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Mother (2009 film)

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This article is about the 2009 film. For the 2018 TV series, see Mother (South Korean TV series).

Mother
Theatrical poster
Hangul
마더
Revised RomanizationMadeo
McCune–ReischauerMadŏ
Directed byBong Joon-ho
Written byBong Joon-ho
Park Eun-kyo
Produced byChoi Jae-won
Seo Woo-sik
Starring
CinematographyHong Kyung-pyo
Edited byMoon Sae-kyung
Music byLee Byung-woo
Production
companies
CJ Entertainment
Barunson
Distributed byCJ Entertainment
Release dates
  • 16 May 2009 (2009-05-16) (Cannes)
  • 28 May 2009 (2009-05-28) (South Korea)
Running time
128 minutes
CountrySouth Korea
LanguageKorean
BudgetUS$5 million
Box officeUS$17.1 million[1]

Mother (Korean: 마더; RR: Madeo) is a 2009 South Korean neo-noir thriller film directed by Bong Joon-ho, starring Kim Hye-ja and Won Bin. The plot follows a mother who, after her intellectually disabled son is accused of the murder of a young girl, attempts to find the true killer to get her son freed.

The film premiered on 16 May 2009 at the Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section, and was released in South Korea on 28 May 2009. It received acclaim from critics, who praised Kim's performance, direction, screenplay, and the film's uniqueness.

Plot

[edit]

An unnamed widow lives alone with her only son, selling medicinal herbs in a small town in southern South Korea while conducting unlicensed acupuncture treatments for the town's women on the side to erase bad memories. Her son, Yoon Do-joon, is shy, but prone to attacking anyone who mocks his intellectual disability. She dotes on him and scolds him for hanging out with Jin-tae, a local thug. When Do-joon is nearly hit by a car, he and Jin-tae vandalize the car and attack the driver and passengers as revenge. Jin-tae blames Do-joon for the damage done to the car, and Do-joon is sued. His mother struggles with the burden of the debt.

On his way home from a bar late at night, Do-joon sees a high school girl named Moon Ah-jung walking alone and follows her to an abandoned building. The next morning, she is discovered dead on the rooftop, shocking the town and pressuring the incompetent police to find the killer. Do-joon is arrested for the murder due to circumstantial evidence placing him near the scene of the crime. His mother believes he is innocent, and tries to prove he is not the murderer. However, she is challenged by her self-absorbed lawyer and the community who unanimously blames Do-joon for the crime.

Suspecting Jin-tae of committing the murder, the mother breaks into his house to look for evidence. She takes a golf club, which she believes has blood on it, but when she turns it over to the police and Jin-tae is confronted about it, it becomes clear that the "blood" is just smeared lipstick. Despite her accusation, Jin-tae agrees to help the mother solve the case for a fee.

When the mother questions the people in town about Ah-jung, they tell her the girl was sexually promiscuous and in a relationship with a boy known as Jong-pal, who had escaped a sanatorium. Do-joon attacks another prisoner who calls him "retard". On one of his mother's prison visits, Do-joon recalls a memory of her attempt to kill him and then herself when he was five by lacing their drinks with a pesticide. She tries to apologize, saying she wants to free them both from hardship, but he tells her he never wants to see her again.

The mother learns from a camera shop worker that Ah-jung had frequent nosebleeds and had pictures on her cellphone that she wanted to have printed. Ah-jung's friend is attacked by two young men who are looking for the phone, but the mother rescues her and then pays Jin-tae to interrogate the men, who claim that Ah-jung accepted rice in exchange for sex (and was nicknamed "the rice cake girl"). They say she used her phone to secretly take pictures of her partners, thus making it a potential tool for blackmailing. The mother tracks down the phone, which is hidden at Ah-jung's grandmother's house.

Do-joon remembers seeing an elderly man in the abandoned building on the night of Ah-jung's death and identifies him in one of the pictures on Ah-jung's phone. The mother recognizes the man as a junk collector she once bought an umbrella from and goes to his home to find out what he saw, on the pretense of offering him charity medical services. The collector reveals that he has been troubled since he saw Do-joon kill Ah-jung. He witnessed the two have a short conversation, during which Ah-jung called Do-joon a "retard", and Do-joon then threw a large rock into the shadows in which Ah-jung was standing, hitting her in the head and inadvertently killing her, and then dragged her to the rooftop. Unable to accept the truth, the mother frantically tells the collector that Do-joon is innocent, but the collector picks up the phone to finally report what he has seen to the police. Fearing for her son, the mother bludgeons the collector with a wrench and sets fire to his house.

Later, the police tell the mother that they have found the "real" killer: Jong-pal, who is being presumed guilty after Ah-jung's blood was found on his shirt. The police assume it got there during the murder, but the mother realizes that Jong-pal's story, that the blood is the result of Ah-jung's nose bleeding during consensual sex, is true. Feeling guilty, she visits Jong-pal, who is even more intellectually disabled than her son, and cries for him when she hears he does not have a mother to fight for him, knowing he is going to jail for a crime he did not commit.

