The Japanese film “True Mothers” (“Asa ga Kuru,” original title) by Naomi Kwase, is playing on day 3 of the Reel Love Film Fest, and is a heartbreaking account of love, motherhood, and family rejection. The film’s brief description—about a happily married couple whose life is interrupted when their adopted son’s mother comes back into the picture—would lead one to believe this is a dramatic film, full of court hearings and contention. However, what one finds instead is an intimate portrait of love and pain so stark and personal that it has the power to stir those same feelings in its audience. The film is full of gentle images, lingering cameras, and superlative acting, and quickly works its way into your heart.
“True Mothers” features mostly three leads, separated by time and flashbacks, that work to tell its story. The opening introduces us to Satoko Kurihara and Kitokazu Kurihara (Hiromi Nagasaku and Arata Iura, respectfully), and their desire to have a family. We learn, with private conversations and introspective glances, that the two are not able to have a child due to Kitokazu’s infertility. Rather than glance over this, the film takes the time to show how this affects both of them individually and as a couple. Kitokazu mentions divorce out of shame; Satoko rejects the idea out of love. They try many things before deciding on adoption. The moment where Kitokazu broaches the idea, and the ensuing scenes as they meet the teenage birth mother (Aju Makita) are handled with grace and beauty.
We’re introduced briefly to their adopted son, Asato (Reo Sato), along with some struggles at kindergarten he may be having, and we get a picture of how invested both Satoko and Kitokazu are in his upbringing. The opening scenes—as much of the picture—is filmed in bright, natural lights, highlighting Tokyo, warm breezes, and the eternal idea of hope ensconced in majestic pianos. “True Mothers” wants us to believe in life, and one can’t help feeling soothed by the movie, even when it swings towards pain.
Without much ado, a call and a visit by a young woman claiming to be the child’s birth mother—demanding either custody or money—sets up a plot that promises drama but delivers the opposite. Kawase transports us back, imperceptibly, into the life of Hikari, the child’s birthmother, and the journey that led her to their door.
The writing and acting in “True Mothers” is its true high-point, coming along its cinematography, which is among the most pensive and lovely I’ve seen this year. Kawase and writers Izumi Takehashi and Mizuki Tsujimura put us in the place of these people, and you can’t help but emphasize with their struggle. You can often relate to one or more characters in a film due to circumstance; but the screenplay and performances here offer something else: the ability to feel the spirt of the three leads, and to feel part of the human experience, though separated by culture and time.
What works about “True Mothers” is that it drops you feet-first into these people’s lives, and with little backstory you come to know and love them. Perhaps it was because I began this film expecting crisis—for even some of the most well-meaning features land on this unintentionally—that I was able to come alongside these characters so quickly. But maybe it was something else. Maybe it was the score, filled with gently, lovely pianos…maybe it was the photography, which highlighted the beauty and lines in its actors’ faces that almost feels like sunlight…or maybe it was a script so personal as to shed off the very idea of a narrative and become instead real life. The best things happen by accident—and maybe “True Mothers” was one of those accidents.
Hikari’s journey transcends age, time, and circumstance, and Makita brings it to life in a way that defies understanding.”
The acting is a marvel. The film’s early scenes of the Kuriharas are centered and intimate, executed to perfection. The city around them is showed grandly but in the backdrop, its vibrance and life casting meaning and purpose to the film’s intimacy. Their struggle is real, their joy is real, and you can’t help but feel touched.
The flashback scenes of Hikari’s journey, lined with pain, authenticity, and realism, are some of the best captures on cinema I’ve seen in years. It must be said; because, as I discover the film has four film festival nominations—all for ‘Best Features’—award bodies and critics have dropped the ball in failing to recognizing Aju Makita for her role here. Makita is all-encompassing and timeless. In her performance as Hikari—beginning in 8th grade, following her through a breakup with a boyfriend who gets her pregnant, to the rejection and abandonment of her parents, to her time spent at an adoption clinic under the care of the beautifully-souled proprietor Shizue (Miyoko Asada) and beyond—Makita excels. Hikari’s journey transcends age, time, and circumstance, and Makita brings it to life in a way that defies understanding.
The film has other happy accidents, such as its lens, which is intimate and personal, and its settings—sandwiched between small towns and metropolis—which add to its soulful effect. The adoption clinic is basked in a constant ray of healing light. Perhaps it was chance that it took place in Hiroshima, a site of such historical tragedy, but was here allowed to offer healing and solace. The cinematography by director Kawase, Naoki Sakakibara, and Directory of Photography Yûta Tsukinaga does for Japan what David Ayer’s direction does for L.A. You feel it in your bones.
“True Mothers” is a great film. Yes, it’s 2 hours and 20 minutes, and yes, it has a slow pace. But it’s worth it. The only criticism I can offer is its ending, which is truncated and vague, which makes you guess just a little more than you want to after spending 2+ hours in this world—but it’s forgivable. For a screening at a film festival about love, this is a perfect example of it, and one that leaves a lasting impression in its wake. A definite recommend not to be missed.
*This review was written from the film’s day 3 screening at the 2021 ‘Reel Love Film Fest’ programming.
