The film’s comparisons of one woman’s suffering to one nation’s social descent aren’t well drawn enough to escape its own melodramatic pitfalls.
Comment
05/20/09
Rate this Movie 
Kabei: Our Mother (2009)
85
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work
Reviews Counted:13
Fresh:11
Rotten:2
Average Rating:6.9/10
Theatrical Release:May 22, 2009 Limited
Synopsis: The latest film from Yoji Yamada depicts the strong bond between a mother and her family during WWII. Set in Tokyo in 1940, the peaceful life of the Nogami Family suddenly changes when the father,... [More]
Get This Movie
Rent DVD
Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.
Buy DVD
Reviews for Kabei: Our Mother
1 - 13 (sorted by rotten rating)
For those who prefer movies of substance, there are alternatives -- and I don't mean Terminator Salvation.
05/22/09
[An] unpretentious, engrossing, well-nuanced and tender drama brimming with a raw and powerfully moving performance by Sayuri Yoshinaga.
05/24/09
Painful though it may be, Kâbê is finely crafted and totally enjoyable. Watch
09/08/09
Enriched by Mutsuo Naganuma’s velvety photography, the director’s restrained emotional grammar is surprisingly affecting.
05/22/09
Top CriticPartly because they're relatively rare, homefront movies usually offer a fresh perspective on the tragedies of World War II. That's the case once more with Kabei: Our Mother, a sad and stirring drama from the other side of the Pacific.
07/10/09
Deeply powerful study of a family trying to survive repression and poverty in wartime Japan with much in common--unexpectedly--with the director's Samurai trilogy.
05/21/09
Hits all the right spots to make you cry like chopping onions.
02/14/08
Old workhorse Yamada delivers the solar plexus emotional hit of a tragic telegram with precision that shows a lifetime's practice, turning Hallmarkisms sublime.
05/19/09
Delicately observed.
05/13/09
Shows the Shochiku journeyman's prowess in hitting the right buttons to move Japanese auds.
02/14/08
This is not a story about lamenting the inevitability of time but rather of living in denial.
05/20/09
Yoji Yamada's historical drama about a Japanese family's travails during wartime imperial rule teeters on the edge of melodrama, but thankfully hews to a stable and surprisingly poignant path.
06/19/09
1 - 13 (sorted by rotten rating)
Latest News for Kabei: Our Mother
May 25, 2009:
Trailer & Poster review 
More...
May 21, 2009:
Critics Consensus: Terminator, Night Are So-So Sequels
This week at the movies, we've got deadly machines (Terminator Salvation, starring Christian Bale and Sam Worthington); historical hysterics (Night at the Museum: Battle of the... More...
RT On Current TV
What’s Hot On RT
Fresh Links
Featured
Best Sci-Fi This Decade
Techland lists the best Sci-Fi films of this decade.
40 Worst Films of the 2000s
Moviefone takes a look back at the biggest stinkers of the past 10 years.
10 Questions For Zac Efron
The Me and Orson Welles star answers reader questions on TIME.com.
Best Decade Ever!
Hollywood.com's C. Robert Cargill offers his thoughts on what the best decade for film was.
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
In the AV Club's "Scenic Routes," Mike D'Angelo reminisces about the Tim Burton film.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!
IGN RSS Feeds