MOTHER — ★★★ — Kim Hye-ja, Won Bin, Jin Gu; with English subtitles (Korean dialects); rated R (profanity, violence, brief gore, sex, slurs, torture, nudity, vulgarity, brief drugs); Broadway Centre
"Mother" features one of the most complex and possibly unhealthy mother-and-son relationships that's been seen on the big screen since Hitchcock's 1960 classic "Psycho."
The Korean-made feature also has one of the most jarring shifts in tones in any movie in recent memory.
At the onset, the film appears to be a character comedy — but then it turns into a nearly completely serious revenge-thriller. Occasional bits of humor then pop up from time to time.
Still, it has some very effective moments. And what really holds our interest throughout is the quietly forceful performance of actress Kim Hye-ja, who plays the title character.
She practically dotes on her son, Yoon Do-joon (Won Bin).
And how does he repay for her kindness and devotion? He sometimes gets into trouble with his reckless best friend, Jin-tae (Jin Gu).
Those incidents are nothing compared to Yoon's most recent misbehavior. He's been accused of killing a schoolgirl, Ah-jong (Mun Hee-ra).
But despite her protests that Yoon was at home with her when the murder occurred, he's convicted and sent to prison.
Convinced that the attorney she's hired is not doing enough and that the police have bungled the investigation, she decides to take matters into her own hands.
Again, there are a couple of big tone shifts. But judging by this film and his earlier, giant monster hit "The Host," co-screenwriter/director Bong Joon-ho likes to do that to keep audiences off-balance.
It feels a bit manipulative here, so Boon is lucky he has such a compelling main character.
Still, why she's so devoted to someone who's such an ingrate is anyone's guess (as played by Bin, Yoon is not exactly a sympathetic or likable character).
In support, Jin is also very good as the bad-boy pal, who becomes a prime suspect in the murder.
"Mother" is rated R and features strong sexual language (profanity and crude slang terms), strong violent content and imagery (some slapstick, a beating, fiery and vehicular mayhem, and violence against women), brief bloody imagery, simulated sex and other sexual contact, derogatory language and slurs (some based on supposed disabilities and some sexist terms), a scene depicting violent interrogation, female and partial male nudity, other off-color references, and brief drug references and content (including some apothecary work). Running time: 129 minutes.
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