Mother

2009 dark dramedy

Rating: 16/20

Plot: When her son is arrested for a murder he later confesses to have committed, a mother tries to find the real killer and free him.

You're definitely a helicopter parent when you feed your grown son some sort of broth while he's taking a leak outside on a wall at a bus stop.

With bookended dance sequences, characters saying random words like "spaghetti" or "armadillo" during a sex scene, the purchase of an umbrella, spinning poop, a lawyer's buffet strategy, and a phallic golf driver, this is easily my favorite Bong Joon-Ho movie. It's got a quietly manic pace, some lovely shots (including the aforementioned opening dance sequence with the titular mother and a transition from the mother and son sleeping to a shot of the body), some offbeat humor, and a genuine mystery that keeps you intrigued for the duration. It also keeps you guessing. You truly never know where this is going next.

After disliking a few Bong Joon-Ho movies and not really loving any, as well as just coming off another bad South Korean movie, I was reluctant to give this a chance, but I'm really glad I did.