Do-joon is freed from prison and Jin-tae picks him up. They pass the collector's burned-down house on the way home and stop to pick through the rubble. During dinner, Do-joon muses to his mother that Jong-pal probably dragged Ah-jung up to the roof so that someone would see she was hurt and help her. As the mother is about to depart from a bus station on a "Thank-You Parents" tour, Do-joon returns her acupuncture kit, which he found in the remains of the junk collector's house, and tells her to be more careful. Jarred by his discovery, she sits on the bus in shock before using the kit to blank out the memory of her son's and her guilty crime. She begins to dance with the other parents on the bus.

Cast

[edit]
  • Kim Hye-ja as Mother, an unnamed widow who is extremely protective of her son and attempts to free him from a murder charge
  • Won Bin as Yoon Do-joon,[2] the adult son of Mother, who has an intellectual disability and is accused of the murder of a local girl
  • Jin Goo as Jin-tae, a local ne'er do well and one of Do-joon's friends. He bosses Do-joon around, but agrees to help Mother free her son.
  • Yoon Je-moon as Je-moon, the detective in charge of Ah-jung's murder case
  • Jeon Mi-seon as Mi-seon, a camera-shop worker who helps Mother. She had met Ah-jung before she died.
  • Song Sae-byeok as a detective
  • Lee Young-suk as the junk collector
  • Moon Hee-ra as Moon Ah-jung,[3] a young girl who is murdered, leading the police to arrest Do-joon
  • Chun Woo-hee as Mi-na, Jin-tae's girlfriend
  • Kim Byung-Soon as the detective team leader
  • Yeo Moo-Young as Do-joon's lawyer
  • Lee Mi-do as Hyung-teo, Ah-jung's friend
  • Kim Jin-goo as Ah-jung's grandma
  • Lee Jung-eun as Ah-jung's relative with glasses
  • Hwang Young-hee as Ah-jung's pregnant relative
  • Kwak Do-won as charcoal fire man
  • Ko Kyu-pil as Ddong Ddong

Release

[edit]

Mother competed in the Un Certain Regard category at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.[4] In South Korea, it attracted 3,003,785 admissions nationwide and grossed a total of US$16,283,879, becoming the 6th most-attended domestic film of 2009, and 10th overall.[5][6] The film had its U.S. premiere in February 2010 as part of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and it received a limited U.S. theatrical release by Magnolia Pictures in March 2010.[7] In March 2015, the film was re-released in the US at the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, New York, as part of their Bong Joon-ho Retrospective (along with Memories of Murder, The Host, and Snowpiercer).[8] A black-and-white version of the film was released in 2013.[9]

The film was reported to have been made with a $5 million budget and went on to be the sixth highest-grossing film in South Korea in 2009.[10][11]

Critical response

[edit]

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 96% based on 114 reviews, with an average rating of 7.88/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "As fleshy as it is funny, Bong Joon-Ho's Mother straddles family drama, horror and comedy with a deft grasp of tone and plenty of eerie visuals."[12] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 79 out of 100 based on 31 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[13]

Manohla Dargis of The New York Times praised the performance by Kim Hye-ja and described the film as "alternately dazzling and frustrating".[14]

Top ten lists

Mother appeared on many film critics' "best-of" lists of 2010.[15]

Awards and nominations

[edit]

The film was selected as South Korea's official submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 82nd Academy Awards.[21]

