Natalie Portman's first screen role will wreck you in 28 minutes.
Acting
Portman at 13 — already a force of nature.
Direction
Cohn frames grief through a child's limited understanding.
Writing
Dialogue that hurts because it feels too real.
Director
Marya Cohn
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was Natalie Portman's actual film debut, shot when she was 12 — two years before Léon: The Professional made her famous.
Marya Cohn based the film on her own mother's cancer diagnosis, making Nina's confusion and coping mechanisms drawn from lived experience.
US
