Nature and Nurture: Three Films by Naomi Kawase

Available for the first time ever on Blu-Ray in North America, Film Movement presents 3 films by Japanese auteur Naomi Kawase.

TRUE MOTHERS:
After a long and unsuccessful struggle to get pregnant, Satoko and her husband decide to adopt a child. Over the next six years, the middle-class couple and their young son Asato settle into a comfortable, albeit routine, life. The family’s orderly existence is shattered by the arrival of Hikari, a young woman claiming to be Asato’s biological mother, demanding his return. As tensions mount, Satoko grows more and more emboldened to defend her family.

RADIANCE:
Misako (Ayame Misaki) is a passionate writer of film versions for the visually impaired. At a screening, she meets Nakamori (Masatoshi Nagase), an older photographer who is slowly losing his eyesight. Misako soon discovers Nakamori’s photographs, which strangely bring her back to her past. Together, they learn to see the radiant world that had been invisible to her eyes.

STILL THE WATER:
On the subtropical Japanese island of Amami, sixteen-year-old Kaito (Nijiro Murakami) discovers a young woman’s body floating in the sea. His girlfriend Kyoko (Jun Yoshinaga) attempts to help him make sense of this mystery while also coming to terms with her shaman mother’s terminal illness. Together, they broach adulthood by experiencing the interwoven cycles of life, death and love.

Bonus feature: Actress Juliette Binoche and filmmaker Naomi Kawase discuss True Mothers; 20-page booklet with new essay by film writer Hayley Scanlon.