Film Review: Mother (2010)

When a person gives you a gift that you didn't know you needed, it's exhilarating. Similarly, when a filmmaker gives you a film that defies all your expectations and takes you to a place that is truly unique, you cannot help but be excited. Bong Joon-ho's new film Mother is just such a film. It follows a widowed mother as she attempts to prove her son's innocence in the murder of a young girl, but this description doesn't do this funny, tense, marvelous film justice. In the hands of a less interesting and less talented filmmaker, this set up might result in a mediocre, cliche-ridden thriller. But Bong Joon-ho is not a conventional filmmaker. He has given us Memories of Murder and 2007's terrific monster movie The Host, and now he has given us Mother.

As the film opens, we see the unnamed mother cutting herbs and watching her son through the doorway of her apothecary. She sells herbal remedies and does unlicensed acupuncture on the side to make ends meet and take care of her forgetful, naïve, and rather simple 27 year-old son Do-joon (Won Bin). He is outside talking with his friend Jin-tae (Jin Ku). She doesn't like him. We will learn more later on. A look of intense focus is on her face as she watches them and inattentively chops her herbs. So focused is she on her son's activities that she cuts herself, just before a car almost hits him. Later, Do-joon drunkenly follows a young girl through a few alleyways and the next morning she is found dead. Do-joon is swiftly arrested after a bit of evidence places him at the scene, but his mother knows he must be innocent. He can't remember what happened to speak in his own defense, so she must prove that someone else committed the murder and framed him. As in the best thrillers, when she starts uncovering the answers, they do little but raise more questions. Never could I predict where this film was going, and each new revelation only made me want more.

As exciting as the filmmaking and storytelling is in this film, it all hinges on the character of the mother, and how believable the performance is. What an asset Kim Hye-ja must be for a filmmaker to rely on. As the mother, she gives a ferocious performance full of intense emotion and deep subtlety. There is never a false moment. Bong Joon-ho lovingly frames her expressive face as she goes between rage, regret, love, fear, despair, and hope with the greatest of ease, and Bong Joon-ho's camera captures every nuance as she moves through the community, unearthing every scrap that could help her in her quest to free her son. She is a force of nature.

Films like this – with their twisty, unpredictable narratives and supremely accomplished craftsmanship – can remind you just how boring so many movies that populate the box office really are. There is no way a movie like this could be produced in Hollywood. It's too hard to package. As Bong Joon-ho's previous films, Mother melds several genres and toys with different elements in each of them. It begins with a lovely and wonderfully surreal shot of Kim Hye-ja dancing in a field, a sad expression on her face. The film that follows this opening shot weaves comedy and suspense masterfully through a beguiling and wildly inventive tale about family and guilt. This weaving does cause the film to meander slightly, but I was never bored and never did my mind wander. It earns every moment, all the way through the marvelous ending. It's an unmissable film from one today's most intriguing filmmakers, already one of the best of the year. With films like Mother already released this year, it is beginning to look like 2010 will be a very exciting year in film.