Kmovie review – Mother (2009)

Its mother’s day this weekend, so I thought it was fitting that I review the Korean film ‘Mother’ on today’s show. This film is a thriller so not the type of film you would watch with your mum on mother’s day (LOL!).

‘Mother’ stars Kim Hye-ja and Won Bin as mother and son. Kim plays an unnamed widow who works as a herbalist in a small town in order to support her only son Do-Joon, whom has an intellectual disability. Mother smothers Do-Joon with affection causing dislike from Do-Joon because he wants his independence. Do-Joon’s only friend is Jin-tae, a bad apple in the small town who always gets Do-Joon in trouble.

A high school girl is discovered dead on a building's roof and evidence found at the crime scene points to Do-Joon. Unable to defend himself, police find’s Do-Joon guilty of the crime and throws him in Jail.

His mother believes Do-Joon has been framed and goes to extraordinary lengths to prove his innocence. She constantly asks Do-Joon to remember details of the night the school girl was killed. Do-Joon has trouble recalling because he was drinking earlier in the night.

With no lead to follow, she did unethical things in an effort to collect evidence that will clear her son’s name. The question begs, how far will she go to protect her son?

One of the most fascinating aspects of this film was questioning everyone’s involvement in the crime. Things aren’t what they appear to be, and it was hard to determine who was good and who was bad.

Kim carried the film, moving us when she was vulnerable, frightening us when she was angry. Won Bin proved himself as a serious actor taking on this role. He delivered a compelling performance, especially in the ending scenes.

Interesting and compelling film. 5/5 stars.

Hallyu Star Won Bin is no more Mr. Nice Guy in his upcoming film

Hallyu Star Won Bin embraces the chance at playing an action star with a dark edge in his upcoming film 'The Man from Nowhere'. Famous for playing the typical romantic lead and younger brother roles, he is striving to take on more challenging roles that showcase his diversity in acting. After his military service, Won Bin has taken his time selecting roles that he feels passionate about and that lead him to take on the role of a mentally challenged man in the critically aclaimed film 'Mother'.

In 'The Man from Nowhere' we see Won Bin's character develop an unlikely friendship with a little girl. Similar to Denzel Washington's film "Man on Fire', Won Bin's character goes on a dangerous mission terminating his enemies to rescue the girl after she is kidnapped.

At the press conference, Won Bin describes his character
"My character is someone with a tortured past and lives his life in self-imposed exile from society. But when he meets this innocent little girl, her warmth and humanity pulls him out of his reclusive state little by little,”

“This is an action drama and the most important thing for us was to make this
violent and hardened man likeable to audiences, and we tried showing that as
best we could through the scenes which involve my interaction with (Se-ron, the little girl).”

The film's director Lee Jung-beom explains his reasoning for selecting Won Bin as his male lead
"“It is true (Won Bin) is seen as someone very fragile and somewhat soft, But that was the key reason why we cast him ― because it would be believable that he would open himself up to this little girl. And I saw in him someone who could switch from soft to vicious in a blink.The first time I met him he was already excited about the project. I could tell he had a lot of fun reading the script and it showed as he was very enthusiastic in creating this character,” Lee said.

“It’s a very macho film and it’s true I’ve cast typically macho-looking actors for my previous films. But I’ve always been interested in depicting not just outward
machismo but machismo that comes from the inside and I felt (Won Bin) did a great job in doing just that.”

The film opens in South Korea Aug 5