A boy's best friend . . .

Madeo (Mother)

Crit

Yoon Do-joon's mother knows he's not the sharpest needle in the acupuncture kit, but he's not capable of having done what he's accused of doing. A mother knows these things. And a mother will do anything--absolutely anything--necessary to protect her wrongly accused son.

Aside from being damn nigh unwatchable at times because the digital cinematography (digitography?) is so dreadful, this is just one terrific damn movie: one riveting character (Hye-ja Kim in the title role), one trainwreck fascinating one (Bin Won as her dim son), and one what-the-hell-is-he-about-exactly? fascinating one (Ku Jin as D-joon's friend, sort of) plugged into a twisty guilt-riddled plot that keeps you constantly off-balance (or if it doesn't you have better balance than I).

This is the third Joon-ho Bong film I've seen (another weird and wonderful mystery, Salinui Chueok [Memories of murder], and the wacky monster flick Gwoemul [The host]), and I'm pretty much in for whatever he sends my way--including the upcoming Hollywood remake of The Host.