of a fraught mother-child relationship, it explores how alcoholism in different generations makes the recovery of both parent and child even more complicated.

Well-written and luminously crafted, the film has the muted, slightly gritty look of the city, where Liv and Marty sit on a stoop and debate over attending the A.A. meeting. Liv establishes her skepticism and reluctance, believing that the program won't work for her. But when she enters the world of the meeting, the film also shifts into a warmer, shadowy register, creating a visual "safe space" that nevertheless possesses some murkier dimensions for Liv, who slowly warms up to the meeting, particularly when she hears the moving personal experiences from her fellow meeting-goers.

But that sense of murkiness comes to the fore and gains clarity when Liv's estranged mother Judy arrives late to the meeting, immediately changing Liv's demeanor into one of shock and anger. As an actor, Levine doesn't hold back on the violent emotional whiplash she experiences, as her shock turns into rage, directed first at her mother and then at the others. It's a moment that captures the pain and trauma underlying the anger, with an authenticity matched by actor Christine Taylor as Judy. Audiences might know Taylor from comedies like ZOOLANDER, but here she reveals a raw emotional depth as a flawed mother and a recovering alcoholic.

Riveting, compelling and unvarnished in its emotions, LET LIV ends with the conversation that Liv and Judy needed to have a long time ago. Masterfully written, it reveals how alcohol once bonded the pair at their lowest. But it also shows how the disease of alcoholism ravages relationships in families, especially when the imperatives of the recovering addict are at odds with the duties of parenting and the aching need of a child. It captures just how addiction can be woven into a family's story when the pain of a troubled parent-child relationship fuels an acute emotional agony that is blunted with the self-medication that alcohol offers. Recovery isn't an easy path for anyone, but it's made more complex when it's closely bound to the addiction of another family member. Yet the film ends with some hope: mother and daughter have both caused one another immense pain, but they also begin to connect as they understand how hard-won the triumphs can be.
All Comments (21)
  • @12thDecember
    Omeleto has the most absolutely real characters as you will find anywhere on film. It's like literally looking into someone's life when they think no one is watching.
  • @jessg7273
    A beautiful short film that brought grief and hope to the surface. Thank you for this gem.
  • @ermo5623
    I thought that was Christine Taylor! Love her. She looks great. Wonderful film!
  • @JaiCatLady
    Congratulations! Me and my mom just watched it and really enjoyed it
  • @alejmg2
    Awesome short! What depth the filmmakers captured in a tight space.
  • @MobileFilmmaking
    What an awesome film. The storyline, acting and cinematography is all on point.
  • @Barvinski
    I'll go have a drink! Thanks for a great movie!
  • @dthomas4566
    Great writing, but first world problems have me just shrugging.
  • @milkywayan2232
    Funny thing. I clicked back on here to comment. The first line of the movie, which I did not hear the first time, is something like, "should I say my pronouns". I figured that was the only thing I came back to comment on. I have a fair amount of experience with AA. I'd like to see it change. One is to Revise contradictory and condescending language in its literature. For now though it is Back to pronouns . 1st verse of Serenity prayer as It was written when first co-opted by AA is written- Us, We and We. Pray for all. But if we share a story of personal experience never use the pronoun "We". OK, that's all me and my lack of an inadequate God have.