True Mothers

A favourite of the Cannes Film Festival, where ‘True Mothers’ was set to premiere before the 2020 festival was cancelled, Naomi Kawase has fashioned another sensitive and heartfelt drama, this time about a childless couple (Arata Iura and Hiromi Nagasaku) who adopt a baby boy—only to see the birth mother (Aju Makita) return five years later and demand that they handover her child. As always Kawase’s controlled camera and delicate sensibility combine with standout performances from her three leads, and the result is a moving and frequently beautiful exploration of the pitfalls of adoption and parenthood.

‘Though the story is based on a novel by mystery writer Mizuki Tsujimura, “True Mothers” (“Asa ga Kuru”) is a true Naomi Kawase film: a lush visual reworking of parental angst and despair, offset by frequent interludes of communing with that great healer, Mother Nature. It is… a moving dramatization of maternal feelings… The camerawork is beautiful to look at, whatever it’s shooting: The city exteriors are deeply harmonious while the interiors reflect the quiet orderliness of Japanese family life.’—Deborah Young, Hollywood Reporter