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IMDbPro

Mother

Original title: Madeo
  • 20092009
  • RR
  • 2h 9m
IMDb RATING
7.8/10
66K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
4,609
241
Won Bin and Hye-ja Kim in Mother (2009)
A mother desperately searches for the killer who framed her son for their horrific murder.
Play trailer2:11
1 Video
99+ Photos
CrimeDramaMystery
A mother desperately searches for the killer who framed her son for a girl's horrific murder.A mother desperately searches for the killer who framed her son for a girl's horrific murder.A mother desperately searches for the killer who framed her son for a girl's horrific murder.
IMDb RATING
7.8/10
66K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
4,609
241
    • Bong Joon Ho
    • Bong Joon Ho(story)
    • Eun-kyo Park(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Hye-ja Kim
    • Won Bin
    • Jin Goo
    • Bong Joon Ho
    • Bong Joon Ho(story)
    • Eun-kyo Park(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Hye-ja Kim
    • Won Bin
    • Jin Goo
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 177User reviews
    • 222Critic reviews
    • 79Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards

    Videos1

    Mother: Trailer #1
    Trailer 2:11
    Watch Mother: Trailer #1

    Photos173

    Won Bin in Mother (2009)
    Hye-ja Kim in Mother (2009)
    Won Bin in Mother (2009)
    Hye-ja Kim in Mother (2009)
    Won Bin and Hye-ja Kim in Mother (2009)
    Hye-ja Kim in Mother (2009)
    Bong Joon Ho in Mother (2009)
    Hye-ja Kim in Mother (2009)
    Hye-ja Kim in Mother (2009)
    Won Bin and Hye-ja Kim in Mother (2009)
    Bong Joon Ho in Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000)
    Mother (2009)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Hye-ja Kim
    Hye-ja Kim
    • Mother
    Won Bin
    Won Bin
    • Yoon Do-joon
    Jin Goo
    Jin Goo
    • Jin-tae
    Je-mun Yun
    Je-mun Yun
    • Je-moon
    • (as Jae-moon Yoon)
    Mi-seon Jeon
    Mi-seon Jeon
    • Mi-sun
    Sae-byeok Song
    Sae-byeok Song
    • Sepaktakraw Detective
    • (as Sae-beauk Song)
    Yeong-seok Lee
    • Junk Shop Elder
    Hee-ra Mun
    • Moon Ah-jeong
    • (as Hee-ra Moon)
    Woo-hee Chun
    Woo-hee Chun
    • Mi-na
    Byoung-Soon Kim
    • Group Leader
    Moo-yeong Yeo
    • Lawyer Kong Seok-ho
    • (as Ou-hyung Yum)
    Jeong Yeong-gi
    • Kkang-ma
    • (as Young-ki Jung)
    Go Gyu-pil
    Go Gyu-pil
    • Ddung-ddung
    • (as Kyu-phill Ko)
    Mi-do Lee
    • Hyung-teo
    Jin-gu Kim
    • Ah-jeong's Grandma
    Hong-jib Kim
    • Jong-pal
    Min Kyung-jin
    Min Kyung-jin
    • Secretary
    Kyeong-sook Jo
    • Mi-na's Mother
    • (as Kyung-Sook Cho)
      • Bong Joon Ho
      • Bong Joon Ho(story) (screenplay)
      • Eun-kyo Park(screenplay)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • 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".
    • Alternate versions
      A black and white version (overseen by Joon-ho Bong) premiered at the Sydney Film Festival in 2015. The cut (and duration) remain that same, with colour altered.
    • Connections
      Featured in Maltin on Movies: Eat Pray Love (2010)
    • Soundtracks
      Song of Joy
      Written by Ludwig van Beethoven

