True Mothers

'True Mothers' is a film directed and written by acclaimed Japanese filmmaker, Naomi Kawase. The film was selected to be shown at the 2020 Cannes Film Festival. It's based on a 2015 novel with the same title by Mizuki Tsujimura. The film was shown in 2020 Toronto International Film Festival. 'True Mothers' was chosen as the Japanese entry for the Best International Film at the 93rd Academy Awards. Satoko (Hiromi Nagasaku) and Kiyokazu (Arata Iura) are an apparently happy marriage, they have a son, Asato (Reo Sato), who goes to kindergarten. Everything seems calm, until, one day, Satoko received a call from her son's school. According to a teacher, a boy has accused Asato of pushing him in the gym, which would have caused him a strong blow. The boy's mother demands that Asato's parents pay for medical expenses. It is here that Satoko and Kiyokazu begin to fear that Asato may have inherited bad behaviors from his biological parents, as he is adopted child. By way of flashbacks, the film tells how Satoko and Kiyokazu decided to become adoptive parents. This is how the film enters the life of Asato's biological mother, Hikari (Aju Makita), a 14-year-old teenager who has become pregnant after having a sexual encounter with her first boyfriend. In this process, Satoko and Kiyokazu get to know Hikari in depth, forming a bond that, years later, will re-emerge.