I missed this film when in the cinema, but managed to track it down on DVD. I am so glad I did - it is a superb film, fully deserving of the rave reviews it got originally.
It features a stunning central performance by Hya-Ja Kim as a woman whose mildly retarded son is accused of the murder of a schoolgirl. She is by turns dotty, confused, but utterly determined to do whatever is needed to save him. But this film never follows genre conventions - director and writer Bong Joon-Ho delights in upsetting all our expectations, giving us knockabout comedy when we expect action, horror when we expect plot, and heartbreak when we expect a satisfying solution to a mystery. It is brilliantly directed and editing, with a great soundtrack (even the sound editing is wonderful). Its an impossible film to really describe, you really need to see it to fully understand just how great Korean film making can be.
It features a stunning central performance by Hya-Ja Kim as a woman whose mildly retarded son is accused of the murder of a schoolgirl. She is by turns dotty, confused, but utterly determined to do whatever is needed to save him. But this film never follows genre conventions - director and writer Bong Joon-Ho delights in upsetting all our expectations, giving us knockabout comedy when we expect action, horror when we expect plot, and heartbreak when we expect a satisfying solution to a mystery. It is brilliantly directed and editing, with a great soundtrack (even the sound editing is wonderful). Its an impossible film to really describe, you really need to see it to fully understand just how great Korean film making can be.