      Heard on the lawyer's phone

    User reviews177

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    8/10
    An extra-loyal mom
    Bong Joon-ho's new film is built around actors. The starting point of it is Kim Hye-ja, 'grande dame' of Korean acting (around whom the screenplay by Bong and Park Eun-kyo is built), who gets a chance to break away from the long-suffering, boundlessly loving mother image she maintains in the long-running "Rustic Diary" TV series to embrace a juicier, darker, richer role. Likewise Won Bin, whose pretty-boy looks have gotten him gangster and perfect son casting, here becomes the slack-jawed, unpredictable Do-joon, a "retard," not taken seriously by most of the town, but zealously protected by his apothecary mom (Kim), who even sleeps in the same bed with him, though he's 27. Both the mother's and son's roles are challenging. Kim Hye-ja shows an incredible emotional range within a de-glamorized exterior, and Won Bin subtly side-steps dumb-guy shtick, managing to keep Do-joon lastingly unpredictable and mysterious.

    Do-joon has a run-in with the police after he and his friend Jin-tae (Jin Gu) hassle some fat cats at the golf club after one of them hits Do-joon with his Mercedes and doesn't stop. Simple Do-joon brags about being at the police station, but then gets drunk, brooding about the way Jin-tae ribs him for being a virgin and wanting to get laid. Then that same night Ah-jong, a schoolgirl, is found with her head bashed in and Do-joon becomes the prime suspect. His case seems hopeless, but his aging mother, convinced that Do-joon would never hurt a fly, takes it upon herself to conduct her own investigation of the case, which neither the cops nor the fancy lawyer she has engaged are interested in. This story carries its mother-son relationship well beyond the usual. There is no extent to which this mom won't go to protect and exonerate her son, and some of the memories that are dredged up are troubling indeed.

    In some aspects 'Mother' reaches back to Bong's 2003 '80's-set police procedural 'Memories of Murder,' particularly to its sensitive development of a small-town milieu. But this film is also full of comic aspects like the director's later international success 'The Host' (2006, also a NYFf selection). The focus on mysterious, isolated people relates to the main character in Bong's top-drawer segment of the 2008 'Tokyo!' trilogy, "Shaking Tokyo." Cell phone cameras, autographed golf balls, and acupuncture also play key roles in the story, which is full of interesting twists and turns. A major turnaround comes from Do-joon's bad-boy friend Jin-tae, whose true role we have no idea of at first.

    Bong explodes the image of the ideal mother and as usual, bends genres in this new effort. At times this might seem a twisted psychological thriller with links to Douglas Sirk and Sam Fuller, and the occasionally old-fashioned movie music by Lee Byeong-woo, traditionally surging at key points, reinforces that impression. Ryu Seong-hie, the production designer, has worked extensively with Park Chan-wook, and d.p. Hong Gyeong-pyo does a superb job in integrating the looks of a wide variety of locations. This is highly sophisticated Korean cinema at its technical best.

    We can't possibly reveal the outcome: the essence of 'Mother' is that its plot is packed with surprises. Perhaps indeed there are a few too many: the last ten minutes introduce further twists after the surprise climax that might better have been omitted. For all the great look, terrific acting, and explosive plot twists, I'm not sure this is up to the best of Bong Joon-ho's previous work. It's fun and entertaining especially at the outset and watchable throughout, but Bong and Park's screenplay meanders a bit. The film's inclusion in the 2009 New York Film Festival may owe more to timing, to the bloom that's still upon Korean cinema, and to Bong's status as an alumnus of the festival, than to the film's intrinsic merit. (Hong Sang-soo, a NYFF favorite, despite a new film that's received raves, is omitted this year. His 2008 NYFF Paris-based entry was somewhat lackluster. . .)

    Bong's 'Mother'/'Madeo' was included in the "Un Certain Regard" series at Cannes, and shown as part of the New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center 2009.

    _________________
    helpful•26
    5
    • Chris Knipp
    • Oct 1, 2009

    FAQ14

    • What was the significance of Mother cutting herself with the herb cutter in the very beginning?
    • What is "Mother" about?
    • Is "Mother" based on a book?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • May 28, 2009 (South Korea)
      • South Korea
    • Official sites
      • Official site
      • Official site (France)
      • Korean
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Busan, South Korea
    • Production companies
      • CJ Entertainment
      • Barunson E&A
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • 2 hours 9 minutes
      • Color
      • Dolby Digital

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