Korean cinema has always seemed like an enigma to me. Strange and perverse, outweighing all other fellow Asian national cinemas in such regard, but also cozy and warm, again outweighing other cinemas of the so-called Far East. And Bong Joon-ho's cinema is no different than his fellow compatriots - strange and perverse, yet cozy and warm. His latest, the simply, yet ominously titled Mother, is the very epitome of these rather contradicting characterizations, and its star, Kim Hye-ja, is the proverbial (appropriately enough) mother to this very aforementioned enigmatic theory of mine. Oh yeah, and she should have been nominated for a Best Actress Oscar too, but that might be asking for a bit too much.