Award Category Recipient Result Ref.
Buil Film Awards Best Film Mother Won
Best Actress Kim Hye-ja Won
Best Cinematography Hong Kyung-pyo Won
Best Music Lee Byung-woo Won
Busan Film Critics Awards Best Film Mother Won [22]
Best Actress Kim Hye-ja Won
Best Cinematography Hong Kyung-pyo Won
Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival Best Actress in a Foreign Film Kim Hye-ja Won [23][24]
Grand Bell Awards Best Film Mother Nominated [25][26]
Best Director Bong Joon-ho Nominated
Best Actress Kim Hye-ja Nominated
Best Supporting Actor Jin Goo Won
Best Cinematography Hong Kyung-pyo Nominated
Best Music Lee Byung-woo Nominated
Korean Association of Film Critics Awards Best Film Mother Won
Best Actress Kim Hye-ja Won
Best Screenplay Bong Joon-ho, Park Eun-kyo Won
Asia Pacific Screen Awards Best Actress Kim Hye-ja Won [27]
Best Screenplay Bong Joon-ho, Park Eun-kyo Nominated
Blue Dragon Film Awards Best Film Mother Won [28][29]
Best Director Bong Joon-ho Nominated
Best Actress Kim Hye-ja Nominated
Best Supporting Actor Jin Goo Won
Best Screenplay Bong Joon-ho, Park Eun-kyo Nominated
Best Cinematography Hong Kyung-pyo Nominated
Best Lighting Choi Cheol-su, Park Dong-sun Won
Best Music Lee Byung-woo Nominated
Mar del Plata Film Festival SIGNIS Award Mother Won [30]
Dubai International Film Festival Best Film Nominated
Best Screenplay Bong Joon-ho, Park Eun-kyo Won
Chicago International Film Festival Gold Hugo Bong Joon-ho Nominated
Women in Film Korea Awards Best Actress Kim Hye-ja Won [31]
Director's Cut Awards Won [32]
Nikkan Sports Film Awards Best Foreign Picture Mother Won [33]
KOFRA Film Awards Best Film Won [34]
Best Actress Kim Hye-ja Won
Santa Barbara International Film Festival Best East Meets West Cinema Award Mother Won [35]
Independent Spirit Awards Best International Film Nominated
Asian Film Awards Best Film Mother Won [36]
Best Director Bong Joon-ho Nominated
Best Actress Kim Hye-ja Won
Best Screenplay Bong Joon-ho, Park Eun-kyo Won
Best Supporting Actor Won Bin Nominated
Best Editing Moon Sae-kyung Nominated
Baeksang Arts Awards Best Film Mother Nominated
Best Director Bong Joon-ho Nominated
Best Screenplay Bong Joon-ho, Park Eun-kyo Nominated
Best Actor Won Bin Nominated
Best Actress Kim Hye-ja Nominated
Green Planet Movie Awards Best Foreign Culture Film of the Year Mother Won [37]
Best International Director Bong Joon-ho Won
Best International Film Mother Won
Best International Drama (Asia) Won
Boston Society of Film Critics Awards Best Foreign Language Film Won [38]
Toronto Film Critics Association Awards Best Foreign Language Film Runner-up [39]
Houston Film Critics Society Best Foreign Language Film Nominated
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards Best Actress Kim Hye-ja Won [40][41]
Best Foreign Language Film Mother Runner-up
Chicago Film Critics Association Best Foreign Language Film Nominated
Online Film Critics Society Awards Best Foreign Language Film Won
Best Actress Kim Hye-ja Won
San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards Best Foreign Language Film Mother Won [42]
Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Best Foreign Language Film Nominated
San Diego Film Critics Society Best Foreign Language Film Nominated
Satellite Awards Best Foreign Language Film Nominated
Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards Best Foreign Language Film Won
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Best Foreign Language Film Nominated
Women Film Critics Circle Best Foreign Film by or About Women Won
IndieWire Critics Poll Best Film 8th place
Best Actress Kim Hye-ja 5th place
Best Screenplay Bong Joon-ho, Park Eun-kyo 5th place
Village Voice Film Poll Best Film Mother 8th place
Best Actress Kim Hye-ja 3rd place
Munich International Film festival Best International Film (ARRI/OSRAM Award) Mother Won
Best International Film (Arri-Zeiss-Award) Won
Saturn Awards Best International Film Nominated
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards Best Foreign Language Film Won [43]
Belgian Syndicate of Cinema Critics Grand Prix Nominated
Chlotrudis Awards Best Movie Nominated
Best Director Bong Joon-ho Nominated
Best Actress Kim Hye-ja Won
Best Original Screenplay Bong Joon-ho, Park Eun-kyo Won
Alliance of Women Film Journalists Best Non-English Language Film Mother Nominated
Cultural Crossover Award Nominated
Central Ohio Film Critics Association Best Foreign Language Film Won
Denver Film Critics Society Won
Gold Derby Awards Nominated
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Nominated
International Cinephile Society Best Film Not in the English Language 7th place
International Online Cinema Awards (INOCA) Best Non-English Language Film Nominated
NAACP Image Awards Outstanding Foreign Motion Picture Nominated

