World Premiere
Ryuichi Hiroki’s film is shot through with the spirit of Greek tragedy. It’s the story of Rumiko (Erika Toda), who dearly loves her mother Hanae (Mao Daichi) but is unable to feel the same way about her daughter Sayaka (Mei Nagano). Told from both Rumiko and Sayaka’s perspectives, Motherhood parses the psychology of both women, laying bare the fractures that prevent affection from passing down through the family lineage. It’s a sad story, but one that has room in it for compassion and tenderness amid the harshness.
Shooting in widescreen, Hiroki displays a peculiar but very evocative sensibility; at times, his film takes on a dollhouse-like aesthetic of ordered, brittle beauty. He’s a terrific director of actors, drawing a different portrait of frustrated passion from each lead performer. We’re used to assuming that parent and child must love each other, at least in some way; Motherhood is brave enough to question that assumption and powerful enough to call forth the deepest sympathy.
Q&A Oct 5
Media Partner
Erika Toda, Mei Nagano, Masaki Miura, Yuri Nakamura, Rio Yamashita, Atsuko Takahata, Mao Daichi
Japan
2022
In Japanese with English subtitles
Self Harm
Book Tickets
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Smoke Sauna Sisterhood
Within the confines of a smoke sauna deep in an Estonian forest, groups of women gather to cleanse themselves in both body and soul, sharing in traditional sauna-based rituals, while also revealing their hurts and longings, joys and pains.
La venue de l'avenir
Four cousins are tapped to investigate an abandoned house that is their joint inheritance. As they explore, they learn their story of their ancestor Adele (Suzanne Lindon) and her foray into Paris in the age of Impressionism.
L'Étranger
Recreating 1940s Algeria in vivid, high contrast black and white cinematography, L'Etranger is erotic, enigmatic and brutal in equal measures, a masterful screen version of Albert Camus's insoluble classic of existential alienation.
The Secret Agent
Having run afoul of an influential bureaucrat in Brazil’s military dictatorship circa 1977, Marcelo decamps to Recife to live under an assumed name — but he’ll soon come to understand precisely how rampant the country’s corruption has become.
The Chronology of Water
Kristen Stewart's fearless directorial debut is based on the best-selling memoir by Lidia Yuknavitch (Imogen Poots), a chronicle of her abusive childhood, traumatized adulthood, and escapes through swimming, drugs, sex, and ultimately writing.
Credits
Producer
Tatsuhiko Taniguchi, Shunsuke Koga, Yasushi Minatoya
Screenwriter
Anne Horiizumi
Cinematography
Atsuhiro Nabeshima
Editor
Minoru Nomoto
Production Design
Tomoyuki Maruo
Original Music
Kotringo
Director
Ryuichi Hiroki
Ryuichi Hiroki’s breakthrough into mainstream film came with his 1994 feature 800 Two Lap Runners, which opened at the Berlin International Film Festival. That same year, he won a scholarship to the Sundance Film Festival and went to the United States. In 2003, Hiroki won numerous awards at more than 40 international film festivals in Japan and abroad, including the Best Director Award for his feature film Vibrator at the 25th Yokohama Film Festival.
Filmography: The Egoists (2011); Marmalade Boy (2018); It’s Boring Here, Pick Me Up (2018); Phases of the Moon (2022)