Mother/Madeo (2009)
South Korea; 128min
Crime, Drama, Mystery
Director: Joon-ho Bong
Writers: Joon-ho Bong, Eun-kyo Park
Stars: Hye-ja Kim, Bin Won, Ku Jin

Korean cinematography is doubtless one of the best in the world, and their crime thrillers definitely are. So last film by Joon-ho Bong  (Memories of Murder, The Host) does not stand out of that statement.

Madeo is a very interesting and emotional story about the mother who is doing her best to prove that her mentally retarded son Yoon Do-joon is wrongfully convicted of murder. Do-joon doesn't even remember what happend in the night of murder but he confesses under the pressure of police.

Bong's phenomenal knack for connecting serious genres such as drama and thriller with comedy makes his films special. Black humor is omipresent in this dark tale and it fits perfectly. Every technical part is excellent, from the use of camera and lights to the music and atmosphere. Bong proved once again that he's great director.

Performance by Kim Hye in the role of overprotecting minded mother which in order to save her son run over all moral principles, is one of the best performances in recent times, and even the rest of the team does not lag behind too much Hye has to be singled out. The characters are wonderfully developed, and their motives are entirely clear, but the story itself, although interesting, is overstretched and hardly keeps the concentration of the viewer through entire film, as it usually happens with Korean thriller. Mystery surrounding the murder was not developed enough so final twist, although strong, was not unexpected.

Some scenes look very strange for some western viewers, like mother's seemingly senseless dance at the beginning and end of the film, but they are far from pointless.

At the end, we could say that Madeo is one average Korean crime-thriller which is generally really high praise.

Korejska kinematografija je općenito jedna od najboljih na svijetu, a njihovi kriminalistički trileri definitivno to i jesu. Pa tako posljednji film Joon-ho Bonga nimalo ne odskače od te konstatacije.

Madeo je interesantna i izrazito emocionalna priča o majci koja se svim silama trudi dokazati da je njen mentalno zaostao sin nepravedno osuđen za ubojstvo. 

Bongov fenomenalan smisao za spajanje ozbiljnih žanrova poput drame i trilera sa komedijom čini njegove filmove posebnima. Crni humor je svepristuan u ovoj mračnoj priči i savršeno se u nju uklapa. Baš svaki tehnički dio je izvrstan, od korištenja kamere i svijetla do glazbe i atmosfere.

Gluma Hye-ja Kim, u ulozi prezaštitinički nastrojene majke koja u želji da spasi sina gazi sva moralna načela, je jedna od najboljih izvedbi u zadnje vrijeme, a ni ostatak ekipe ne zaostaje previše. Likovi su izvrsno razrađeni te su njihovi motivi u potpunosti jasni, ali sama je priča, iako interesantna, prerazvučena i ne drži koncentraciju gledatelja kako to obićno biva kod korejskih trilera. Misterija oko ubojstva nije dovoljno duboko razrađena pa konačni twist iako snažan nije neočekivan.

Neke scene zapadnjačkom gledatelju djeluju čudno, poput naizgled besmislenog majčinog plesa na početku i kraju filma, no one su u svrsi jačanja karakterizacije lika i u cijelini zaokružuju lik.

Za Madeo se na kraju može reči da je prosječan korejski kriminalistički triler što je u globalu stvarno velika pohvala.