Mother

I’ll level with you: I watched Mother curled up on the couch, wracked with stomach cramps while my body either expelled or adapted to some new microbe I ingested at an Arabian Shawarma shack.  Perhaps I’m not the most reliable person to consult regarding this film.

Yet I enjoyed it, as best I could.  Mother tells the tale of the mother of a mentally retarded young man who has been accused of murdering a schoolgirl.  This sounds like the setup for a standard detective story, but here’s the twist: Mother is a little, well, off.  She seems awfully devoted to her son and sufficiently unhinged that I wouldn’t want to stand in her way. 

The film delights in hooking us into the mystery while creeping us out with its protagonist.  I attribute its success to Hye-ja Kim, who plays Mother.  She’s canny yet naïve, loving and ruthless (I first wrote loving but ruthless, but those traits often go together.).  She’s fascinating, and Kim does an amazing job of bringing her to life. 

I don’t wish gastrointestinal difficulties on anyone.  But if, like me, you have a weakness for roadside grills, you can do worse than Mother to get you through it.  Enjoy, I guess.