By Pamela Ezell / LA Film Fest Guest Blogger

A complex relationship between a mother and son is at the heart of Janis Nords’ Mother, I Love You. Nords wrote and directed this coming of age drama, featuring non-actor Kristofers Konovalovs in his first film. Made in Latvia with financial support from the Riga Film Fund, the film was shot in 21 days. According to Nords, only about one or two movies a year are made in Latvia, and he had no idea when making Mother, I Love You that he would be screening it in “the film Mecca” a few months later.

In the film, Konovalovs plays Raimonds, the Latvian version of a “latchkey kid,” who is often on his own and expected to care for himself, since his single mother works hard to provide for them. There is no father in the picture, and we don’t know why or where he might have gone. Raimonds is a musician, and his saxophone plays a critical role in the story. As the film progresses, Raimonds seems to continually be in trouble — not always of his own making — and pressure builds on him to take drastic action.

Konovalovs is such a confident and natural actor, it’s hard to believe this is his first job. “We saw over 1,000 boys,” Nords said in a discussion after the screening. “We noticed him early, and he proved himself.”

Rehearsals included long periods of hanging out for Konovalovs and Vita Varpina, who plays his mother. “I would send them to the store – go buy a shirt.” They did things together a mother and son might do. The bond between them is strong in the film and serves the story well. Varpina does an excellent job of portraying a realistic mother, who is alternately enchanted by and frustrated with her adolescent son.

One question after the screening asked Nords about the origin of the story – how much was biographical? “When making a film about childhood,” Nords said, “it’s hard not to borrow from your own life.” He grew up alone much of the time with his mother because his father was a sea captain. His mother expected him to “do things like a grown up, which is a recipe for disaster.”

When David Ansen, the Festival’s artistic director, introduced the film, he said he knew “within the first few frames” of the movie that Nords was “a new and fresh cinematic voice.”

But Nords almost missed being a filmmaker at all. “I studied math and finance,” he said. “I wanted to be a trader, but the film library was near the finance department.” He made the switch and cinema lovers are better for it.

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