Mother
A stylish, intelligent take on those movie staples amnesia and police corruption.
Bong Joon-ho's The Host was a breathtakingly audacious take on monster movies, combining Godzilla-like spectacle with morbid humour and political satire, and now the South Korean director turns his attention to a masterful character piece.
Kim Hye-ja puts in an impeccably focused and unforgettable performance as the single parent to a mildly mentally disabled young man (Bin Won), arrested for the murder of a local schoolgirl. The relationship between mother and son is obsessively close (they share a bed), which sends the unnamed woman into a spiral of desperation as she tries to prove her child's innocence. Kim never lets this character descend into full-blown hysterical psychosis, instead letting this threatening undercurrent of danger bubble under the surface. Your fears are proven correct when she crosses the line several times, with the help (or otherwise) of her son's best friend (Goo-jin).
Always unpredictable and borderline disturbing, Mother feels like a warped Hitchcock thriller. A stylish, intelligent take on those movie staples amnesia and police corruption, tension builds with a backdrop of exquisitely photographed scenes and an unusual score. While it's a slow-burner, the pay-off is more than worth it.
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