Mini Film Review – Mother

Yesterday I watched Mother; and it was very interesting! Directed by Bong Joon Ho, and starring Kim Hye-ja, Won Bin, and Jin Goo; Mother is a South Korean Neo-noir thriller, about a mother of an intellectually disabled son, who sets out on a mission to prove his innocence, after he is accused of mudering a young girl! Going into this film, I was expecting it to be dark and gritty, like many crime based thriller’s I have seen over the years. It sounded like a story of vengeance too, and going above and beyond to get the truth out, by doing morally questionable things. So part of me wondered, if it was going to be like say Man on Fire, or John Wick in tone. But I was rather surprised, at how light the tone was, given the film’s events. It doesn’t come across as a dark tale, but more like an afternoon drama, of a good mother, trying to rescue her wrongly convicted son, whilst also highlighting some social issues, such as a lazy looking police force, or people assuming the first thing they hear from the media and police, as the truth. The tone just stays at this non-dark feel, followed by moments of hope and relief, as things begin to look up. And then, something really dark happens. It’s an earth shatterring reveal. An incredibly dark twist of the knife in this story, that changes the tone, and perspective of the entire film. It leaves this empty thought, and makes you wonder, if you were right to question what you thought earlier on. And this just carries on all the way, to a questionably sour, and bitter end!