Summary: After her mentally disabled son is convicted of murder, a middle-aged woman is determined to prove his innocence and is led down a path of darkness.
I’ll admit this right up front: I have had a really difficult time figuring out what I will write about this movie. It’s not that it is a bad movie, or even that I’m ambivalent about it; indeed it was an excellent movie. It is just hard to write about.
Anyway, go see this movie. As long as you are not the kind of person who won’t watch a movie with subtitles (and I doubt you are, or why would you be here?) you should enjoy this movie. Let me put this in the most clichéd way I can come up with: Mother is a taut thriller, gripping you by the lapels and pulling you down into the dark depths of the human heart. Subtle and suspenseful, with a powerhouse performance from Hye-ja Kim as the Mother, this movie keeps you guessing right to the end.
Although Mother is not particularly gruesome, it certainly does not shy away from violence when it happens and is always tasteful (I think even my wife would be fine watching this movie). The acting in this movie is great, but the direction and cinematography really steal the show. Excellently paced, it is slow but never gets boring – I was drawn in completely through the entire thing. And the movie is beautiful, particularly the opening and closing shots. But the absolutely best thing about the movie is the mystery itself (this really should go without saying, but alas, in many movies it is not the case). I did not guess the killer until just before the reveal, but that is not particularly impressive as I am pretty hit and miss at guessing in whodunits. What should really get you off your couch and into the theater is that Roz had the same experience. This is a woman who normally has to actively restrain herself from shouting out the killer 10 minutes into a movie, so if she didn’t guess right we should all sit up and take notice.
Anyway, go see this movie. As long as you are not the kind of person who won’t watch a movie with subtitles (and I doubt you are, or why would you be here?) you should enjoy this movie. Let me put this in the most clichéd way I can come up with: Mother is a taut thriller, gripping you by the lapels and pulling you down into the dark depths of the human heart. Subtle and suspenseful, with a powerhouse performance from Hye-ja Kim as the Mother, this movie keeps you guessing right to the end.
Although Mother is not particularly gruesome, it certainly does not shy away from violence when it happens and is always tasteful (I think even my wife would be fine watching this movie). The acting in this movie is great, but the direction and cinematography really steal the show. Excellently paced, it is slow but never gets boring – I was drawn in completely through the entire thing. And the movie is beautiful, particularly the opening and closing shots. But the absolutely best thing about the movie is the mystery itself (this really should go without saying, but alas, in many movies it is not the case). I did not guess the killer until just before the reveal, but that is not particularly impressive as I am pretty hit and miss at guessing in whodunits. What should really get you off your couch and into the theater is that Roz had the same experience. This is a woman who normally has to actively restrain herself from shouting out the killer 10 minutes into a movie, so if she didn’t guess right we should all sit up and take notice.
A+
originally posted June 4, 2010
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