Japanese Reviews Reviews

Film Review: Mother (2020) by Tatsushi Omori

Not all women are fit to become mothers

The plethora of indie family dramas in the Japanese industry have a number of motifs in common. The accusation of the current generation towards the previous ones, the overall lack of parenting, that not all women are fit to become mothers and bullying are the most central ones. Tatsushi Omori, in his latest work, which is now streaming on Netflix, seems to have managed to include every one of them, in a film whose pragmatism is quite shocking even more so since it is based on an actual incident that took place in 2014.

The film shows its colors from the initial scene, where we see Akiko, a single , trying to get money from her parents and her hard-working sister, first by yelling and becoming violent and then by begging. However, they will not have none of it, since their patience is obviously exhausted, and a frustrated Akiko leaves along with her little son, Shuhei, only to get to a pachinko parlor, essentially ignoring the boy. A bit later, she has already struck a mostly sexual relationship with a man she just met, club host Ryo. The man soon proves her equal in his despicable ways, with the two of them proceeding on bullying Shuhei and extorting money from a city hall employee, whom Akiko has exploited a number of times in the past. Things do not go their away however, although the couple seems not to be phased by anything. Ryo eventually begins to become violent just before he abandons the two, and soon Akiko finds herself completely broke and pregnant. Once more, she tries to exploit Shuhei by making him go ask for money from her parents, sister and his father, with the boy obliging blindingly to his mother's conniving orders.

Some years later, a little girl has been added to the company, while the social services finally begin to deal with the “family”, who by this time, are just sleeping on the street. Shuhei finally sees some hope in the face of Aya, one of the social workers, but Ryo suddenly reappears after many years, and their situation soon takes a turn for the even worse.

explores all the aforementioned motifs in the harshest way, by presenting a relationship, which is usually perceived as the highest point of love (the one a mother has for her child), that is exactly the opposite. Akiko is relentlessly and unrepentantly exploitative of Shuhei, never acting like his mother in any way, while the codependence that characterizes their relationship seems to border on something like a Stockholm Syndrome. On an even harshest and cruelest level, Omori shows how the bond of motherhood can turn into something truly sick, in essence destroying any chance a kid has to live a happy life, thus bringing us to the comment of how not every woman is fit to become a parent.

As we watch Akiko continuing her exploitative behaviour, the question behind the reasons Shuhei continues to stay with her, even after a proper opportunity to leave arises, begins to permeate the narrative, with Omori giving a shocking as much as realistic/pragmatic answer during the end, in the scene that should have concluded the movie. Unfortunately, once more in a Japanese movie, the film continues for a bit more, for no apparent reason.

Akiko's character is the one the narrative essentially revolves around, with Omori and his co-writer, Takehiko Minato creating a character that seems to have no traits that will allow anyone to sympathize with her, apart maybe from the fact that she receives as much punishment as she gives on occasion. That she repeatedly throws away the chances she gets makes her even more despicable, with Shuhei's fate cementing this aspect in the harshest fashion. Probably the sole fault in the writing of her character is the way her sex-crazed attitude is presented, particularly in the scene where she has intercourse with another man just after she is beaten by Ryo, which is quite unrealistic. This however, is just a minor fault in an overall impressive character, which also benefits the most by Masami Nagasawa‘s excellent performance, who presents a relentless addict with a very fitting, cruel realism.  

On the other hand, Shuhei's character somewhat lacks in that department, with the boy mostly reacting to his mother's actions, although his age could somewhat justify the fact. Daiken Okudaira, who plays the teenage version, has his moments in the scenes with the social worker and particularly the final one, but again, he seems to somewhat suffer due to the writing. The same, more or less, applies to Kaho as Aya. Sadao Abe‘s Ryo, on the other hand, is both greatly written and implemented, particularly because, apart from being constantly despicable, also adds another level to Akiko's persona.

Tomohiko Tsuji's cinematography captures the story through an approach that fits the cruel realism of the narrative, also highlighting the claustrophobic setting Shuhei in particular inhabits. The editing follows the general rules of the Japanese indie, implementing a relatively slow pace, while the many flash forwards are well presented and do not alienate the viewer. As mentioned before, a bit of trimming particularly in the ending, would have benefited the movie.

“Mother” is a very hard film through its cruel realism, which could have been a great one with a few minor changes in the writing and the finale.

About the author

Panos Kotzathanasis

My name is Panos Kotzathanasis and I am Greek. Being a fan of Asian cinema and especially of Chinese kung fu and Japanese samurai movies since I was a little kid, I cultivated that love during my adolescence, to extend to the whole of SE Asia.

Starting from my own blog in Greek, I then moved on to write for some of the major publications in Greece, and in a number of websites dealing with (Asian) cinema, such as Taste of Cinema, Hancinema, EasternKicks, Chinese Policy Institute, and of course, Asian Movie Pulse. in which I still continue to contribute.

In the beginning of 2017, I launched my own website, Asian Film Vault, which I merged in 2018 with Asian Movie Pulse, creating the most complete website about the Asian movie industry, as it deals with almost every country from East and South Asia, and definitely all genres.

You can follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

  • I’ve just watched this and it was hard to watch but felt really realistic. One point I would like to add though since you felt the character of shuhei was maybe lacking in some ways, is that to me his attitude feels really realistic. I have worked with Japanese teens for a certain number of years and this kind of attitude is definitely something that I have seen in Japanese teens. Add to that the fact that a boy will naturally love his mother whatever happens (it reminds me of a very sad documentary on Netflix about a little kid abused by his mom and father in law in the states, who still made a happy mother’s Day card days before he died from abuse). It’s heartbreaking really but it it realistic.
    You do want to shake them and find a solution as nobody should live like that without any hope…

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