Mother, Bong Joon-Ho’s follow-up to The Host, is a more subtle, yet no less visceral horror-comedy, fully worthy of its primal title. A tense melodrama which hinges on a phenomenal central performance from TV star Kim Hye-ja, Mother is also filled with the elegant compositions and mood-drenched cinematography which are becoming Bong’s specialty. Comparisons with Hitchcock’s Vertigo will spring to mind immediately, not only in the way the narrative is structured, but because of the wonderfully operatic musical score which underlines the story.

Hye-ja is an older single mother, overprotective, always with an eye on her son, Do-joon (Won Bin). Even though he’s 27, he behaves like a child, forgets what he has said from one minute to the next, and seems to have little sense of everyday dangers. When Do-joon is accused of a local girl’s murder, Hye-ja refuses to believe the accusation. Convinced that her son is harmless, she determines to prove his innocence and investigates the case herself, learning more about the schoolgirl’s personal life and identifying alternative suspects. Along the way, her own past reappears to haunt her.

By casting Kim (best known in South Korea for playing a loving mother in a long-running TV series), Bong is clearly playing with the perception his public will have of her. No denying it though, with her endlessly expressive face racked with pain and anguish, she is extraordinary.