Mother

AroView: Cavalier Korean dir. Bong Joon-ho (PARASITE) contorts a regulation murder mystery, centred on a mother’s campaign to clear her deadbeat son’s suspicion of homicide, into an eccentric and unpredictable melodrama as only he could.

Easing between comedy and tragedy – a now familiar hallmark of director’s off-kilter style – the film slowly but surely reveals itself in darker tones, with the whodunit aspect of the narrative coming to the fore. One of Bong’s more absorbing story lines as a result, this is further steeped in intrigue thanks to Kim Hye-ja’s intensely determined lead performance, which plumbs the depths of maternal desperation with a psychotic, Hitchcockian flavour.