Kabei: Our Mother (2007)

Original title Kabe

Director Yoji Yamada

Kayo Nogami (Sayuri Yoshinaga) is an average wife and mother in the early 1940’s Tokyo. But one day her husband Shigeru is accused of being a Communist and jailed indefinitely, and Kayo must take charge of the household, raising her two daughters with help from her sister- in- law Hisako and Shigeru’s former student Yamazaki ( Tadanobu Asano). As the shadow of war draws closer to their lives, the only thing that keeps them going is Kayo’s indomitable spirit. Based on author Teruyo Nogami’s tender memoirs, this al-star period drama be legendary director Yamada is a captivating portrait of a women’s strength in the darkest of times.

-Director Yoji Yamada