Mother

In a time in which male leads are flourishing in the Korean crime genre, it seems fitting that women were beginning to step up to the plate. Here we have Kim Hye-ja playing an unnamed widow living alone with her intellectually disabled son. When he is charged with the murder of a local schoolgirl, his mother, horrified and assuming injustice, goes on a hunt to unravel the story and find out who really was to blame.

Prior to the start, I imagined the film's credibility would go one of two ways. It would either be weighed on the performance of the titular character, or down to John-ho Bong's usual writing prowess. Unfortunately, both were decent, yet neither shone. I was expecting the character of the mother to be the one who stole the show, yet she does her job, and gets on with it. You sympathise with her, but don’t truly connect with her. The ending is designed to be one riddled with emotion, yet while I seemed to nod in appreciation, I was left dry and unassuming. 

The Future of Korean Cinema is easily paved for its male actors, simply due to the content and style of  films, but Hye-ja does well to show it is possible for females to step up and seize the lead in similar formats. Though it isn’t with the same conviction, the role is performed effectively and serves its purpose, providing a good character in an unfortunately weak narrative. 

As stated, the ending is fantastic, but the build up is messy and sloppy, especially coming from a director I expect a lot of. It's not necessarily saying the film is poor, but if it were to be summed up in a short paragraph, you could see the potential it had. The dark and twisted plot turns were there to see, and they are what you come to expect from Korean cinema, but despite appreciating the ingenuity, there was no emotion embedded. In all, Mother unravels like a wet parcel. It comes apart in little pieces, and though you are technically getting closer to finding the answer, you start to lose interest pretty fast and almost give up entirely before you're there. 

Here we see a film that portrays the lengths mothers go for their children, and with that Korean flair we see it taken to a whole new level, effectively portrayed in some memorable moments. The unraveling of her character went through moments of fragility and desperation, confliction between ruthlessness and innocence.  She held the film up, and though it wasn't the greatest of portrayals, it was a fresh sight to behold. The evidence for a different kind of protagonist on the gritty side of Korean cinema is positive, even if the film may not be, and with the nation's achievements in film constantly on the rise, I imagine it's only the first of a wave of future productions. 

Director: Joon-ho Bong

Run Time: 128 Minutes
Released: 2009

Nationality: Korean

IMDB Rating: 7.8

My Rating: 
C+

If you like this, you may also like: Lady Vengeance