Madeo / Mother (2009) - Great mixture of a film noir and an insightful family drama - 8/10 (21/07/11)

"Madeo" is another great vengeance movie coming from South Korea and it has once again a unique atmosphere that distinguishes this great film from other vengeance movie like the sad and melodramatic "Bedevilled", the rude and brutal "I saw the devil" or the eerie and mysterious "Oldboy".

"Madeo" is a calm and intriguing study of a relationship between and old mother that sacrifices her whole life for her mentally handicapped son with whom she lives in relative isolation from society. Their relationship and everyday life is difficult, filled with deception, arrogance and pressure and they only have each other. One day the son comes home very drunk and without remembering much of what has happened in the last hours and is soon accused for the murder of a young girl during that tragic night and declared guilty. His mother tries desperately to help him but the police officers are corrupted, the lawyers egoist and the son's friends seem to be rather stupid rebels who don't do anything useful in their lives. The mother has to take the path of revenge and find herself the true murderer at all costs to save her son's soul or mustn't she? This movie tells the drama of a mother that wants to save her son at all costs and faces the downfall of the South Korean society. You should not expect a bloody tale of revenge or a very developed crime movie. What you will discover is a rather calm and authentic drama with an atmosphere reminiscent of the French film noir genre and a stunning and authentic acting. There is also a sense of criticism towards the contemporary society and a high amount of philosophical thoughts inside the movie. That doesn't mean that there are not one or two surprising twists and one or two rather brutal scenes that are always included in this kind of Korean flicks but they rather happen at the very end.

In the end, this is one of the most realistic vengeance movies and has a very insightful, philosophical and dramatic touch. The acting is brilliant and the calm dark atmosphere of this movie is a welcome change of style compared to other rather brutal movies of that genre. The only problem I have with this movie is that there are a couple of unnecessary lengths in it and that the ending was a little bit too predictable to me.