Mother's Kingdom
Doh Ji-wook is the author of Power of the Truth that gives hope to others, and his mother Joo Kyung-hee, a hairdresser at Kingdom Hair Salon, gives good care to her neighbors. One day, their peaceful kingdom is infiltrated by Kyung-hee's dementia. Doh Joong-myung, a pastor, wants to uncover the truth. In turn, they make different choices to protect their family.
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While some films fail to impress despite employing all kinds of genre clichés, some are brilliantly composed without any genre devices. Mother’s Kingdom is probably the latter. With the exception of the last sequence, the film tells a story, eschewing typical genre tropes, but still creating a tense atmosphere throughout. Insert cuts or simple scene transitions create horror, and suspense is created solely through the mother’s dialogue, as her mind wanders due to dementia. Above all, despite the focus being on only three characters through most of the running time, Mother’s Kingdom shows no loopholes and keeps the viewer’s attention until the end. The outstanding performances of the lead actors, including Han Kijang, Nam Keeae and You Seongjoo, are brought out through the director’s skillful directing. Mother’s Kingdom shows the horror that occurs when trust is lost in a group of people who are close and who think they know each other, such as family. As Doh Jiwook says in the film, “The anxiety we feel in our lives occurs when the truth and the facts are different." (MOON Seok)
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Korean Academy of Film Arts(KAFA)⎜hee0@kofic.or.kr
LEE Sanghak
