True Mothers
After a long and unsuccessful struggle to get pregnant, Satoko and her husband decide to adopt a child. Over the next six years, the middle-class couple and their young son Asato settle into a comfortable, albeit routine, life. The family’s orderly existence is shattered by the arrival of Hikari, a young woman claiming to be Asato’s biological mother, demanding his return. As tensions mount, Satoko grows more and more emboldened to defend her family. Weaving together multiple timelines and genres with a contemplative pacing and keen sense of place, hallmarks of Kawase’s work, True Mothers is “a deeply touching celebration of women who assume duties of love, support and compassion” (Awards Watch). Japan’s official entry to the 2021 Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film. A Film Movement release.
- Official Selection, 2020 Cannes Film Festival
- Official Selection, 2020 Toronto International Film Festival
- Official Selection, 2020 Chicago International Film Festival (International Competition)
”[T]he film shimmers with beauty and sadness…. True Mothers wows in the end with an emotional banger of an ending that’s a truly devastating convergence of all the film’s threads. Kawase ties everything together beautifully….” —IndieWire
“The Japanese auteur Naomi Kawase has returned with another of her highly distinctive, tremulously sensitive movies…there is a sustained emotional seriousness in this movie, with committed performances.” —The Guardian
Streaming in the U.S. through May 31