Mother

2009 ‘마더’ Directed by Bong Joon-ho

She'll stop at nothing

A mother lives quietly with her son. One day, a girl is brutally killed, and the boy is charged with the murder. Now, it's his mother's mission to prove him innocent.

Kim Hye-ja Won Bin Jin Goo Yoon Je-moon Jeon Mi-seon Chun Woo-hee Yeo Moo-yeong Moon Hee-ra Lee Yeong-seok Lee Mi-do Kim Jin-goo Lee Jung-eun Hwang Young-hee Kwak Do-won Jo Kyung-sook Yun Yeong-keol Kim Byeong-soon Song Sae-byuk Go Gyu-pil Jung Young-ki Park Myung-shin Yum Dong-hun Min Kyung-jin Lim Sung-mi

Alternative Titles

非常母亲, 骨肉同谋, Madeo, Madre, Mother - A Busca Pela Verdade, Mère, Matka, Mother: uma força única, Mama

crime mystery drama thriller

129 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by maria ★★★★½ 12

consider this: bong joon-ho is god
Review by Karsten Runquist ★★★★½ 18

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Anytime a character hits their head in a Bong Joon-ho film I feel it in my entire body.
Review by LME ★★★★ 5

I hate what Bong puts you through in the 3rd act.
I’m mad as hell. Confused. Betrayed.
Yet I still want to shake the man’s hand.
Review by Peaceful Stoner ★★★★★ 41

A Mother is a symbol of unconditional love. Every nameable emotion in this world stems from Love. Anger, greed, jealousy, grief, sympathy, apathy, happiness, elation, relief, you name it and think about it for a considerable amount of time, you are bound to realize that it had its genesis in Love.
I would like to rephrase and say, the term Unconditional Love had its origin from a Mother’s love for her child. If Her love is unconditional and knows no boundaries, then so are her emotions. She is the most powerful protector when her child comes in harm’s way. She is the angriest when her child is subjected to injustice. She is the most resolute when it comes to going…
Review by russman ★★★★ 4

I take it a step further at buffets and eat right out of the serving trays
Review by clemmie ★★★★½ 4

darren aronofsky when i see you in the streets...
Review by ˗ˏˋ Liam ˊˎ˗ ★★★★★ 5

BONG JOON-HO THE ONE TRUE MASTER OF CINEMA
Review by Griffin ★★★★★ 1

Man that kid’s got an arm on him. What a throw.
Review by Siegel™ ★★★★½ 7

Master Bong's quietest movie. Not his least exciting - this is, essentially, a murder mystery - but the driving force is a mother's love. She doesn't make decisions based on logic or reason; she loves her son. Every action that drives the story forward is based in emotion. Bong has practically made a trademark of transcending genre, and it's in Mother where he perfected it, switching between genres with astoundingly easy fluidity. While I prefer Parasite, he has yet to best himself in terms of the emotional gut punch that Mother carries. I don't think it's at all controversial to say that Bong Joon-ho is one of the best directors to debut this century.
4 --> 4.5
Review by hamfruitcake ★★★★ 6

Spaghetti
Tiramisu
Tsunami
Mineral
Alarm
Armadillo
Obviously when your film starts with a cold open of an old lady doing a dance in a field you have my attention. This is good because you should be paying attention to this.
Bong Joon-Ho finds humour in shocking or tragic circumstances and it never feels like it's undermining his characters. It's just that sometimes sorrow can look a little ridiculous and people are messed up (extremely messed up). There's a lot going on here and it looks effortless.
Review by <Todd> ★★★★½ 7

"Short answer: being South Korean just makes you better than most films" - NV Adams (paraphrased, NIF), Me (NIF),
AND
"Have you got a mom?" -Mother,
- 5x5 Directors Challenge (Bong Joon-ho 1/5): boxd.it/3IUJC
- Film Club Pick Weekly Pick #3: boxd.it/3M2sq
Well now I'm interested in acupuncture.
As is the case for many parents, there is very little that I wouldn't do to save, protect or help my child. Bong Joon-ho masterfully captures the vulnerability and pain of that desire in his enthralling film Mother, the story of a mom who will stop at nothing to protect her child that has been wrongly accused of murder. Thirty seconds into this film there is a scene where the mom starts…
Review by Taylor Williams ★★★★ 4

This maybe has less to say than the other Bong Joon-Ho films I’ve seen, but everything is so refined on a storytelling level, it might just be my favorite yet. Seeing Parasite tomorrow, so we’ll see how long this lasts.

Recent reviews

Review by Alex Lane ★★★★

An anxious and destructive mystery, examining the obsessive power of unconditional love, and warning of its devastating effects.
Like with most Bong Joon-ho movies, it'll linger.
Review by Conor McBride ★★★★½

Even after seeing a few Bong Joon-Ho films, he still manages to suprise me everytime.
Another great film on BFI player, just have to get past their really ugly subtitle design
Review by Joe_Steventon ★★★★★

Kept me guessing the whole way through, and I love twists.
Review by lucas gabriel ★★★★½

no words can express me now. fuck.
Review by fasssito ★★★★

donde esta el oscar para esta actrizaza
Review by pau ★★★½

oh so bong joon ho has ALWAYS been like this
Review by mike89 ★★★★★

Constantly pulls the rug from underneath the viewer. Masterful filmmaking and Kim Hye-ja should have won an Oscar.
Review by amrita 🌻 ★★★★

The opening and closing scenes of this movie are cinematic masterpieces. I don't have much to say as I'm still processing the plot, but this film noir is just frustratingly good.
Review by shaw ★★★★★

wow. bong joonho just straight up be making masterpieces. insane.
Review by Camay ★★★★★

My second upmost favorite movie for it’s de pictures of motherhood, of crime, of autism and of societal judgmental construct. By far Bong’s best movies (feels like Parasite is overrated by those of the audience who hasn’t listen to this one particulier movie).
Review by vino hari ★★★★

RETARD!
Review by ouis ★★★★½

my mama would neeeeever. For me? Absolutely not