User reviews

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.

I'll preface it now for all of you the movie itself is just miserable from start to finish. Every second of it makes you angry that such a woman can be such an irredeemable person. Now I'm not saying that this is a bad movie, in fact its misery and its ability to fire me up is what makes it such a recommended viewing. The actress who plays the mother is so good at just being the most scummy, despicable person. You feel for these kids that she totally uses as props to further her own agenda. I think the hardest part to watch is that her son takes it and keeps taking it time after time as if under some sort of spell. It's so hard to watch a child's innocence being ripped apart by the very person that gave them life and is suppose to protect them and cherish them. It just hurts to watch.

The director is sensitive enough to show a family of outcasts (if we can call that human gathering a family), a situation that, although it exists in any society, no country likes to show them in the cinema. Very good performance in general, notably the boy Shuhei. Today's Japanese cinema has succeeded the Italian's in the art of unraveling the complicated life of those forgotten by society.

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.

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.

Do you remember Rousseaou's phrase that the Child is good by nature but it is society that corrupts it? Well here the mother applies and not all of society. A Japanese drama. It is about a woman who drags her son to live outside the social norms, spoiling him, while living in a street situation and does everything, except work to survive. A mother who believes that because they are her children she can do with them and raise them outside of social norms. Heartbreaking. Suffocating. Raw Zero romanticized. At times it becomes untenable, you want to enter the screen and save the creatures. You suffer most of the movie along with the characters. The everyday life of a well-led life. The performances to what is expected. It shows emotional blackmail and the antithesis of what maternal love is. The end, although it is consistent, leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

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.

Please watch only if you want to irritate yourself that why the hell he is not doing something. I wasted my time .

Brilliantly acted and directed with a horrid storyline that filled me with loathing for this manipulative, narcissistic woman. I wanted to grab that precious son and his sister, and get them away from her. Such a heavy, tragic story about failure on the part of so many people, with the kids once again being the innocent victims. Though it is superior in so many ways, the story and outcome are so upsetting, I don't recommend the film.

Maybe this is personal taste, but I found the performances insufferably cartoonish. It feels like they took anime voice actors and tried to make them act on camera. Couldn't stand the characters and didn't finish watching.

This film touches on so many emotions.. but its VERY good.. some of the very best work coming out of Japan recently and thats saying alot cause theres been a few past few years like Shoplifter thats just been excellent pieces of art...

Speaking of Shoplifter, it very much walks along those lines and dabbles in a bit of taboo of what we vision as typical Japanese society.. They TOO have there problems.. particularly in society when you take away the Manga and Tokyo Idols and all the rest ... This story could be happening on ANY street anywhere.. but the directors and writers chose to tell it from a Japanese angle...

Quite good... +Personal Library.

The movie is heartbreaking 💔 😢. To what extent can one love their mother? This movie should have been named horrible mother. My heart breaks for kids who suffer from abusive mother and all the trauma they have suffered.

The actors did an outstanding job portraying believable characters in a sad story based on actual events circa 2014. The proof, at least for me, is that I watched this entire movie without understanding a single word or being aided by subtitles! The director surely had a lot to do with this as well, and thus also deserves special mention.

Some interesting glimpses of life in Japan ( I think it's Japan). The small but clean facilities provided for homeless people is one example.

Some women are not fit to be a mother (same goes for some men and not being fit to be a father of course, which can also be witnessed here). It is easy to dismiss the main character here. She makes it easy to not like her. At least at the beginning ... though I'm not sure how much the viewers feelings will change during the duration of the movie.

Her son of course has a different point of view. Always hanging by her side or at least covering for her (no pun intended). This is a tough drama - especially when you consider what the kid has to go through. But the love of ones own mother can be quite strong. At least that is what the movie suggest, there are other cases too and this could easily at any moment go a different way - again no pun intended. Slow paced and dramatic and also as real as it can get - does that sound like something you would like to watch? Be sure beforehand, as to not waste your time (just sayin)

The plot is very depressing, the actors are decent and the sets are good.

I've only watched a few films that have made me feel such a strong urge to reach through the screen and snatch some wigs and this has made that list.

The emotional, physical and neglectful abuse endured by this child made me sick. This "mother", was outrageous. She was a manipulative, self serving, slothful, worthless excuse of a human being that expected a free ride through life and if sacrificing her child was the way to aquire it, so be it. What's even worse is the people who allowed this behavior to take place without a fight for the welfare of these children. It is an absolute atrocity.

To have pulled such strong emotions out of me says something about how good the film was. The horror of it is the fact that this sort of behavior takes place in the real world. Common decency requires more from those among us who witness such things.

Contrary to one of the reviews I have just read, this is not a "japanese subject". This is a universal subject regarding narcissistic parenting and abuse.

Great director, amazing actors. I loved it.

It is disturbing if you have gone through abuse. So useful to discuss about the film with your therapist. Seriously.

You should watch it and make your own opinion about it. Its quite disturbing, especially if you know how are Japanese people... really good movie !