Anywhere but Here

Anywhere but Here (1999) is a drama you can watch online on iFILM, directed by Wayne Wang and starring Susan Sarandon and Natalie Portman. Adele August packs up her teenage daughter Ann and drives from a dull Midwestern town to Beverly Hills, chasing a vague Hollywood dream — for herself, and for the daughter who never asked for any of it.

Adele is loud, impulsive, and impossible to reason with. Ann is composed, sensible, and quietly furious. Sarandon throws herself into every scene; Portman holds back and somehow outweighs her. The film lives in the gap between these two — a mother who needs her daughter to reflect her ambitions, and a daughter who needs out. Based on Mona Simpson's novel, the script finds real tenderness beneath all the friction.

What makes it worth watching is how fair it is to both women. Neither is the villain. Stream Anywhere but Here (1999) online on iFILM.