Change Your Image
rjmoucho
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Bergman Island (2021)
For fans of Bergman and people who haven't got anything better to watch
Beautiful movie in a history-filled location, though not much happens.
Interesting, well crafted and relatable main characters and refreshing storytelling. Lacks meaning and is not very emotionally engaging or exciting; still I do not think it ever gets boring since the story keeps moving albeit, as i said before, nothing hugely significant happens.
Captivating premise for cinephiles who want to know more about Bergman, the legendary Swedish director, and the island he used to live on.
6/10.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021)
Expect the expected!
This movie is exactly what you would anticipate coming into a blockbuster action superhero sequel so i won't make a huge review on it.
The story is pretty predictable and not really thrilling, shocking or moving, the action/fight scenes are fun to watch and all around decent but nothing mind-blowing; the characters (specifically the two main villains) are also kind of dull and bland with forgetful backstories. In terms of dialog it really is as simple and effortless as possible, though it is able to achieve a few laughs and chuckles here and there.
"Venom: Let There Be Carnage" is not a great film, nor does it try to be, it is a mildly entertaining movie, that goes by extremely fast, with a cool looking, big ending fight and a pointless unexciting story.
5/10.
Madeo (2009)
Bong Joon-Ho at his best!
"Mother", the 4th Bong Joon Ho directed film, tells the story of a mother that tries to defend and save her mentally disabled son after he is convicted of murdering a young girl.
I came into this film with high expectations, since I'd watched most of the director's past works (Parasite, Okja, Snowpiercer and Memories of Murder) and had adored every single one of them, and I can say that "Mother" is, undoubtedly, one of Bong's best works.
This is one of those kinds of movies where you can find meaning, purpose for the plot and passion in every single scene and although the first hour or so of the movie can be, at times, quite slow it never gets boring.
We understand from the very start of the movie how much the mother loves and cares about her son, Yoon Do-joon, when she cuts herself after he gets in a hit and run accident but doesn't give it any importance focusing only on the safety and well-being of her child. This motherhood affection will be the driving force later in the movie when she tries to prove her son is innocent for the murder of a young girl.
The acting of Kim Hye-ja, the mother, is mesmerising in this film. The scene when her son remembers she tried to kill both of them when he was younger and when she has to kill the junk collector in order to protect her child are both perfect examples of the range this veteran south-korean actress possesses.
Plot wise this is, in my opinion, as good as it gets, a great character and human study about how a mother is willing to do everything to protect her son, even if that means another person has to suffer (in this case a young kid with down syndrome that has no parents and goes to jail for Yoon Do-joon's crime) and an unpredictable narrative where you are kept guessing what's true and what isn't until you have the final reveal when you find it was actually the son who did it, in an extremely powerful, brutal, breathtaking and goosebump-inducing scene.
The movie ends with the mother going on a "Thank-you parents" bus tour placing one of her acupuncture needles in the point that erases bad memories therefore "forgetting" hers and her son's murders, which show that she might regret her actions even though they saved her son, Yoon Do-joon. After this the mother gets up and starts dancing, just like she did in the first scene of the movie, completely numb.
There are so many other topics I could go into in this review: does the son think he is somehow not the murderer; does he know his mother is aware of what happened since he found the mother's acupuncture box in the burned house; why Ah-Jung, the dead girl, was left on the roof and her whole character arc; the fact that the mother says to Yong Do-joon to never take insults from anyone (calling him retard for example) and that's what causes the death of the young girl, etc, etc.
"Mother" truly is a complex, beautiful but heartbreaking, character focused film that makes you feel compassion and sorrow for a desperate woman that doesn't have anything besides her son. "She'll stop at nothing".
8.5/10.