Mother (Madeo)

The South Korean director Bong Joon-ho has a Midas touch; movies he wrote and directed have become big blockbusters in South Korea. His second movie, “Memories of the Murder” (2003), became the most-watched movie of 2003. Then in 2006, he directed his biggest blockbuster, “The Host,” for which he not only cemented his place as one of the top directors in South Korea but consistently appeared in the list of top international directors. Following the success of “The Host,” he returns after a gap of three years to direct and cowrite the critically acclaimed “Mother.”  Bong Joon-ho, along with Park Chan-wook (“Oldboy,” “Joint Security Area,” “Lady Vengeance”) and Kang Je-gyu (“Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War,” “Shiri”), represents a new breed of young, talented South Korean directors who have time and again created some remarkable films.


Mother (Kim Hye-ja) lives with her son, Do-joon (Won Bin), and through a small shop in her house she sells herbs and practices acupuncture, although without a license. Do-joon is a handsome, twenty-eight-year-old man, although due to his limited cognitive skills, he has trouble remembering things. He spends a majority of his time with his buddy loitering around the town.


One day, a businessman nearly kills a local pet with his car as a result of rash driving. Do-joon sees this, and with the help of his friend decides to follow the businessman to a golf course. He later finds a golf ball that is eventually used as evidence against him later on in the film. After reaching the golf course, Do-joon breaks the rearview mirror of the businessman’s BMW and later ends up in a police station. Meanwhile, a local girl is murdered and being the prime suspect, Do-joon is arrested by the police. Mother soon finds about this, and she firmly believes that her son is innocent. Getting no help from the police, she launches her own investigation to find the real perpetrator.


“Mother” is fundamentally different from Bong’s previous effort, “The Host.”  The later banked on CGI to a good measure, whereas “Mother” is a drama with realistic elements. However, at the core, each movie deals with the suffering of a family. Be it a family devastated by a monster or a family falling apart as a result of a police investigation, Bong has a knack for delivering a satisfying, at times masterful, narrative.


The film opens up rather very oddly. We see a female figure emerging from a field and later dancing to commemorate the success of her act. What we don’t know is why she is in the field dancing. The narrative goes back in the past, showing us all the events leading to Mother’s presence in the field. The movie from this point onward is a series of revelations that leads to a final shocking discovery.


“Mother” contains fine performances from its leads. Mother, played by veteran South Korean actress Kim Hye-ja, is thoroughly mesmerizing, although at times bordering close to insanity. Her obsession with her son is rather strange. She treats him as a young child even though he is twenty-eight years old. Being a longtime widower, she clings to the only presence of a man in the house, her son. The movie switches its gears in the second act with the arrest of Do-joon, and Mother’s maternal love driving her to find the real killer. She aptly expresses her emotions at the possible loss of her son, if the sentence is carried out. In fact, her situation and actions are totally believable, which leads to a captivating performance from her.


On the other hand, the son, Do-joon, played by Won Bin, is irritating at times, even though that is the expected nature of his character, considering his mental disability. Although he is a grown-up adult, Do-joon still sleeps with his mother with one hand on her breast. However, there are moments during the mother-son interaction when his character comes across as an intelligent human being, fully aware of his surroundings. On these occasions, for a moment, you wonder if he is really mentally disabled. Nevertheless, the interplay between the mother and son is convincing and at times a bit creepy.


The movie could have been a regular run-of-the-mill, “C.S.I.” episode, but Bong injects a fair amount of reality associated with the characters and their situation, which makes “Mother” stand out from other movies in the same genre. While most directors would have resorted to an excessive use of violence in their portrayal of the police investigation, “Mother” takes a different approach by showing the suffering of the supposed murderer’s family. Even with this, the film still belongs to the whodunit genre. Surely, it is the manner in which the movie unfolds with its multilayered narration that makes it sparkle even more. The climax might shock an audience, but considering the circumstances of the characters, it is completely plausible. Furthermore, the screenplay provides ample character development for its two main leads, which ensures compelling performances.


Finally, Hong Kyeong-pyo’s cinematography is worth noting. From emotionally expressive close-ups to landscapes, the photography scores high in its technical aspects. The framing of characters against backdrops of landscape is very poetic, especially in the opening and final scenes, where the shots are simply majestic.


Indeed, “Mother” does a lot of things right, and with its thought-provoking script, it is a focused effort asking a lot of questions like, What if our loved one is a murderer? How far are we willing to go to save them? What is the moral boundary of our actions? The film never deviates from its goal and manages to grab our attention during its entire duration. The South Korean cinema in the U.S. shot to remarkable heights with the cult following of “Oldboy,” and Bong Joon-ho carries on this tradition with a memorable film in “Mother.”


Final film rating: 8/10