Mother Review

Posted by Joseph Lee on 03.15.2010

The director of The Host returns with something completely different.



Starring:

*Kim Hye-ja as Hye-ja
*Won Bin as Do-joon
*Jin Goo as Jin-tae
*Yoon Je-moon as Je-moon

Story: After her mentally-challenged son is imprisoned for murder, an overprotective mother is determined to prove his innocence by starting her own investigation.

Trivia: This film was South Korea's official submission to 82nd Academy Award's Best Foreign Language Film category in 2010.

"Mother
Can you keep them in the dark for life
Can you hide them from the waiting world
Oh mother"

Danzig - "Mother"

After Director Bong Joon-ho unleashed The Host on audiences in 2006, fans of the film have been eagerly awaiting his follow-up. After all, The Host was Korea's highest grossing film (and still is today) and gained a sizable following here in the United States. It managed to gain near-unanimous critical acclaim and it earned over two million dollars at only 116 theaters. Would Joon-ho make another monster movie? Would he even stick to the horror genre? Fans of The Host were eager to find out.

So in last year's Korean cinemas (and released here this past Friday), his latest, Ma-deo (or Mother) made it's debut. The first thing you notice is that this movie is completely different from The Host. This is a serious film that's more comparable to Joon-ho's 2003 film Memories of Murder than anything else. It's a crime drama that slowly draws the viewer in and remains engaging as the mystery comes closer and closer to being solved.

The story concerns Hye-ja (Kim Hye-ja), a mother who seems to be quite overprotective and overbearing when it comes to her son Do-joon (Won Bin). She has every right to be. He's clearly mentally handicapped and often has problems dealing with others in society. It's this very reason that he ends up where he does at the scene of the crime, creating circumstantial evidence that puts him behind bars for the murder of a teenage girl. Hye-ja is completely unconvinced that her son would ever do something like this, so she begins to investigate the case herself when it seems as though the cops would rather call it a day. You wouldn't think a poor mother with a menial job would be very good at this, but she manages to make enough headway to get herself on the right track to solving the case.

I think that's what I like about this the most. When the system apparently fails her, Hye-ja strikes out on her own to defend her son. You get the feeling she would do this even if there was clear evidence of his guilt, but since there isn't she has more motivation. Kim Hye-ja portrays her as a strong woman only when it involves helping her son, as you can see that she is nothing without him. She has made her child into her entire world because he is all she has. She starts out very meek and worried, but as she gains new ground in solving who really committed the murder, she becomes more crafty and resourceful. It's as if the end of the tunnel is fast approaching and she reaches down deep to make sure she gets what she wants. The best part about Kim's performance is that you can see all of this in her eyes and mannerisms. That's something that gets through to the audience without the need of subtitles.

There is another good performance that while doesn't match Kim Hye-ja's, still makes the movie worth watching. Won Bin's portrayal of Do-joon is layered and strong. He doesn't rely on a caricature of what a mentally-challenged person should be. In fact, Do-joon isn't exactly handicapped, but as some would call him, "slow". He has trouble thinking and he's socially useless, but he still understands most of what is going on. He has the ability to focus and make himself remember important details that he usually forgets, and this becomes very important later on. His character is as important to the movie as Hye-ja. Much like Hye-ja's life, the film would fall apart without a proper performance in this role.

The third part of this winning formula is director Bong Joon-ho. He brings back his own style here, throwing in clever edits here and there, relying on flashbacks and POV shots to tell certain aspects of his story. There are some very Hitchcockian elements to this as the influence is clear. One particular scene involves Hye-ja attempting to escape with possible evidence while her suspect is sleeping on the floor of a messy room. Joon-ho's directorial flair makes something as simple as water spilling an edge-of-your-seat moment. The greatest contribution would be the script. It's a new twist on an old story, but it's the twists in the film itself that drive the plot forward (and aren't there simply to be shocking) and turn the story into something completely different from what it was before. When Hye-ja learns new facts, her conversations and actions all have those facts hanging above them and it adds more layers of suspense to the film.

This isn't perfect, however. The first half hour is tough to get through as it's lethargically paced and not very interesting outside of establishing the characters. It's very likely the same measures could have been taken without taking up so much time of the time. This is a movie where the mystery does (and should) take up the majority of the film, so the mystery should be implemented as soon as possible. One other problem involves the ending. There really isn't one. Once the final events are over the movie chooses to linger for five more minutes or so. It doesn't seem to wrap anything up, but leave everything hanging in the air. It feels very anticlimactic even though the story is over for all intents and purposes.

Those are both minor issues with what is a great film. It's a solid mystery with great performances and superb direction and writing. If you can't see this in theaters just yet, get it on DVD. It's worth it.

The 411: Mother starts out slowly, but once it gets going it's a very suspenseful mystery with twists that you don't see coming and two performances that win you over. You can see Bong Joon-ho's own style from his previous films but you can also see the clear influence of film giants like Hitchcock. Joon-ho remains a director to watch as he continues to improve his craft. Mother gets a high recommendation for being a solid entry in the mystery genre.

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]