What filmmaking techniques does Mother use?

CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in Mother (2009): Wrongful Accusation Pressure, Deliberate Close-Up Performance, Circular Structure and Symbolic Object.

Bong Joon-ho directed Mother, released in 2009. CineCode also covers Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000), Memories of Murder (2003), The Host (2006), Snowpiercer (2013), Okja (2017), Parasite (2019).

What films are similar to Mother?

Films that share techniques with Mother include Night of the Hunter (1955), Lust, Caution (2007), Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), Carnage (2011).

Crime · Drama · Mystery

Mother

Bong Joon-ho, 2009

A widow in a small Korean town sells herbs and gives acupuncture while caring for her adult son Do-joon. When he is arrested for a girl's murder, she begins her own investigation. Pay attention to how Kim Hye-ja's face carries the whole film.

1 Psychology 1 Cinematography 2 Narrative

At a glance

Mother is a 2009 crime, drama and mystery film directed by Bong Joon-ho. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (1 psychology, 1 cinematography and 2 narrative), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Night of the Hunter uses several of the same techniques.

Psychology

Wrongful Accusation Pressure

Putting an innocent person under blame or suspicion and showing the damage it does to them and those near them. The accusation distorts the community's judgment.

How this film uses it

Do-joon is arrested on thin evidence, and the police push him into a confession. His mother is the only person who believes him. The pressure shows how quickly a town decides who is guilty.

Where to see it

The arrest of Do-joon. After Ah-jung is found dead, the police take him in and he signs a confession.

Cinematography

Deliberate Close-Up Performance

Holding a close-up on an actor's face long enough to catch tiny changes in expression. You read what the character is thinking from details a wider shot would miss.

How this film uses it

Bong holds the camera on Kim Hye-ja's face as the mother goes from fear to resolve. Small changes in her eyes tell you what she is planning before she does anything. You cannot look away from her.

Where to see it

The mother's search for the truth. She goes door to door, and the camera stays on her face as she works out what she can do.

Narrative

Circular Structure

Ending the film where it started, or with a scene that echoes the opening. The repeat shows what has changed, or suggests the cycle will keep going.

How this film uses it

The film opens with the mother dancing alone in an open field and ends with her dancing again on a bus. The first dance feels strange and unexplained, and the second one has all the story behind it. The repeat tells you what has changed.

Where to see it

The final bus scene. The mother joins the other parents on a tour bus and dances with them.

Narrative

Symbolic Object

Returning to the same physical object again and again until it means more than what it is. It moves the plot and also stands for the film's main ideas.

How this film uses it

Her acupuncture kit begins as a tool of her trade and ends as a way to forget. When Do-joon gives it back to her, you understand what it means to them both. The object holds the film's whole secret.

Where to see it

The kit returned. Do-joon hands her the acupuncture kit, and she uses it to erase the memory of what they did.

Questions

Mother: quick answers

What filmmaking techniques does Mother use?: CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in Mother (2009): Wrongful Accusation Pressure, Deliberate Close-Up Performance, Circular Structure and Symbolic Object.
Who directed Mother?: Bong Joon-ho directed Mother, released in 2009. CineCode also covers Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000), Memories of Murder (2003), The Host (2006), Snowpiercer (2013), Okja (2017), Parasite (2019).
What films are similar to Mother?: Films that share techniques with Mother include Night of the Hunter (1955), Lust, Caution (2007), Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), Carnage (2011).

Keep watching