Mother-daughter relationships can be complicated. And depending on the shades of that complication, the thought of turning into your mother likely ranges from "unfortunate" to "worst nightmare ever."
In "Umma," writer and director Iris K. Shim unpacks a dynamic that falls into the latter category. The intergenerational supernatural thriller follows Amanda (an always fantastic Sandra Oh), a woman who lives pretty simply on a remote farm beekeeping with her home-schooled teenage daughter Chris (Fivel Stewart).
Their seemingly peaceful life is shaken up when Amanda's uncle arrives from Korea to deliver the remains of her estranged mother — her umma. And as if the unwelcome parcel wasn't enough, the uncle adds in terse judgement on how Amanda has chosen to live her life and raise her daughter. Chris, on the other hand, is surprised to learn that her mother has kept so much of her past a secret.
