Mother (2009)

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🎙️ EPISODE 407: 02.23.22 part of the BONG JOON-HO director focus series Mother takes it's time to get rolling but once it does? Wow, what a terrific film, a true classic. I think you can look at Bong joon-ho's career and break it down into a series of pairs AFTER his first film... There's Parasite/The Host, naturally. Okja and Snowpiercer link up for obvious reasons (way over the top English language satires featuring Tilda Swinton) and then Memories of Murder (MoM) and another Mom, Mother. Both films are murder mystery crime dramas in the most classic sense. (So yeah, sure, that leaves BDNB as the odd duck, which throws a wrench into my hypothesis here. BUT — I say to you, dear reader — be on the lookout for BDNB2: Sometimes They Do?)

This movie just knocked me out; it gets exponentially better every single minute, building towards an ending that you will not see coming. And it's all anchored by perhaps the best singular performance in any BJH film, that of Kim Hye-ja in the role of, you guessed it, mother. This is such a nuanced and gut-wrenching achievement. The mother of a troubled son, perpetually tired yet relentless, guilt-ridden yet hopeful. It's magnificent.

To best describe what this film is... it's a whodunnit in the truest sense of the form, albeit updated and given that ole Bong Joon-ho flair. And while Bong is 7 for 7 as far as nailing down his one major thematic throughway (the class struggle), it's muted here, serving as an afterthought for what becomes the tale of a fierce mama seeking justice and vengeance for her child whilst on a clear personal voyage of discovery. It's a picture that keeps you guessing till the very end. I guarantee that when you think you have it, you probably don't, and when you do have it? You might wish you didn't. There's moral ambiguity and then there's this. It's a brave choice, and a tremendous movie.

CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ EPISODE 406 - (YOU ARE HERE) - EPISODE 408 ⫸

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Mother (Korean: 마더) is a 2009 South Korean thriller film directed by Bong Joon-ho, starring Kim Hye-ja and Won Bin. The plot follows a mother who, after her intellectually disabled son is accused of the murder of a young girl, attempts to find the true killer in order to get her son freed. It was released on May 16, 2009.