Mother (2009) Madeo (original title)

Director:

Joon-ho Bong

Writers:

Joon-ho Bong (story)
Eun-kyo Park (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

28 May 2009 (South Korea)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

She'll stop at nothing.

Plot:

A mother desperately searches for the killer that framed her son for a girl's horrific murder.

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Girl | Herb | Acupuncture | Tears

Awards:

19 wins & 21 nominations

Cast

Hye-ja Kim	...	Mother
Bin Won	...	Yoon Do-joon
Ku Jin	...	Jin-tae (as Goo Jin)
Je-mun Yun	...	Je-moon (as Jae-moon Yoon)
Mi-sun Jun	...	Mi-sun
Sae-Byeok Song	...	Sepaktakraw Detective (as Sae-beauk Song)
Byoung-Soon Kim	...	Group Leader
Woo-hee Chun	...	Mi-na
Gin-goo Kim	...	Ah-jeong's Grandma
Moo-yeong Yeo	...	Lawyer Kong Seok-ho (as Ou-hyung Yum)
Young-Suck Lee	...	Elder at Junk Shop
Hee-ra Mun	...	Moon Ah-jeong (as Hee-ra Moon)
Mi-do Lee	...	Hyung-teo
Young-ki Jung	...	Kkang-ma
Gyu-pil Go	...	Ddung-ddung (as Kyu-phill Ko)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Pil-Kyeong Jang
Jeong-wuk Kim
Seung-hyeon Lee
Bok-dong Mun

Directed by
Joon-ho Bong

Writing credits
Joon-ho Bong		(story)
Eun-kyo Park		(screenplay) &
Joon-ho Bong		(screenplay)

Produced by
Joon H. Choi	....	associate producer
Katharine Kim	....	co-executive producer
Miky Lee	....	executive producer
Yang-kwon Moon	....	co-executive producer
Yang-kwon Moon	....	producer
Tae-joon Park	....	producer
Woo-sik Seo	....	producer

Original Music by
Byung-woo Lee

Cinematography by
Kyung-Pyo Hong

Film Editing by
Sae-kyoung Moon

Production Design by
Seong-hie Ryu

Costume Design by
Se-yeon Choi

Makeup Department
Hyun-kyu Hwang	....	hair stylist
Hyun-kyu Hwang	....	makeup artist
Hee Eun Lee	....	special makeup effects artist

Production Management
Sungho Nam	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Hyun-Cheol Park	....	third assistant director

Sound Department
Ye-jin Cho	....	sound designer
Tae-young Choi	....	sound supervisor
Hye Young Kang	....	sound designer
Min Kyu Kim	....	foley mixer
Byung-Ha Lee	....	recording
Chung Gyu Lee	....	foley artist
Jun-o Park	....	sound effects editor
Min Young Park	....	dialogue editor
Yong Ki Park	....	adr mixer
Yong Ki Park	....	sound re-recording mixer

Visual Effects by
Kang Chang-bae	....	visual effects artist
Yuseop Ham	....	visual effects
Changbae Kang	....	visual effects
Jihyun Nam	....	head of effects
Jeong Hun Seong	....	digital effects artist
Zeon-Hyoung Yi	....	visual effects supervisor

Other crew
Hyun-tae Bak	....	co-investor
Jésus Castro	....	making-of director
Bi-hyung Cho	....	co-investor
Won-suk Chung	....	co-investor
Hak-beom Kim	....	co-investor
Joori Kim	....	production assistant
Sean Lee	....	investment executive
Yong-Joon Lee	....	co-investor
Younjoo Lee	....	co-investment executive
Ki-moon Nam	....	co-investor
June-tae Park	....	co-investor
Bob Seh	....	co-investor
Kang-young Shin	....	co-investor

Production Companies

• CJ Entertainment (presents)
• Barunson (production)

