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Movies & TV

Mother

MOTHER (Magnolia, 2009) D: Bong Joon-ho, w/ Kim Hye-ja, Won Bin. Rating: NNN DVD package: NNN Rating: NNN


When her simpleton son confesses to murdering a schoolgirl and the cops and lawyers display a corrupt indifference, a poor herbalist sets out to find the real killer.

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Director Bong Joon-ho has a fine eye for suspense and delivers flashes of the social satire and knockabout humour that worked so well in his 2006 monster movie, The Host. Here, he uses the thriller structure to explore the mother-son relationship, which isn’t always wholesome.

Neither Kim Hye-ja, the mother, nor Won Bin, her son, plays to our sympathies. Her suffering is a bone-deep, everyday condition, and he’s got a crooked smile that obliterates any thought that he might be good-hearted.

The extensive making-of docs take a good look at the Korean approach to moviemaking, and composer Lee Byeong-woo offers a detailed look at how he created and developed the score’s motifs.

EXTRAS Five-part making-of doc. Widescreen. Korean audio. English, Spanish subtitles.

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