is a 1952 Japanese

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Mikio Naruse was a Japanese filmmaker who directed 89 films spanning the period 1930 to 1967. Naruse is known for imbuing his films with a bleak and pessimistic outlook. He made primarily shomin-geki ("common people drama") films with female protagonists, ...

, starring Kinuyo Tanaka in the title role. The screenplay by Yūko Mizuki is based on the prize-winning entry of a school essay-writing competition.

Plot

Told from the viewpoint of Toshiko, the second child of three of the Fukuhara family, the film depicts her mother Masako's struggles during the

post-war In Western usage, the phrase post-war era (or postwar era) usually refers to the time since the end of World War II. More broadly, a post-war period (or postwar period) is the interval immediately following the end of a war. A post-war period c ...

years. First Masako loses her son, who fell ill from working in a velvet cloth shop, then her husband Ryosaku, who ruined his health from overworking during the war. Ryosaku's friend Kimura joins the family's laundry shop, showing Masako how to handle the business, watched warily by Toshiko who objects the idea that her mother might marry him. To reduce the Fukuhara's financial hardships, and because they are childless after losing their son in the war, Ryosaku's brother and his wife adopt the younger daughter Chako. Kimura finally leaves the business to open his own laundry shop in

Chiba Chiba may refer to: Places China * (), town in Jianli County, Jingzhou, Hubei Japan * Chiba (city), capital of Chiba Prefecture ** Chiba Station, a train station * Chiba Prefecture, a sub-national jurisdiction in the Greater Tokyo Area on ...

, and Toshiko and young baker Shinjiro muse about getting married one day. Watching her mother play with her little cousin Tetsu, Toshiko wonders if she is happy, wishing that she will live a long life.

Cast

* Kinuyo Tanaka as Masako Fukuhara * Kyōko Kagawa as Toshiko Fukuhara *

Eiji Okada was a Japanese film actor from Chōshi, Chiba. Okada served in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II and was a miner and traveling salesman before becoming an actor. Internationally, his best-remembered roles include Lui ("him" in Fre ...

as Shinjiro * Daisuke Katō as Kimura * Yafu Mishima as Ryosaku Fukuhara * Nakabe Chieko as Noriko, Masako's sister * Eiko Miyoshi as Ryosaku's mother *

Chieko Nakakita was a Japanese actress. She appeared in the early films of Akira Kurosawa and later starred in many films by Mikio Naruse. Biography After graduating from Tokyo Film School (東京映画学校), Chieko Nakakita entered the Toho film studios an ...

as Noriko

Reception

Film historian Donald Richie called ''Mother'' one of Naruse's best films, but also an atypical one, because the protagonists escape the tragedy that usually hangs above Naruse's characters. Naruse biographer Catherine Russell noted a higher degree of sentimentality in this film compared to other works by the director of this period. ''Mother'' was screened in Paris in 1954 and received the attention of critics like André Bazin and the writers of the ''

Cahiers du cinéma ''Cahiers du Cinéma'' (, ) is a French film magazine co-founded in 1951 by André Bazin, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, and Joseph-Marie Lo Duca.Itzkoff, Dave (9 February 2009''Cahiers Du Cinéma Will Continue to Publish''The New York TimesMacnab, Ge ...

''.

Awards

1953 - Blue Ribbon Awards * Best Director – Mikio Naruse * Best Supporting Actor – Daisuke Katō 1953 – Mainichi Film Award * Best Film Score – Ichirō Saitō * Best Supporting Actor – Daisuke Katō * Best Supporting Actress – Kyōko Kagawa

References

External links

* * * {{Mikio Naruse 1952 drama films 1952 films Japanese black-and-white films Japanese drama films Shintoho films Films directed by Mikio Naruse Films scored by Ichirō Saitō 1950s Japanese films