Mother (2010)

So, I kinda hate to admit this, but I've got very little patience for people who don't make sense -- even when the person can't help it. For example: River Tam on Firefly drove me up a wall, but I absolutely love that show as a whole and see her as an integral part of it. In this movie, the nonsense is generated by Do-Joon, a man in his late twenties. Well, no...I guess he doesn't so much generate the nonsense as readily believe it. Case in point: even though he just watched his buddy break the mirror off of a car, it takes almost no effort to convince Do-Joon that he, not his buddy, is responsible for the damage.

Do-Joon's obviously got some kind of mental defect, possibly caused by a traumatic event from his childhood, but there's no physical evidence that he might not function correctly. When a murder takes place in their small South Korean village, the police pick-up Do-Joon for questioning and it's not long before he's convicted. His coddling mother won't give up her efforts to 1) make others care about his plight and 2) get him out of prison, regardless of the cost.

I just flat-out didn't like this. It was compulsively watchable -- not at all boring -- but the mother's ratcheting efforts felt less like love and more like the kind of desperate need to which prison may be preferable. Yucky.

C