Mother

This is not an easy film to watch. The director does an excellent job portraying a mother who is suffering from mental illness and the traumatic relationship she has with her son. The viewer is dragged through her erratic and destructive behavior- much like the son is- as we painfully watch the pair experience homelessness, domestic violence, familial rejection, and crime. Ultimately, we are left to grapple with the difficult decisions the son is left to make after knowing nothing but this violent and abusive woman's love.

Not an easy watch by any measure, but this Japanese drama inspired by true stories is uncompromising and raw in so many levels. It explores toxic relationship between a single mother and her young son. At the core, it questions the rights and responsibilities of motherhood and how it can effect an innocent life. The story seems so extreme at times and it's hard to believe that it's based on real events. Even though the whole journey is very depressing but it reaches a somewhat satisfying conclusion.

A very troubled mother travels around Japan with her son and later her new daughter gambling, drinking, sleeping with bad men and avoiding debt collectors. All the time her son seeks stability and education his mother derails his hopes at every turn. A depressing look at co dependency and the spiral of descent which will eventually lead to an unimaginable crime.

Though this movie may or may not be based on true incidents or real life characters, it is indeed a dark tale, not just dark but pitch black. The titular character Maza or Akkio, played to perfection by Masami Nagasawa left my head spinning and reeling for hours, from the fatal blow I received while watching maza. A deadly and disturbing combination of utter Waywardness, irresponsibility, selfishness, laziness, lies and deceit all rolled into one, sums up the character Akkio. Masa can definitely be a case study for social workers across the world, who work for the betterment of the civil society. Director Tatsushi Ohmori's painstakingly put together tale, definitely makes a bold and rather disturbing impression.

Cinematography is perfect, the ground level camera shots, the steady cam shots and the scenes shot in small and confined spaces, just shows the mettle of the cinematographer. Screenplay is terrific on many levels, it intrigues with the viewer's minds while keeping things interesting. Editing is good and keeps up the necessary pace for the movie lasting 125 minutes. Production design, costumes and makeup are good. Music is sublime and soft. On the acting front Masami Nagasawa steals the show outright, and is ably supported by by a host of decent performances around her.

Overall, I am sure that the judges at Cannes film festival and other top film festivals will be mighty impressed with Masa. But for the average joe like me, I would recommend this movie for viewers who like dark tales or for viewers who would like to try something bizarre and different for the day, instead of regular mundane stuff on tv. Not recommended for family audiences and young impressionable minds. 6.9 stars out of 10 for a dark tale that borders horror, on many occasions, without involving ghosts or vampires. Actually they are in fact nothing in comparison to Akkio.

A movie about codependency, neglect, toxic cicles and learned hopelessness. It does a very good job at portraying the ugly side of society, it's so heartbreaking that it makes you want to look away (the same way many characters do during the film). But it's quite slow paced, and because it does show the endless cicles of bad decisions and abuse in a realistic way, by the end of it it felt like I was watching the same scene on a loop.