Mother (1952)

 Mikio Naruse's "Mother"


After the rousing success of his 1951 film "Repast," Mikio Naruse crafted his next feature film from a screenplay that was based on a prize-winning entry of a school essay-writing competition. The story focused on a mother's struggles during the post-war years in Japan. The film, simply titled "Mother" encompasses the heartbreaking fracturing that occurs in her family and represents the fractured family unit that would emerge in Japanese culture after the war. Although it is mostly somber in tone, "Mother" offers a great deal of heart that extends from the uncompromised love of its titular mother. 



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