Mark Reviews Movies: TRUE MOTHERS

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Review by Mark Dujsik | January 28, 2021

At first, the central problem of True Mothers seems fairly innocuous. Satoko (Hiromi Nagasaku) receives a call from her son's teacher. It appears that 5-year-old Asato (Reo Sato), the son, has pushed one of his classmates from a jungle gym. Did he, or was it just an accident? What might this mean for—and, perhaps, about—the child and, especially after the other boy's mother starts talking about a monetary settlement, the family?

The screenplay by director Naomi Kawase and Izumi Takahashi (adapting Mizuki Tsujimura's novel) uses this initial scenario, resolved quickly and without much incident, as a bit of a distraction, keeping us off-guard for what's to come. We're left completely unprepared when the actual story arrives. Satoko receives a phone call. It's from a woman who claims to be Asato's real mother. The woman wants to meet Satoko and her husband Kiyokazu (Arata Iura) to discuss her intentions.

Kawase's film is fascinating in the way it never allows us to keep our bearings. We think this story is a simple domestic drama. Then, we think it might become some kind of thriller (A phone ringing in an empty apartment and the silence on the other end of the line when Satoko first answers it suggest something dark). Suddenly, we're thrust back in time about six years, as Satoko and Kiyokazu are planning to start a family, and the entire tone and purpose of the film shift toward a tender, thoughtful study of a marriage overcoming a significant challenge.

Vitally, it never feels as if Kawase is playing some kind of game with us. The film is always sincere about its characters, their issues, and their emotions, even as the plot adds complication after complication to the lives of this couple and another character.

The other character, by the way, reveals the film's generosity. She's Hikari (Aju Makita), the woman who claims to be Asato's birth mother over the phone. We get her story, too, as a young woman slowly discovers that every decision in her life has been and is being made by someone else.

Kawase treats this material as both a genuine drama, which deals frankly with adoption, and a study of perspective. As the film dives deeper into the histories of these characters, True Mothers reveals more and more layers of sympathy and understanding for each of three main players.

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