Rating: 3.5/5
Oh My Horror 2025 | 19/52 | Mommy Horror
A woman, whom we only know as Mother, works in a medicinal herbs shop, chopping up some supplies. Across the road is her 27-year-old son, Yoon Do-joon, who has an intellectual disability and lives with her. Do-joon playfully gets a dog to wave at her and Do-joon’s friend, Jin-Tae. He pulls the dog out onto the road to make it dance. A Mercedes-Benz knocks Do-joon over, sending Mother running after him. Do-joon runs off with Jin-tae to catch a taxi and find Benz. They see the Benz in a country club parking lot. Jin-tae kicks the mirror off, and the two enter the golf course. Do-joon gets distracted and picks up golf balls out of the lake, thinking he can give them to a girl as a gift. Jin-tae makes fun of Do-joon, saying Do-joon has never slept with a woman. Do-joon assures Jin-tae that he has: he has slept with his mother.
Finally, the Benz drivers pass, and the two attack them, throwing their clubs into the lake. At the police station, the cop says the attack and the hit-and-run cancel each other out. Regarding the car damage, Jin-tae blames Do-joon, and Do-joon assumes he must be correct. While all this happens, Do-joon writes his name in Sharpie on several golf balls. The Benz driver files a suit against Do-joon and calls Do-joon the R-word, sending Do-joon into a frenzy. Another cop calms him down as his mother comes in to pick him up. The suit puts a strain on his mother. When Do-joon suggests Jin-tae can lend them the money, his mother is annoyed, telling Do-joon to stay away from him. Do-joon leaves to meet up with Jin-tae, fixated on the idea of sleeping with a woman.
At the bar, a drunk Do-joon waits for Jin-tae to arrive, poorly flirting with a woman who is also waiting for Jin-tae. Meanwhile, Jin-tae returns to the golf course to pull a golf club out of the lake. The bar closes, kicking Do-joon out, but not before he hits on the owner’s daughter, Mi-na. While walking home, he sees a high school girl named Moon Ah-jung walking alone. Do-joon drunkenly calls out to her about sleeping with him. Ah-jung ducks into an abandoned building to evade Do-joon. Do-joon gets the hint and goes home, where he climbs into bed with his mother. The next morning, the police discover Ah-jung dead on the rooftop of the abandoned building. The police don’t find much at the crime scene except for a golf ball on which Do-joon wrote his name.
After the police pick up Do-joon (and immediately get into a car accident, drawing the small town’s attention to the fact that Do-joon is in the back of a police car), the mother looks for a way to prove Do-joon’s innocence.
The film is spiritually similar to Memories of Murder. The inciting incident is similar to a lead that Detective Park follows in that movie that ultimately leads nowhere. Also, like that movie, this one aims for a blend of comedy and darkness. I don’t think this one is as successful at that, but it has moments. Its biggest mistake is leaning too hard into making Do-joon the butt of so many jokes.
Kim Hye-ja has moments when she’s excellent and moments when she seems to be going for comedy. I can’t blame her—the material seems confused about when it wants to hit certain tones. Still, she’s the heart that holds this movie together—whenever I felt the movie slipping from me, she brought me back.
The score has slight Hitchcock nods, including a motif that sounds like the central theme from Vertigo. It’s subtle enough that I appreciate the nod.
The cinematography always seeks clever angles or aesthetic compositions, even when they don’t serve the moment. It was annoying at first, but I got over it.
The mystery is pretty compelling, although it takes over half the movie to get to it and regularly cuts itself off, slackening any tension it builds. Still, it finds its way, and the third act is one of Bong Joon Ho’s best.