Mother

Anyone reading this should immediately get on the interweb, check to see if Mother is playing in your city and, if it is, drop what you're doing and rush out to the next showing.

On the surface, this Korean film is a whodunit, but at its heart, it's about maternal love and just how far a mother may be willing to go to protect her son.

The son is a sweet, developmentally delayed adult who follows a young woman home from a bar one night. The next morning, the woman turns up dead. (The police officers are more excited than traumatized by the public display of her corpse. They can't remember the last time this sleepy town has experienced a homicide!) The son is soon charged with her murder. The mother knows he can't be capable of such brutality and sets out to prove him innocent and find the real killer.

She goes to unimaginable lengths in her attempt.

As with any good mystery, there are a few red herrings along the way to the finale. Even as these plausible suspects present themselves, this devoted-to-the-point-of-madness mother will not be dissuaded in her attempt to get justice for her son.

Also along the way are some wonderfully tense moments and unforgettable shots. The scene where mama hides in a closet while the guy she suspects is the real murderer makes whoopee with the local tramp may well become a cinematic classic. It may ultimately be dissected, frame by frame, like the shower scene in Psycho. Once the would-be killer and his lover fall asleep -- and mother tries to sneak out without waking them -- well, just wait ...

Suspenseful, beautifully shot and with an Oscar-caliber performance by Hye-ja Kim (as Mother), this one is not-be-be-missed. See it!