MOTHER (MADEO) .World Cinema

After only three films, including his cult sensation THE HOST (2006), Bong Joon-ho’s slightly bent and always inventive approach to genre filmmaking has pushed him to the Korean cinema forefront. Although MOTHER is a dazzling murder mystery, it’s also built on Bong’s reliable penchant for psychologically astute, character-centered storytelling. A single mother (played with fearless intensity by revered Korean TV star Kim Hye-ial works at a pharmacy, and occasionally engages in illegal activities to make ends meet. Her raison d’etre, her mentally challenged, beautiful son Do·ioon (Won Bin), proves to be a constant source of anxiety When a young teenage girl turns up dead, the police arrest Do·ioon, pushing the boundaries of the mother-son relationship to the extreme Beautifully shot by Hong Kyung-pyo, the film’s landscapes fuse with the heroine’s elemental force to overwhelming effect. Once again, Bong takes the conventional and transforms it into something extraordinary.