Madeo
Directed by:
Joon-ho BongCinematography:
Kyung-pyo HongComposer:
Byeong Wu LeeCast:
Hye-ja Kim, Bin Won, Gu Jin, Je-moon Yoon, Sae-byeok Song, Woo-hee Cheon, Do-won Gwak, Young-ki Jung, Beom-taek Kwon, Mi-do Lee, Kyeong-jin Min, Myeong-shin Park (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
A woman devoted to her son struggles to keep him from spending his life in prison in this drama from director Bong Joon-ho. Do-jun (Weon Bin) is a man in his mid-twenties who isn't especially bright and is easily led. Do-jun lives with his elderly mother (Kim Hye-ja), who loves him fiercely even though she has no illusions about his abilities or his bad habits. Do-jun spends much of his spare time with Jin-tae (Jin Gu), a borderline criminal who takes advantage of Do-jun's credulous nature, much to his mother's annoyance. When Do-jun is arrested by police and accused of the murder of a young woman, his mother is certain he couldn't have done it and sets out to prove her son's innocence to police detectives, who seem more interested in closing the case than researching other possible leads. At first, mother feels certain that Jin-tae has framed her son to avoid being punished himself, but as she digs deeper she suspects the truth is more complicated. (StudioCanal UK)
(more)Reviews (3)
The director of Parasite didn't impress me much this time and although Mother is an important film in South Korean cinematography, I found almost nothing interesting in it. The main characters didn't interest me, the pace is incredibly slow, the lack of action and violence also didn't please me, and as a result the denouement didn't please me much either. Three stars out of respect for the craftmanship, but otherwise the film went absolutely over my head. Story****, Action>No, Humor>No, Violence*, Entertainment**, Music***, Visual**, Atmosphere***, Suspense**. 5/10.
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Mother evoked so many feelings in me that I lost myself in it... and never found myself again. It's a very deep film, yet somehow for me it was lacking in suspense. Indeed it all rests on Hye-ja Kim's perfect performance, nothing to fault there. As a whole, I didn't like it that much; 2.5 stars.
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The name Bong Joon-ho carries significant weight in today’s film world, and after the success of Parasite in 2019, it would be foolish of me not to explore his earlier work. Korean dramas usually have a lot to offer, so I couldn’t miss his film Mother. The acting is once again incredibly well-done, especially Bin Won (known from The Man From Nowhere), who nailed the role of the mentally challenged son. I’m a bit disappointed that the film doesn’t pick up pace in the second half; there was a potential for a solid thriller, but unfortunately, the creators didn’t develop it. The ending, of course, was handled in a way that probably won’t leave any viewer complaining. Still, it’s not quite a four-star film for me today; hopefully, the next one will be (I'm looking forward to Memories of Murder :D). 6.5/10
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