Bong Joon-ho’s Mother explores the unsettling symbiosis between a protective mother and her mentally disabled son. The film highlights how guilt and desperation drive a parent to abandon moral guidelines, eventually transforming her into a “monster” to protect her child. A gritty, multi-layered critique of how easily the line between love and depravity blurs. [Read More]
Mother (마더, dir Bong Joon-ho, 2009)
Mother reveals Bong’s perversity
This report captures director Bong Joon-ho’s insights on his subversive thriller, detailing his “perverse” casting of icons Kim Hye-ja and Won Bin against their established types. Bong discusses his meticulous control over “feminine” landscapes and storyboards, ultimately emphasizing how the primal maternal instinct can transform a mother into a monster in her desperate quest to protect. [Read More]
Remembering Murder: from “Memories of Murder” to “Mother”
Colette Balmain examines Bong Joon-ho’s Mother as a thematic evolution of Memories of Murder, shifting from a procedural to an intimate, arguably incestuous, study of devotion. By portraying the mother’s desperate quest for her son’s innocence against a corrupt, commodity-driven community, the film serves as a searing allegory for modern South Korea and its buried historical traumas. [Read More]