ma ma

Ma Ma (2015) is a Spanish melodrama from director Julio Medem you can watch online on iFILM. Magda, a Madrid schoolteacher who just lost her job, hears the worst from her doctor: breast cancer, a mastectomy, months of brutal chemo ahead.

Penélope Cruz carries nearly every frame as Magda. At her son Dani's soccer match she meets Arturo (Luis Tosar), a football scout nursing his own grief, and the two adults plus the boy form an unlikely little family while the clock keeps ticking. Medem isn't interested in decline — he films the stubborn appetite for life, love and laughter.

This is Cruz's showcase, a raw lead turn that earned her a Goya nomination. Tender, sometimes sentimental, but honest about motherhood and survival. Stream Ma Ma (2015) online on iFILM.