True Mothers
Film Movement | Release Date (Streaming): January 29, 2021 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 11 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleJan 30, 2021
In Kawase’s delicate hands, however, it breathes with an everyday poignancy. Read full review
80
Screen DailyWendy IdeJan 28, 2021
An elegant, absorbing piece of storytelling. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonJan 28, 2021
Naomi Kawase’s films don’t hammer toward arbitrary plot points but flow like water, so “True Mothers” doesn’t unfold like a Hollywood blockbuster, or indeed, even most arthouse films. It courses along softly and confidently, with unexpected ebbs and estuaries. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungJan 28, 2021
It is, at least in its closing hour, a moving dramatization of maternal feelings. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleJenny NulfJan 28, 2021
The longer it goes, the more True Mothers gets weighed down by its melodrama. Kawase is just hopeful and soft enough to keep her film glowing, but it doesn’t quite stick the landing, and is a bit frustrating with its blatant red herrings. Read full review
67
IndieWireRyan LattanzioJan 28, 2021
The film shimmers with beauty and sadness despite its length, and the Japanese director’s background as both a photographer and a documentary filmmaker brings a gossamer naturalism to this realistic tale about a young woman’s regrets over abandoning her child years after the fact. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreFeb 1, 2021
True Mothers is a melodrama with 90 minutes of story awash in 139 minutes of movie. Kawase holds our interest by letting us see the unexpressed pain of characters generally too well-mannered to express loss, shock, outrage and resentment out loud. Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Simran HansApr 20, 2021
Kawase’s frequent use of handheld camera gives parts of the film a quasi-documentary feel, but it’s the lyrical touches . . . that hit the hardest. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawJan 28, 2021
There is a sustained emotional seriousness in this movie, with committed performances. Read full review
60
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergJan 28, 2021
Only a mountain couldn’t be moved by True Mothers — but like Asato’s parentage, the sources of that effect are complex. From one angle, True Mothers is sensitive and layered. From another, the tricks it plays with perspective constitute an all-too-calculated ploy for tears. Read full review
50
VarietyMaggie LeeJan 28, 2021
Adapting Mizuki Tsujimura’s novel of the same name helps impose more of a narrative framework than is typically found in Kawase’s oeuvre, although the film’s mix of genres — from marital drama to teen romance to social commentary — don’t gel. Read full review
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