JIM reviews film "MOTHER" ( =- "Madeo" in Korean )

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Mother (= “Madeo” in Korean)

MY Rating: 7.5 of 10 stars (based on an advance screening of the 128-minute film).

Will a MOTHER’s Love be “ENOUGH” to Save her Son?…

Director Bong had a considerable hit with his 2006 film “The Host”, & this newer movie was South Korea’s submission to the 2010 Oscar competition for Best Foreign Language film…

… Hye-Ja Kim plays an elderly single mother who runs an herbalist type shop and does acupuncture on the “side”… Living with her is her 28-year-old son Yoon Do-joon (Bin Won) who is mentally “slow” and “naïve”. Other people at times call him “retarded”— but, when they do that, he usually reacts VIOLENTLY towards the person saying it…

… Bin has a “punk” type friend named Jin-tae (Goo {Ku} Jin) who uses his martial-arts knowledge in trying to track down and confront some well-to-do people who nearly HIT Bin with their car… His actions get Bin in trouble (because he is blamed for the attack on the rich people)..

… At one point, Bin gets drunk in a restaurant and tries to talk to pretty Mi-sun (Mi-sun Jun)… When her mother works to send him away, he follows another girl named Je-mun (Yoon Jae-Moon) as he walks outside… There is a bit of a “confrontation” with her… When she soon turns up murdered, Bin is ACCUSED of the crime and, unable to properly remember what happened, he is thrown in jail…

… Altho his mother is fairly poor, she tries to find some way to HELP Bin, visiting him in prison, trying to find more facts about the case, & eventually hiring an arrogant LAWYER named Gong for him… Since they don’t want to be “bothered” with the case, there is little help from the Police in the form of the Chief (Byoung-Soon Kim) or the Sepaktakraw detective (Sae-Beauk Song)…

… As the mother does her own investigating, she further involves Bin’s friend Jin-tae (Goo), other people in the town area including a Ragman (Young-Suck Lee), and various friends and acquaintances of the slain girl… There are loads of shocking “TWISTS” as the story unfolds…

… Will vital “new” evidence be turned up?… Will a sudden remembrance of the past by Bin HELP his case (or hurt certain things)?… What “OUTSIDE” involvements will impact Bin’s being accused of the crime?… Will facts come to light which show who really KILLED the girl, & how will that affect Bin’s situation?…

… Events near the end were so shocking, they caused GASPS & even some CRYING by a woman sitting behind me… It’s a well-acted & “STRIKING” story— but, it’s not “easy” to take by the time it completely “unfolds”…