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Mother (2010)" Archived 5 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  2. ^ "Won Bin's Filmography, Credits (원빈, Korean actor)". HanCinema. Archived from the original on 7 March 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  3. ^ "Moon Hee-ra's Filmography, Credits (문희라, Korean actress)". HanCinema. Archived from the original on 29 June 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  4. ^ "Festival de Cannes: Mother". Festival-cannes.com. Archived from the original on 8 October 2014. Retrieved 17 May 2009.
  5. ^ "The Best Selling Films of 2009" Archived 4 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Koreanfilm.org. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  6. ^ "South Korea Box Office: August 7–9, 2009" Archived 8 October 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  7. ^ "Exam and Mother Take Top Honors at Santa Barbara Film Fest". Dread Central. 16 February 2010. Archived from the original on 9 October 2012. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  8. ^ "New York Theater Hosting Bong Joon-ho Retrospective". Dread Central. 16 February 2010. Archived from the original on 11 March 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  9. ^ Jagernauth, Kevin (19 November 2013). "Bong Joon-Ho Unveiling Black & White Version Of 'Mother' At Mar Del Plata Film Festival". IndieWire. Archived from the original on 23 February 2020. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  10. ^ "Won Bin, Kim Hye-Ja set for 'Mother'". 9 April 2008. Archived from the original on 8 October 2024. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  11. ^ "Korean Movie Reviews for 2009". Archived from the original on 4 July 2012. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
  12. ^ "Mother (Madeo) (2010)". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 11 August 2020. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  13. ^ "Mother (2010) Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 9 October 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  14. ^ Dargis, Manohla (11 March 2010). "Bong Joon-ho's Fierce Love: Better Not Make This Mom Angry". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 21 October 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "2010 Film Critic Top Ten Lists". Metacritic. 9 December 2010. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  16. ^ a b c d "The best films of 2010". The A.V. Club. 16 December 2010. Retrieved 25 December 2010.
  17. ^ "The 25 Best Films of 2010". Slant. 15 December 2010. Archived from the original on 23 May 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  18. ^ "Top Ten 2010". Cahiers du cinéma. Archived from the original on 26 January 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  19. ^ Lane, Anthony (7 December 2010). "Ten Films I Liked in 2010". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 11 July 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  20. ^ Stevens, Dana (29 December 2010). "Wow. My Top Ten Movies of 2010". Slate. Archived from the original on 23 September 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  21. ^ "Film Council Selects Mother for Academy Award Submission". The Chosun Ilbo. 11 August 2009. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  22. ^ Kim, Jessica (12 October 2009). "Kim, Ha win top film critics award". Asiae. Archived from the original on 4 February 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  23. ^ Lee, Hyo-won (6 November 2009). "Kim Hye-ja Named Best Actress in China Festival". The Korea Times. Archived from the original on 20 October 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  24. ^ "Kim Hye-ja named best actress at Chinese film fest". The Korea Herald. 6 November 2009. Archived from the original on 23 December 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  25. ^ "Mother - Awards" Archived 8 October 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Cinemasie. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  26. ^ Han, Sang-hee (8 November 2009). "Grand Bell Film Fest Puzzles Movie Fans". The Korea Times. Archived from the original on 10 March 2014. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  27. ^ Ko, Jae-wan (27 November 2009). "Kim Hye-ja wins Best Actress at Asia Pacific awards". 10Asia. Archived from the original on 13 August 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  28. ^ "Mother Sweeps Blue Dragon Awards". The Chosun Ilbo. 3 December 2009. Archived from the original on 7 September 2012. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  29. ^ Kim, Jessica (3 December 2009). "Mother wins Blue Dragon gold". 10Asia. Retrieved 13 August 2013.[permanent dead link‍]
  30. ^ Ko, Kyoung-seok (15 December 2009). "Mother wins award at Argentine film fest". Asiae. Archived from the original on 8 October 2024. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  31. ^ Ko, Kyoung-seok (16 December 2009). "Dir. Park Chan-ok named top female film figure of year". Asiae. Archived from the original on 8 October 2024. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  32. ^ Kim, Lynn (17 December 2009). "Winners of Director's CUT Awards announced". 10Asia. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  33. ^ "Mother named best foreign picture in Japan". Yonhap. 30 December 2009. Archived from the original on 8 October 2024. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  34. ^ Ko, Kyoung-seok (28 January 2010). "Film journalists pick Song Kang-ho, Kim Hye-ja top actors". Asiae. Archived from the original on 22 April 2020. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  35. ^ Ko, Kyoung-seok (18 February 2010). "Korean film Mother wins award at Santa Barbara film fest". Asiae. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  36. ^ Landreth, Jonathan (22 March 2010). "Mother tops Asian Film Awards". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  37. ^ Kim, Lynn (25 March 2010). "Korean pic Mother, stars win big at Green Planet Movie Awards". Asiae. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  38. ^ Morris, Wesley (13 December 2010). "Social Network is tops with Boston Society of Film Critics". Boston.com. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  39. ^ Knegt, Peter (14 December 2010). "Social Network Tops San Francisco and Toronto Film Critics' Awards". IndieWire. Archived from the original on 8 October 2024. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  40. ^ Lee, Hyo-won (13 December 2010). "Kim Hye-ja named best actress by LA critics". The Korea Times. Archived from the original on 8 October 2024. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  41. ^ "Kim Hye-ja Wins Best Actress Award from L.A. Film Critics". The Chosun Ilbo. 14 December 2010. Archived from the original on 4 March 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  42. ^ Harvey, Dennis (13 December 2010). "Network scores with San Fran critics". Variety. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  43. ^ Hong, Lucia (7 January 2011). "Mother receives honor by Kansas City Film Critics Circle". Asiae. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
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