Currently available on DVD: "Mother and Child"

There's a certain kind of movie that begins solely so it can end. Once the filmmakers have designed their Big Finish, all that matters is getting us there. Usually, these pictures involve several characters who appear to be unrelated until the strands weave together and everything falls into place. Or, since this is a tough trick to pull off, falls apart.

Mother and Child is just such a movie, with writer/director Rodrigo Garcia working overtime to arrive at his conclusion. His talented cast is able to create several powerful moments along the way. But ultimately, what matters most is that everyone lands in the right place at the right time, no matter what twists of fate or unlikely actions are required.

Annette Bening's Karen starts the story's domino effect. She's a bitter, lonely woman, whose entire life has been defined by the fact that she got pregnant at 14 and gave her baby up for adoption. That infant became Naomi Watts' Elizabeth, an equally unhappy lawyer whose relationship issues reflect those of the mother she's never known.

Around Elizabeth's 37th birthday, she has an affair with her boss (Samuel L. Jackson), just as Karen is also wooed by a co-worker (Jimmy Smits). Each of these saintly men pushes his brittle beloved toward a new place in her life, which - oh, wait. There's one more essential thread in this braid, a young woman (Kerry Washington) desperate to adopt a child, with guidance from the nun (Cherry Jones) who's ready to reunite Elizabeth and Karen.

Significant credit goes to these committed actors, who are forced to give speeches and make choices regularly at odds with authentic human behavior. They all do an excellent job, especially since Garcia often appears so impressed by his own ideas that he neglects to allow either characters or incidents to unfold naturally.

Instead, everybody gets one rigidly defining attribute, while strangers (like a wise blind girl) wander in and out to affirm the movie's solemn themes. Meanwhile, very few actual mothers will appreciate the manipulative ending, which even a child could spot coming an hour away.