Distributors

• Benelux Film Distributors (2010) (Belgium) (theatrical)
• Benelux Film Distributors (2010) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Bitters End (2009) (Japan) (theatrical)
• CJ Entertainment (2009) (South Korea) (theatrical)
• Cathay-Keris Films (2009) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• Diaphana Films (2010) (France) (theatrical)
• Festive Films (2009) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• MFA Filmdistribution (2010) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Magnolia Pictures (2009) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Mongrel Media (2009) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Optimum Releasing (2010) (UK) (theatrical)
• Ascot Elite Home Entertainment (2010) (Germany) (DVD)
• CatchPlay (2010) (Taiwan) (all media)
• Film1 (2012) (Netherlands) (TV) (limited)
• Madman Entertainment (2010) (Australia) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2010) (Australia) (all media)
• Magnolia Home Entertainment (2010) (USA) (DVD)
• Magnolia Home Entertainment (2010) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Mediatres Estudio (2010) (Spain) (all media)
• Mongrel Media (2010) (Canada) (DVD)
• P.F.A. Films (2009) (Italy) (all media)
• Paris Filmes (2009) (Brazil) (all media)
• Paris Filmes (2010) (Brazil) (all media)
• Prisvídeo - Edições Videográficas (2010) (Portugal) (all media)

Special Effects

• AZ Works (visual effects)
• CJ Powercast

Other Companies

• Dolby Laboratories  sound mix
• HFR  dailies
• HFR  digital intermediate
• Live Tone  post-production sound services
• Vantage Film  HAWK anamorphic lenses provided by

Also Known As:

"Madeo" - South Korea (original title)

MPAA:

Rated R for language, some sexual content, violence and drug use

Runtime:

128 min

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

South Korea:18 | Australia:MA | Japan:PG-12 | Hong Kong:III | Argentina:16 | USA:R (certificate #45803) | Singapore:R21 | Singapore:M18 (edited version) | Canada:14A (British Columbia) | Canada:18A (Ontario) | UK:15 | Portugal:M/16 (Qualidade) | Germany:12 | Brazil:16

Filming Locations:

Busan, South Korea

Company:

CJ Entertainment

Trivia:

Because of phonetic differences between English and Korean, both "Mother" and "Murder" are spelled the same when translated to Korean characters. The movie title, "Madeo", is a play on this similarity, suggesting both "Mother" and "Murder".

Movie Connections:

References "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (2000)

No idea this film would end up the way it did (and I'm not telling)

It's too bad that because this film is ostensibly about an old lady it must be considered a "smaller" film in Bong's oeuvre. It's not. It is every bit as brilliant, and as large, as Memories of Murder, in my opinion.

In many ways this is the natural, and equal, follow-up to Memories of Murder. It's every bit the caper film that one was, and, although slightly more somber in tone, the film keeps unraveling in directions you don't expect making it much more a plot driven movie than a character study. Kim Hye-ja is, however, magnificent as the titular (gawd I hate that word but I'm using it anyway) mother. There is a scene in this film where she tells the family of the victim her son didn't do it and her eyes are so electrically charged it made me jump back from the screen. Mother fires on all cylinders. The direction, cinematography, script, and acting are all grade A. It's one of those films where each of the secondary characters steals the show for a brief period. (How 'bout that cop who kicks the apple from Won Bin's mouth?) Bong does a remarkable job of populating the world of this film with real people and manages to give them depth and development in a very short period of time. I confess to having a little trouble tracking the other female characters in the film, but no matter. There is a scene (without spoiling anything here) where Kim Hye-ja asks the other 'retarded' kid if he has a mother and it's one of the most complex and heart-rending scenes in cinematic history. Hyperbole notwithstanding, just freakin' WOW! on that one when you ponder just why she is crying.

I wasn't sure where Bong was going to end up going as a film maker. Barking Dogs Never Bite was a reasonable debut. Memories of Murder, a masterpiece. But was it a lucky shot? I'm glad I don't have to consider the dismal Antarctic Journal a Bong film if I don't want to. The Host was lots-o-fun, but that's the one that worried me. Maybe he was going to start making blockbuster type films. But now, after recently seeing his contribution to Tokyo!, and now Mother, I have every reason to believe he is going to kick my butt with interesting film for a long time.