2021 became the year of the memoir for me. One of the memoirs I had the privilege of reading, was Michael Koresky's Films of Endearment.

Focusing of the impact movies had on his relationship with his mother, Koresky's memoir gives us insight into a beautiful and tender relationship. Cinema has the power to move and connect, and if that wasn't already obvious, Films of Endearment proves it even more.

As they delve into 1980's cinema, Koresky and his mother go on a journey not only just shown in the films, but through their own life and relationship.

Michael Koresky provides the dual perspective of a professional movie critic and a loving son in his warm-hearted memoir Films of Endearment: A Mother, A Son and the 80’s Films that Defined Us. As Koresky delves into his upbringing and major life events, he uses the films he and his mother share together to contemplate their relationship and shared experience. He draws on the personal to illuminate the cultural significance of his favorite movies and uses family history to provide context for his selections. The author candidly reveals his early-on sexual identity bewilderment, his wavering ties with Judaism, and his experiences of grief. He uses these anecdotes to initiate a discussion about representation and identity issues as reflected in films of that decade. At its core, this book is first and foremost an homage to his mother. Films of Endearment veers often into oversentimentality, but Koresky’s expertise as a film critic with a sharp sense of humor saves it from becoming too saccharine. With this book, the author is talking to a niche audience—those of his own generation that share his passion for movies. The included reviews raise (and answer) questions about Koresky’s own development and expose his deep fondness for reminiscence and insight. Warning: Films of Endearment may encourage readers to explore their own beloved films in a search for a similar self-understanding.

Thanks to the author, and Hanover Square Press for an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

Nicely crafted memoir that is built on the memories the author has of watching 80’s movies with his mom and what he learned from each one.

Happy to include this title in the spring edition of Life Stories, my seasonal column of notable new memoir and biography in Zoomer magazine’s Zed Books section.

I don't know what I was expecting from this one. A paean to the movies featured within its pages? Something akin to She Come By It Natural: Dolly Parton and the Women Who Lived Her Songs where the author learns a lot about his mother from the viewing of these films? A combination of the two?

The author does a good job describing the films and their relevance when they came out. While he learns some things about his mother during the process, there are many questions he did not answer, many opportunities that were lost.

The book ends when Covid-19 was already ravaging the nation. It describes what it was like not to be able to visit, to share meals and movies not just with his mom, but with other friends and family members as well. The book also lives in the shadow of the death of the author's father and how it affected their family dynamic. Both of these events left me with a sense of urgency for him to know his mother before it is too late. And while I was disappointed that he did not seize the opportunity to get to know his mother more, I also realize that I would not probe into my own mother's psyche to understand her better.

Michael Koresky not only discusses films from the 80’s he watches with his Mom. He weaves stories of his life and family into each chapter and each film. It’s a memoir of a mother and son who are movie watchers.

Reading this book made me want to go back and revisit the films of my childhood with my own parents. Koresky deftly interweaves discussion of the societal impact of various films with exploration of what they meant and continue to mean to him, his mother, and the two of them together. Not exactly a work of film criticism, but not wholly a biography or autobiography either, Films of Endearment is a lovely testament to the bonds that form when people experience art together.

This is a beautiful story of a mother and a son, and the love between them.

To say that this book made me weep is the understatement of the year.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this book. Thank you to Michael Koresky for being so open and raw in your writing.

As a movie lover, I should love a nonfiction book about movies from the 1980s and, although I didn't "love" this book, I did enjoy it, with reservations. The 40-something NYC film critic/gay man/author joins his 70-something Jewish mother from outside Boston as they re-watch films from the 1980s that they originally watched when the author was a child. Each chapter covers a single film from each year in the decade. I think I was hoping for more information about the movies and less about their lives together, but the subtitle of "A Mother, a Son and the 80s Films that Defined Us" does give a hint of what is to come. The author's personal struggles with faith and sexual identity absorb much of each chapter, but there are also fascinating looks at movie backgrounds and actors that I really enjoyed and yearned for more. The beautiful mother/son bond that is portrayed is one to be envied and replicated whenever possible. Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Hanover Square Press for providing an ARC.

I expected to enjoy this book, and I did...for much different reasons than I had predicted.

80’s movies have my heart. They are what I grew up with, and refer back to time and again. I enjoyed walking through them with Mr. Koresky and his mother. I loved the bond the films cemented in this warm mother-son relationship. The movies are used as a basis for deeper reminiscing about what the author learned about his beloved mother and her life. Watching and laughing led to deeper discussions, and opportunities to truly know who she was.

The lovely parental bond is what kept me reading.

Read if you: Want an engaging, sweet, and heartening memoir of a mother-son relationship and their bond through their love of movies.

I suspect Micharl Koresky and I are within a few years of each other; I remember many of these movies. I enjoyed his take on such movies such as 9 to 5, Baby Boom, and the like. It definitely helps if you are familiar with these movies; for the few that I hadn't, my interest did dip a bit. But what kept my interest was his endearing relationship with his mother and rediscovering new things about her life and interests.


Librarians/booksellers: Purchase for readers who want LGBTQ+ memoirs that feature a happy parent-child relationship.

Many thanks to Harlequin and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.