Chaotic, complex, and eye-opening.
First things first - watching this film was an experience. I thought that I was watching a documentary rather than a film - this is probably influenced by the fact that this is based on true events. I got sucked into its delivery and realism which was quite heavy to take in. If you aren't used to watching heavily-themed films, then this will be a difficult one to watch.MOTHER reminds me of a Nojima Shinji kind-of story wherein the 'negative sides' of humanity, the complexities of human relationships, are laid bare. They aren't shown in a showy manner but as they are - dirty, difficult to comprehend, and even psychotic. The relationship between Akiko (the mother) and Shuhei (the son) is anything but what society sees as acceptable, yet to the latter, it is his norm and accepted reality. This film isn't just about murder, abuse, and casual sex - it's also about how twisted 'love' can be, how manipulation and violence can play heavily into a person's sense of dependency and reliance, and how things aren't always understandable on the surface, especially one of a relationship between a mother and son who have been together all their lives, one that's for better or for worse.
Impressive acting by the cast, especially by Nagasawa Masami - a natural, I must say - and Okudaira Daiken, whose eyes and expressions tell more than what he says. Hats off to Gunji Sho's Shuhei as well. The story moves from one timeline to another yet with consistency that doesn't leave you completely hanging. The music and the silence came in at the right times, adding to the heavy atmosphere that the film has.
If you're looking for a film that's gonna make you feel blissful, this is not that. MOTHER is gonna leave you with thoughts to ponder on and with an ending that doesn't inspire - it's simply a naked cut.
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Mother isn't movie only about parental abuse but a also a story about psycho mother who loves entertaining herself with poisonous men. Rather than "slice of life" story, it's telling more toxic relationship between them. The level of cruelty of a mother who only thinks about herself. My heart is breaking every scenes her children had to move to another places, get involved with debt collectors and waiting for her psycho mother.
It's really hard to imagine children needs to go through manipulating, cruelty and abusive mother that he will never abandon her.
The great performance from Nagasawa Masami and Okudaira Daiken told the audience how wild and chaotic the movie is; not to mention the audience couldn't stand to watch it.
I remember once said on Shoplifters "You can't choose your own parents" and the director told us by that love is somehow default. she will never give him his own space and her son will always part of her.
Overall, this movie is the most sickening and depressing no moral values at all.
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Masterpiece
The story is tragic, heavy, disturbing yet pure and raw in so many levels.. It showed how motherhood can effect an innocent kids life.. Felt painful watching throughout the movie but it held my attention all the timeNagasawa Masami and Okudaira Daiken totally outstanding portrayed the roles as mother and son..Toxic, miserably relationship between mother and son yet heartbreaking and traumatic..
Another ugly side of society they try to brings out with excellent cast, acting and plot.. Hats off to the whole team...It was fine of art.. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
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Background of MOTHER
I’ll help you sort this un-Google-able movie-title hell. The new 2020 Netflix film Mother is Japanese director Tatsushi Ohmori’s story about a young boy’s loyalty to his delinquent, abusive mother. Darren Aronofsky’s wildly, wonderfully disorienting mother! (2017), identifiable by that exclamation point, puts poor Jennifer Lawrence at the center of a hurricane of her husband’s — and the world’s? — madness. And Bong Joon Ho’s grossly overlooked Mother (2009) is a flipped-script version of Ohmori’s film; it’s about a mother’s loyalty being tested when her son is accused of murder. Are they all worth watching? For sure. Are they all extraordinary? REVIEW SPOILER ALERT: Yes! Akiko (Masami Nagasawa) who is a single mother and her son is Shuhei (Sho Gunji). Akiko casually has sex with other men, including Ryo (Sadao Abe). Akiko is the only person whom Shuhei can rely on. One day, Shuhei makes a shocking decision. Shuhei's erratic mother feels threatened when he starts to awaken to a world beyond her distorted control, sending the family hurtling toward tragedy.Was this review helpful to you?
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Glorifying bad mothers
I'd rate 0, but I pity gave it a 1 star because the cinematography was really well done. And the acting was not bad. But knowing 'moms', and myself having to help raise a child that had a mom like this.. this entire movie, two hours, of showing these 'deep' awful story of this worse off mom. I feel no pity at all for her. Mental illness's yes, but that's no excuse for any of this. Even for a movie/story.Why does the social worker not call the police during the physical abuse? Why is NOBODY really helping? It's a bit drab for all the men finding the family to just suddenly go, 'Hey yeah I wanna do this not stable and terrible mother!' Seriously? Even the good natured construction guy? It felt so forced and not in character.
It almost felt traumatic for my husband and I to watch. It's not worth watching. There is no good in this film. It's 2021 and we're tired. I don't want to relive traumatic memories for the sake of a story or to give some sort of deep meaning. (Spoilers. It's a sh*tty mom who never gets into any trouble or any repercussions from her actions for the entire duration.)
I was hoping this movie would have gone differently, maybe even at least informative about abuse situations. But it's not. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.
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sigh
this movie is interesting, but feels way too drawn out for what it is. it's long and soooo incredibly slow. near the end of the movie i found myself repeatedly checking how much longer i had left. for the first 1h 40m of the movie all it did was make me want to hug shuhei and fuyuka and beat up their mom. when we FINALLY got to the interesting bits, it was kind of anti climactic. the most thrilling scene of the film lasted maybe 3 minutes or less. and i don't know why shuhei keeps defending his mom. i know he doesn't have much, but he seems to be fine taking care of himself a lot of the time, without her help. she's really done nothing good for him to make her deserve his mercy other than i guess be a momWas this review helpful to you?
Basada en un hecho real, Mother nos cuenta la historia de Shuein, un niño que crece con una madre alcohólica, problemática, que constantemente está utilizando a su hijo para conseguir dinero para subsistir.
De manera realista y cruda, la película nos muestra que las relaciones tóxicas no son solo las relaciones de pareja. Vemos cómo Shuein, desde que es pequeño, pasa por muchas cosas a raíz de la relación insana que tiene con su madre; cosas como dormir en la calle, dejar la escuela y ver situaciones violentas son moneda común en su vida. A pesar de que nuestro protagonista sabe que no es una buena vida, es capaz de hacer lo que sea con tal de seguir con su madre.
Realmente hay escenas que te ponen los pelos de punta y te hacen sentir muy incómodo, a tal punto que uno quiere que nuestro protagonista salga corriendo de ahí y empiece una nueva vida lejos de su madre.
Los actores también destacan mucho. Okudaira Daiken y Nagasawa Masami hacen una actuación increíble. Transmiten muchísimo en su performance y te hacen olvidar por dos horas que lo que estás viendo es algo actuado.
Eso sí, a pesar de haberme gustado mucho, siento que la película falla en algo, y es en desarrollar un poco más la personalidad de la madre, la motivación para ser como es, el sentimiento tiene por sus hijos... lo único que nos muestran de ella es lo problemática y manipuladora que es y no mucho más. Por otro lado, Shuein está muy bien desarrollado, y vemos perfectamente los conflictos internos que tiene entre hacer lo que quiere hacer y hacer lo que su madre quiere o lo que siente que es lo mejor para su madre.
Otra cosa que me generó un poco de conflicto, es que siento que la peli tiene algunos problemas de edición, ya que los cortes de escena y las transiciones de una a otra, a veces parecen un poco bruscos. No sé si será así a propósito (como para generar más inestabilidad e incomodidad) y yo no lo entendí, o si es que quien lo editó fue medio desprolijo en algunos cortes.
Si quieren más reseñas sin spoiler, síganos en instagram @altoplottwist
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