By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Naomi Kawase
Starring: Aju Makita | Arata Iura | Hiroko Nakajima | Hiromi Nagasaku | Ren Komai | Reo Sato | Takato Tanaka | Tetsu Hirahara
Original language title: Asa ga Kuru
Country: japan
Year: 2021
Running time: 140
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10418630/reference
Michael says: “There’s something about a mother that stirs up emotions. A mother fighting for her child is a force to be reckoned with. In TRUE MOTHERS, Japanese director Naomi Kawase gently and thoughtfully explores the conflict between two women and their claims to motherhood. After trying to get pregnant for several years, Satoko and her husband Kiyokazu see a television spot that introduces them to ‘Baby Baton,’ a non-profit on a remote island run by the saintly Mrs. Asami that pairss couples who cannot have children with women (often teens) who are unable to care for their babies. The first half of the film focuses on the diet, but satisfying life of the couple and their adopted child, while showing their journey to adoption in flashback. About half way through this lengthy film, the crux of the story arrives, when a young woman contacts Sakoto claiming to be the child’s real mother and demanding his return.
“At that point, the movie shifts its perspective entirely, and we are introduced to a sweet, teen girl named Hikari and follow her story as she falls in love with a classmate and becomes pregnant. Her family is ashamed and she is shuffled off to ‘Baby Baton’ where she finds warmth and caring among the staff, and the other pregnant women in residence. After giving up the baby to , Hikari falls on hard times, running away from her controlling family, delivering newspapers to make some money, and getting involved with some unsavory characters. At her lowest point, the two stories come together again.
“It all sounds a little melodramatic and over-the-top, like a worn plot from ‘Days of our Lives,’ but under the direction of Kawase, whose tender handling of the characters undercuts the sensationalism, it’s a lovely and sad story that resolves beautifully. The acting is strong, particularly Aju Makita (AFTER THE STORM, SHOPLIFTERS) as Haraki, who goes through the many phases of adolescence emerging as a broken young woman, lost and floundering. Hiromi Nagasaki as Satoko, is new to me, but has appeared in many Japanese films. She brings a gentle restraint to bear, telling her husband it’s okay for them to be a childless couple, when you can see the faint tightness of her jaw the betrays her true yearning, and in the way she wraps up the film with a show of loving strength. Arata Iura, a veteran of many Koreeda films (LIKE FATHER LIKE SON, AIR DOLL, DISTANCE, AFTER LIFE) is also strong, as the father, who’s sperm count prevents the couple of having their own children, struggling with his guilt and his embarrassment in a country that still treats adoption with a slight stigma. Then there’s Miyoko Asada who manages to make the too-good-to-be-true Mrs. Asami a real person… a kindly mother-figure herself, despite having no children of her own, she serves as the interim mother for all these wayward mothers-to-be.
“The film is long, clocking in at two hours and twenty minutes, and at times it feels it, but the story is told with such care, and so lovingly, that I didn’t mind. I was completely invested in the couple’s story, so I was thrown off a bit when everything changed, but I quickly became engrossed with Hiraki’s story, and the conclusion is truly beautiful. Adapted from a novel by Mizuki Tsujimura, an author known for her mystery novels, I do wonder if the mystery element of the story was played up more, but it’s a little distracting, so I’m glad it was sidelined. Definitely a talented filmmaker, with an acting nom or two in the running. 4 cats“