Mother
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: March 12, 2010 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
79
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
27
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
An absolutely phenomenal film by the Korean director Bong Joon-ho. Read full review
100
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
Its combination of dazzling cinematic craft, psychological insight and black humor make this one of the year's moviegoing musts -- and even or especially at her most deranged, Kim Hye-ja's amazing mother is profoundly, passionately human. Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Another must-see marvel of horror, comedy, and impeccable filmmaking by the Korean director Bong Joon-ho. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleAmy Biancolli
An alluring piece of work, an artful whodunit that melds shrewd plotting with resourceful camera work and sympathetic characters that are fascinatingly, morbidly off. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
Again as with Bong's earlier films, Mother is a genre exercise that honors convention, yet weaves around it whenever possible. Bong carefully turns Mother into a classic gumshoe tale, with red herrings, interrogations, and moments of sublime suspense. Read full review
91
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
To follow up his superb "The Host," director Joon-ho Bong has crafted a remarkable film about love, faith, determination, guilt, and honor, a full-blooded, constantly inventive movie that enthralls, entertains, horrifies and never lets go its grip. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterMaggie Lee
A superb murder mystery, with twists coming thick and fast yet always at the right moments. Read full review
90
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
The hard-pounding heart of Mother, Ms. Kim is a wonderment. Perched on the knife edge between tragedy and comedy, her delivery gives the narrative -- which tends to drift, sometimes beguilingly, sometimes less so -- much of its momentum. Read full review
90
SlateDana Stevens
A Hitchcock-ian murder mystery that unfolds into a maternal melodrama worthy of Joan Crawford, shot through with bursts of black humor. Bong's ability to sustain three or four different tones in one movie without betraying the emotional truth of the story is nothing short of amazing: He can pat his head, rub his stomach, and break our hearts all at the same time. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy Burr
You never know where Mother is going to go next. All you know is that you're in the hands of a master with an appreciably bent sense of humor. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The film is labyrinthine and deceptive, and not in a way we anticipate. It becomes a pleasure for the mind. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneAndy Klein
The easy comparison here is to Hitchcock, but Bong moves at a slower pace, more like Claude Chabrol. Read full review
88
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike Scott
Bong's film starts out as a comedy, transforms into a quirky Agatha Christie whodunnit and finishes with an unpredictable Hitchcockian flourish. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Bong's style is comically tart even in the film's most noirish moments. Read full review
80
Total FilmSimon KinnearJan 25, 2015
Korean maestro Bong Joon-ho’s (The Host) playfully off-kilter Hitchcockian thriller refuses to play by genre rules, stir-frying slow-burn menace and Freudian drama into unpredictable combinations. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesAndy Klein
Mother is a thriller as well as . . . something else. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicRichard Nilsen
It may be slow by Hollywood standards, but it's accessible at every moment, and we come away feeling that human character is more complex, and perhaps darker, than any studio is willing to test an audience with. Read full review
80
EmpireKim Newman
A chilling, intense character study. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Moments of great suspense are sometimes invested with intrinsic humor, moments of trauma can yield great compassion. Often, these seemingly conflicting tones exist all at once, while the oblique mystery never clearly identifies the correct emotion. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. Musetto
Mother is yet another winner by Bong, one of Asia's most talented directors. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Mother delights in confounding viewer expectations. In fact, just when you think it's over, a couple of plot developments remain lurking around the next corner. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Mother symbolically doubles as Mother Korea, devoted to her land. But is she blindly and uncritically devoted, too quick to forgive and forget sins that should be redressed, to treat any flaws in the national character as simply intrinsic to the country's nature? Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
The movie's utter lack of predictability helps to keep you engaged, even if some of the plot turns are a bit baffling, and the unusual depth and complexity of the characters -- the eponymous heroine in particular -- give the picture its unusual, scalding power. You've never met a mother quite like this one. Read full review
75
Orlando SentinelRoger Moore
A deadpan, darkly funny Korean murder mystery. Read full review
70
VarietyDerek Elley
Key casting is aces, led by a deglammed Kim, forcefully low-key as the mother who seems capable of anything to protect her son. Read full review
70
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
The fact that Mother keeps its balance is a tribute to the leading actress. Read full review
70
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
For all its jarring sound design and herky-jerky pacing, founded on sudden incidents or shocking accidents, Mother is deftly plotted, applying Hitchcockian suspense with a Hitchcockian sense of fair play. Read full review
60
Boxoffice MagazineBarbara Goslawski
Bong's stylistic embellishment of the simple tale of a mother who will do anything to protect her son is breathtaking. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Bong's opening and climactic scenes, in which the old woman bops around to a dance tune amid a vast field of yellow grass, are typical of the movie's cockeyed poetry. Read full review
40
Time OutKeith Uhlich
Bong is so concerned with whodunit that his creaky genre mechanics diminish Kim's determined performance. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
Though diligently paced and sharp to look at, the mysteries inside Mother are, finally, bloodless. Read full review
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