Mother (Korea)

Director: Bong Joon-ho

Year: 2009

Running time: 129 mins

What I love about the type of suspense films typically created in Asia, is their use (or lack thereof) of suspense music. You never know when something scary or exciting is about to happen because, unlike most western films, there’s no musical cue to indicate that you’re about to witness something untoward. Confused by what I mean? Think of the Japanese film The Ring (which, personally, I’m too scared to watch). I hear that they employ the same technique, which makes an already scary film all the more terrifying. Utter genius.

Which is why Madeo (which means Mother in Korean) is such an exemplary film: whilst the storyline is typical of any traditional suspense film, the use of sound, camera technique and character makes you sit on the edge of your seat, riveted with the progression of the story and what’s about  to occur throughout the entire film.

When her mentally challenged son Do-joon (Won Bin), who is often in trouble with the local police department, is accused of the murder of a teenage schoolgirl, his mother, overbearing and overprotective Hye-ja (Kim Hye-ja) must battle with the dysfunctional police, greed-driven lawyers and the village townspeople to clear her sons’ name. In her quest she encounters some unlikely allies…and enemies. What really happened on the night of the young girls’ murder? Who did it? And what was the motivation behind it? This film will have you guessing the entire way through it and the answer may not be as clear cut as it initially seems.  

Whilst I typically am not a massive fan of suspense films, rather favouring those with relatively straightforward plotlines where I can just blob like the passive receptacle that I am, anyone who tends to gravitate towards this genre cannot afford to miss Mother. I thoroughly admired the way in which this thoughtful tale was told, even if it did teeter towards being too long in some places.  

- Analiese Jackson