FRI MAY 15, 2026 4:00 PM MOTHER $10.00 (member) ; $15.00 (general admission) Ticket prices include a $2.00 online booking fee. Los Feliz 3 | 35mm print courtesy of The Japan Foundation, Los Angeles Series co-presented by The Japan Foundation, Los Angeles and The Yanai Initiative for Globalizing Japanese Humanities ‘Mikio Naruse: An American Cinematheque Retrospective’ Checking Event Status... *This is an RSVP which means first come first served. This RSVP does not guarantee a seat. This event is for members only. Not a Member? Join Today. Already a Member? Be sure you are logged in to your account. Your RSVP is being held for 1 minute, please fill out your contact info to complete the RSVP. * All fields are required First Name * Last Name * Email * Quantity * Subscribe to our newsletter FINISH
ABOUT THE FILM: In Japanese with English subtitles. Based on a children’s essay adapted by famed Japanese screenwriter Yoko Mizuki in her first work for Naruse, Mother stars the legendary actress-director Kinuyo Tanaka as a beleaguered working class matron, whose self-sacrificing efforts to maintain her family during Tokyo’s postwar reconstruction make her a paragon of maternal virtue in the eyes of her teenage daughter Toshiko (Kyoko Kagawa). Toshiko idealizes her mother and the value system she embodies, a naive perspective that pleasantly lifts what in fact unfurls as a bitterly sad, episodic tale of slow-burn economic emmiseration. Anticipating the films of Hou Hsiao-hsien in its ironically sentimental vision of Confucian dissolution, Naruse’s film is a melodramatic tearjerker for the ages. FORMAT: 35mm DISTRIBUTOR: Janus Films COUNTRY: Japan