Motherhood is a broad theme that fiction has been exploring in all its nuances. What makes a mother so is the theme that ‘True Mothers’ raises, Naomi Kawase’s latest film that exudes sensitivity For the fourth corners. You can see it for free on RTVE Play.
parallel mothers
Satoko and her husband are a married couple who, after repeatedly failing to conceive a child, decided to adopt little Asato. Years later, his quiet day to day is shaken by the irruption of a girl who claims to be the biological mother of the child and wants to get it back.
‘True Mothers’ (‘Asa ga kuru’) is Naomi Kawase’s tenth feature film, acclaimed Japanese director of films such as ‘A Cake Shop in Tokyo’ and ‘Journey to Nara’. The film was released in 2020 and is scripted by Kawase herself along with Izumi Takahashi (also a screenwriter for the live action from ‘Sakamichi no Apollon’), adapting the novel by Mizuki Tsujimura.
From the beginning, the film shows her interest in exploring motherhood and, specifically, the dilemma between being an adoptive mother and a biological mother. Although it is a debate that perhaps seems somewhat outdated at this point, we must bear in mind that the obsession with blood ties is something still very present in japanese cultureas well exposed by other films such as ‘Like father, like son’ by Hirokazu Koreeda.
The story shows us how the characters face this internal debate and, implicitly and without the need to underline the issue, puts on the table from the stigma that continues to weigh on adoption and even the loneliness of the individual who chooses a different path in a society as checkered as the Japanese.
What is interesting about the film is how it uses what on paper is a classic melodrama to turn it around and delicately and sensitively explore what truly unites us with other people and how those bonds of affection are built.
Kawase and Takahashi’s script makes the smart decision to fragment the narrative structureintroducing us to the first mother and her circumstance and then going back in time and telling us what really happened to the girl who gave birth to Asato.
It not only works as a resource for the viewer to be the one who goes recomposing the entire story puzzlebut also manages to delve into the two protagonists, understand their way of being and their personal conflicts until both plots come together at the end.
Without a doubt, it is a dramatic film that deals with hard subjects (from depression to teenage pregnancy) and the sadness of the charactersexcept at some specific moment, it rarely externalizes but is carried inside and that makes it once again the viewer himself who has to digest those feelings, with all that this entails.
However, and honoring the original title (which means “Morning Arrives”), not everything is dark and at times we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Of course, like all Kawase films, the rhythm is very calm and it can be done uphill if you are not used to letting yourself be carried away by its leisurely narrative.
‘True Mothers’ uses melodrama to investigate the concept of motherhood, giving a twist to the narrative structure and showing the internal dilemmas of the characters in a sober and sensitive way. Now that it’s finally free to stream, it’s a good time to bring back Naomi Kawase’s latest work.
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