My Rageful Valentine

Things are heating up.

Photo by Immo Wegmann on Unsplash

Happy mid-February, everyone!

Winter is halfway through with us, and in New York, the grey and yellow snow could melt with temperatures heating up past the freezing point this week. Also heating up? The American public’s boiling point. Remember when American citizens were shot in broad daylight by the white house special police? Remember when children were zip-tied and jailed in immigration warehouses? Remember when the president sent out an extremely racist tweet? Remember when the rainbow flag was removed from Stonewall? Remember when we discovered that the world was run by a group of rich pedophiles who are seemingly above the law? It’s not a surprise that the men running our country do not care about people of color, LGBT+ communities, women, or children, but the blatant disregard for their lives or well-being, evidenced this month alone, is staggering.

So, excuse me if one thing that’s not heating up is my amore. Usually at this time of year, I’d want to round up the best Valentine's Day viewing, from steamiest (Wuthering Heights opens Friday) to platonic (Bad Bunny’s Love Letter to Puerto Rico halftime show). But that just doesn’t seem to fit the mood.

Instead, I’d like to continue to speak about rage. Obviously, the best place to lay this anger is in calls to your Senators. But then after that, I’d like to focus on another rage trending this year: maternal rage. A subject close to my heart.

Let’s get into it.

😡 - on a scale of 1-5, how much rage is in it (not how much I enjoyed it.)

If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You (2025)

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A raw, darkly psychological dramedy anchored by a stunning Rose Byrne performance (earning a Best Actress Oscar Nomination), If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You throws the viewer straight into the burning center of maternal burnout. A depressed therapist juggles her sick daughter with a feeding tube, an absent husband, a flooded home, and her own fraying psyche in a surreal, claustrophobic cinematic style. Streaming on HBO Max, Hulu & Prime Video.

Die My Love (2025)

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Lynne Ramsey’s Die My Love is a visceral, disquieting journey through isolation, identity loss, and the unspoken violence of maternal frustration. A feral Jennifer Lawrence plays Grace, a new mother transplanted to rural Montana, whose sense of self slowly unravels under the weight of domestic monotony. The baby’s nonstop crying during the first half of the film and a skipping record compose a sound design that creates unbelievable tension that might actually be triggering. Streaming Mubi, Prime Video.

All The Other Mothers Hate Me- Sarah Harman (2025)

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Not exactly rageful, but more exposing the messiness of the imperfect mom. Florence Grimes isn’t picture-perfect; she’s a former party girl and ex-member of a girl band. But when her 10-year-old son’s bully disappears, she takes on the case to defend her son from being a suspect. It’s a funny thriller, and worth reading for rage-lite, if you need something to get your mind off everything else. Purchase here at Bookshop.org (affiliate link.)

Nightbitch (2024 film/ 2021 novel)- Rachel Yoder

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Both the film, starring Amy Adams, and the Rachel Yoder novel it’s based on, imagine motherhood not as a gentle sacrifice, but as a transformation. A stay-at-home mom, exhausted and estranged from her former self, begins to embody her frustrations in feral ways, by literally turning into a dog. The surreal shift is about reawakening wild instincts and power that lie beneath the surface. Stream film on Hulu and Disney+. Purchase novel here at Bookshop.org (affiliate link.)

Hamnet (2025 film/ 2020 novel)- Maggie O’Farrell

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In Hamnet, maternal rage is quiet but elemental. Agnes, played by Jessie Buckley, who will undoubtedly win an Oscar for her performance, begins as a woman of instinct and wilderness. Her fierce spirit is redirected by marriage and motherhood. When her son dies, her grief is fierce and immovable, a refusal to accept the injustice of loss. In Chloé Zhao’s film adaptation, we move through her grief alongside her and feel firsthand the catharsis and healing powers of art, specifically her husband’s vision of Hamlet. Warning: have tissues on hand; every single person in my theater was crying. In theaters. Purchase novel here at Bookshop.org.

See ya next week!