(1952) Mother/ Okâsan (In Japanese with English subtitles) DRAMA

Metaphorically social commentary story involves a narration of a teenage daughter about her mothers sustainability after WWII! In order to fully appreciate this film, one would have to be aware about Japanese history or at least be familiar with Japanese culture which also includes the story. For example, I didn't know back on those days Japanese noodles "Udon" used to be cheaper than rice for instance because these days a small pack of Udon is way more expensive than rice! The story is very subtle and involving with some surprising touches, some identifiable easily influenced by American culture but works well with this Japanese setting! Personally written and directed Mikio Naruse about the after affects of WWII especially the strain on mothers and the impact onto their families, reminiscent of Yasujirô Ozu of "Tokyo Story" fame.

Mother (Mikio Naruse, 1952) - 7.5/10

Another disappointment from Naruse. I guess I'm on a bit of a losing streak with him lately. Don't get me wrong though, this is a very good film, probably even better than Scattered Clouds but for some reason or another it didn't resonate as deeply with me as I would have liked it too. It starts out with an overly sentimental and expositional voice-over which is made admirable by Naruse's intentions of coming off as poetic. There's a really great line in the opening narration where the daughter describes her mother's eyes that I think could have worked well had it not been crowded by a lot of uninteresting plot details. The way Naruse juxtaposed these very innocent, childish moments with very dreary and tragic ones is also something I admire. However, at this point, I'm beginning to think that his cynicism is drifting into self-parody. There's this really ridiculous scene where three women describe, in detail, how their respective husbands died. This is only topped when a death actually occurs on screen and this very intrusive and dated music comes in out of nowhere. All the performances are very good, though, especially when compared to the ones in Scattered Clouds but I know that Naruse is capable of much more.

OKASAN is one of the rare instances when Naruse was able to create a film with a little more humor than usual; for this reason, this study of an adolescent girl and her mother has moments of great charm, even though the general sadness which pervades so many of Naruse's films cannot help but add dimension to the story. The ending of the film is more upbeat than is usual for Naruse, and so the effect is bittersweet and rueful, rather than despairing and sad. It's a film full of delicate touches of great tenderness; it's a film that really does celebrate motherhood, though in a very unsentimental way. Though Naruse does emphasize the problems of the family, he allows the affection that the family feels for each other to texture the film with a feeling of genuine warmth. This remains a very special film for Naruse for this reason.