True Mothers

Good performances and beautiful cinematography underlining a delicate sensitive script for the most part. But the movie dragged in the second half and the tone was spoiled by an unnecessary subplot. It would have benefited by tighter editing - and greater confidence on the director's part that not every single tiny thing needed to be spelled out.

Giving the gift to someone else who cant have it is in itslef a great deed. The movie sums up some very nice dealings of our life. How one bad decision derails our life. The orthogonal behavior of the parents. The joy of being a parent, doing something for people so they could enjoy that too. Heart warming when the couple decided to go through it together, also signifies the importance of successful marriage even when the things arent going well. The scenes at island were shot differently seemed like a doxumentary is playing for a while. Maturity comes with a cost- trauma or time.

For the most part, well directed and acted. Actress Hiromi Nagasaku especially conveys the complex feelings of a women unable to obtain a biological child with her current partner. The script is loaded with melodramatic possibilities, but the director mostly refuses to allow her actors to play this card. However, the photoplay is much too long and sometimes simply boring. Some sequences are edited in the style of documentary interviews. Cinematography is poor. Often scenes look more like a TV show (lots of extreme close-ups) than a big-screen movie. Bleached out scenes from shooting directly into the light predominate. Score is stuck on one theme. Subtitles seem close enough. Ending is too contrived. Best line: "I'm from Nara ~ oh yes, deer country!" Viewed at JICC J-Film Fest.

Naomi Kawase's 'True Mothers' is an emotionally charged drama about motherhood in all its forms. Drawn with emotionally deep performances from the leading actresses, Hiromi Nagasaku and Aju Makita, the film focuses on the process, not the outcome. So, despite the slow burn and somewhat longer running time, it lingers in one's mind and heart in the best way possible and pays off in the end.

Good performances and beautiful cinematography underlining a delicate sensitive script for the most part. But the movie dragged in the second half and the tone was spoiled by an unnecessary subplot. It would have benefited by tighter editing - and greater confidence on the director's part that not every single tiny thing needed to be spelled out.