WHY DOES MAMIE REMIND US SO MUCH OF MERYL?

Because Mamie Gummer, who’s creating buzz for her work in the two movies listed below, is the talented daughter of Meryl Streep. Could there be an Oscar in her future?

EVENING: Claire Danes, Toni Collette, Vanessa Redgrave, Patrick Wilson, Hugh Dancy, Natasha Richardson, Mamie Gummer, Eileen Atkins, Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Barry Bostwick (Directed by Lajos Koltai; Written by Susan Minot and Michael Cunningham; Focus Features) Ann Lord, played by Vanessa Redgrave, has been married three times, but the only man she ever truly loved was one she never married. Now on her deathbed, she feels the intense need to reveal the secret of her long-ago affair to two of her daughters, one of whom is played by Redgrave’s own daughter, Natasha Richardson. In the film’s frequent flashbacks, the love-crazed Ann Lord is played by Claire Danes, and the young Ann’s best friend, Lila Wittenborn, is played by Mamie Gummer, the real-life daughter of Meryl Streep. So who plays the mature Lila? Meryl Streep, of course. As for Ann’s red-hot lover, he’s played by Patrick Wilson, who, come to think of it, was pretty hot as Kate Winslet’s lover in “Little Children.” Michael Cunningham, author of “The Hours,” and Susan Minot collaborated on the adaptation of Minot’s widely praised 1998 novel. Opens 6/29/07

STOP LOSS: Ryan Phillippe, Channing Tatum, Timothy Olyphant, Mamie Gummer, Abbie Cornish, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rob Brown, Jay Hernandez (Directed by Kimberly Peirce; Written by Kimberly Peirce and Mark Richard; Paramount/Universal) After seeing combat in Iraq, the Army sergeant played by Ryan Phillippe returns to his home in Texas and decides to stay put, even though the Bush administration has very different plans for his future. Star-on-the-rise Mamie Gummer--a.k.a. Merle Streep’s little girl--plays one of the women in Ryan’s life. Coming, as it does, from writer-director Kimberly Peirce, who last stunned us with “Boys Don’t Cry,” this politically hot film promises intellectual substance and emotional fire-power. Don’t be surprised if it surfaces at the 2007 Toronto and/or New York film festivals. Opening date to be announced