I originally considered writing about the Oscars this week since they took place on Sunday, and since I wrote about my opinions on the Best Picture nominees in my last post. However, I’ve spoken about what happened so much in the last few days that I no longer have the energy to describe how exasperating the entire ceremony was to watch. After all of the chaos leading up to and during the Oscars, I found what I needed most was a chance to cleanse my palate with a movie I knew was going to be great.
With that being said, this week, I watched Bong Joon-ho‘s 2009 crime drama Mother. Most of you are probably familiar with Bong due to his 2019 Best-Picture-winning film Parasite. This is my fourth Bong film, and I truly have to say: nobody does murder like Bong Joon-ho!
The film is about a mother (Kim Hye-ja) and her mentally disabled son Yoon Do-joon (Won Bin). One day, a young schoolgirl named Moon Ah-jung’s (Mun Hee-ra) body is found draped off the side of the roof of an abandoned building and the evidence points the cops to Do-joon. With Do-joon in jail, his mother sets off on the task of proving her son innocent.
I was struck by the decision to leave the main character unnamed. Throughout the entire 2-hour 9-minute runtime of the film, Kim’s character is only ever referred to directly as “eomma” (“mother”) by Do-joon. She is a mother first, and everything-else second. Motherhood is of the utmost priority to her. She dotes on Do-joon, breaking his food into smaller bites, sleeping alongside him, comforting him, and protecting him from any and every kind of danger, even himself.
The film opens in a field of long yellow grass. The air is a little dense and the fog tints the atmosphere blue. In the center of the shot stands mother. As the credits begin to roll over the shot, music starts to play, and she begins dancing while sometimes staring directly into the camera. At times during the dance, she seems to be burdened and in pain, and at others, she seems passive, peaceful almost. I describe this scene in such detail because I truly believe this is one of my favorite opening scenes ever.
It’s hard to review this film without giving away too much about the big question mark that is placed at the center of it. All I can say is that Mother is guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat, as it kept me on mine. Bong has such a talent for making movies that consume you with their feelings of impending doom.
In Mother, the titular mother does everything she can to prove her son’s innocence. And when that might not be enough, she crosses lines she never thought she would cross. The incomparable Bong Joon-ho brilliantly toys with the answer to the question that lies at the heart of this movie: how strong is a mother’s love?
Although Mother isn’t my favorite Bong Joon-ho film (Memories of Murder claims that title), I still found it to be a haunting and beautifully made film. For those of you whose interest has been piqued by this review, I highly recommend watching this film as it is currently streaming on Hulu. And for those who are not fully convinced, I suggest you at least see the opening scene that I am so obsessed with.
4 stars out of 5.
