The London East Asian Film Festival announced its programme last month and while it has a varied selection of films, there is only one Japanese film programmed. It is a physical event that will run at various cinemas and it will open with the Korean film Beasts Clawing at Straws which I reviewed earlier this year. Order tickets through Eventbrite.
Here are the details on the one Japanese film programmed:
True Mothers
朝が来る 「Asa ga kuru」
Release Date: October 23rd, 2020
Duration: 139 mins.
Director: Naomi Kawase
Writer: Naomi Kawase, Izumi Takahashi (Script), Mizuki Tsujimura (Original Novel)
Starring: Arata Iura, Hiromi Nagasaku, Miyoko Asada, Taketo Tanaka, Ren Komai, Go Riju, Hiroko Nakajima, Reo Sato,
True Mothers is the latest movie by Naomi Kawase (Sweet Bean (2015), Radiance (2017)) and is based on a novel by Mizuki Tsujimura. It was turned into an eight-episode series based on broadcast in 2016 and has now been given a feature film treatment so fine that it was going to be screened at Cannes 2020 but the fest was cancelled due to Covid-19. This was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival and San Sebastian Film Festival.
Synopsis: Kiyokazu Kurihara and his wife Satoko had given up trying for a baby after years of struggle but were talked into a special adoption by a company. Since then, they have spent six happy years with their son, Asato, but when a young woman named Hikari appears and claims to be the one who gave birth to him, she shakes the family to its core. Satoko decides to confront Hikari…