Review: 'Mother' highlights creepy parental relationship

“Mother”
Directed by: Joon-ho Bong
Starring: Kim Hye-ja, Won Bin, Jin Goo, Yoon Jae-moon, Jun Mi-sun, Song Sae-beauk , Moon Hee-ra
Rated: R

“Mother” was originally titled “Madeo.”  The closest translation I found was from Latin, meaning “be drenched” or “swim in.” I mention this because, like many other things about the film, it seems ambiguous and enigmatic.

The film at once seems completely original while stirring memories of everything from an Agatha Christie “Miss Marple” mystery to the brilliant Yimou Zhang movie, “The Story of Qiu Ju.”

The cinematography is beautiful – the opening and ending scenes of the tittle character strolling through a meadow of tall golden grass are pastoral. But there's an element of tension that runs throughout the entire two hours and eight minutes of the film.

“Mother” actually made me nervous to the point of inducing a headache. That's not meant to be pejorative; it speaks highly of the film's power.

The character known only as “Mother” is played with subtle power by Kim Hye-ja, an actress who reminds me somewhat of Meryl Streep. She can say more with a look than lesser actresses can with a thousand words and inhabits her role here to such perfection the viewer will forget this is a dramatic role, not a documentary.

Mother is an acupuncturist who operates an apothecary shop in a Korean village. We see Mother in her shop chopping herbs and watching her son across the street goofing around with a friend.

The boy, Do-joon (played by Won Bin), is 27 but still lives with, and indeed still sleeps beside, his overly protective, doting mother. As the film unfolds, we realize, to quote Hank Hill from “King of the Hill,” “that boy ain't right.”

As Mother watches him across the street she's horrified to see him get hit by a car which speeds away rather than stopping.

The boy isn't hurt badly, and he and his friend take off after the driver. They find the car at the local golf course and exact a bit of revenge. The vandalism lands them in the local police station where things go from bad to worse.

A local village girl has been murdered, her body draped over the edge of a tall building as if on display. The police have a tip that Do-joon was seen with the girl on the day of the murder and charge him with the crime.

Mother scrapes together what little money she has to hire a lawyer. The lawyer turns out to be as corrupt as he is ineffective, so Mother has no choice but to take the investigation into her own hands. She has to prove her boy innocent and get him out of jail. Her tenacity becomes more apparent in every scene.

The murdered girl, we find, was rather loose with her morals and had a series of lovers. She also had the habit of taking pictures of her “boyfriends” with her cell phone. Mother realizes she must find the phone to see if Do-joon's picture is on it and, if so, destroy it.

Mother isn't the only one trying to locate the phone. Many of the girl's other lovers are searching in earnest for it as well.

The trail leads to the village junk man - he's sort of a Korean version of Fred Sanford - and when Mother confronts him, we see just how far she will go to protect her beloved son. It's a chilling, disturbing scene.

Joon-ho Bong is the best of a new breed of South Korean directors. His previous film, “The Host” was a chilling monster movie that featured a fanged tadpole-like creature that roamed and spread terror in the waterways of Seoul. That film was an international success and cemented his reputation as a director.

With his follow-up, “Mother,” he's fashioned a taut and intricate murder mystery that's packed with some askew psychological elements. The relationship between Mother and her son is pretty creepy, but the director (who also wrote the screenplay) develops it in great detail.

By the time you read this, the film is likely to have already finished its run at The Moxie. But have no fear; it's already been released on DVD.