In her short directorial career, Ryu Hee Jung has been known to make poignant melodramas dealing with the romantic lives of Korean women; ‘Coffee Time' (2017) features a housewife trying to deal with a potential new love interest, whereas last year's ‘3.5th Period' tells the story of a highschooler catching feelings for a boy in a fantastical realm hidden within their school. In Hee Jung's most recent release, ‘Mother's Place' displays the same romantic efforts of her prior movies while also dealing with domestic issues in a messy but all-too-familiar way.
Mother's Place is screening at Asian Pop Up Cinema
As the main protagonist, Yuna feels less like a character and more like a phase we all go through at the end of high school: She is frustrated and wants to be taken seriously despite being looked down upon by the adults in her surroundings; she is beginning to understand the world around her, but does not have the status or level-headedness required as an adult to get what she wants. At the onset of ‘Mother's Place,' Yuna learns that both her parents have died in a tragic car accident, and funeral arrangements must be made immediately.
For the remainder of the film, Yuna is launched into the strange world of death formalities and forced to navigate the death of her parents with her legal-assistant older sister Jungwon, her eldest sister Jungsun, and her trouble-making brother Junghan. The main conflict of ‘Mother's Place' arises when Yuna's uncle arrives on the scene and is adamant that Yuna's parents are not buried in the same place at the cemetery; seeing as they were not married, Yuna's uncle insists that her father must be buried in the same area as the grave of his prior wife. As a male and the eldest successor of the family name, Yuna's uncle has full control over the situation.
This is where things get complicated: On one hand, Yuna knows that being buried next to her dad is what her mother would have wanted; but on the other hand, Yuna's older siblings believe it would be an embarrassment to the living and deceased elders associated with her father's family name. Although this messy situation is the driving force of conflict in ‘Mother's Place,' the plot gets much messier considering all the other boiling undercurrents taking shape in Yuna's surroundings: Family issues dealing with jealousy, deceit, romance and betrayal. Being part of a family is never easy, regardless of who you are. Ryu Hee Jung captures the tumultuous relationships that arise through familial roles with directorial brilliance.
And of course, something must be said of the impressive performances by Jung Da Bin as the stubborn and impassioned Yuna, Eum Moon Suk as her troublesome brother, and Oh Yeon Ah and Jang Hee Ryung as her two elder sisters; together, the four actors paint a convincing portrait of a mourning family trying to come to grips with their future as a familial unit, as well as the futures of their respective lives. Jang Gwang must be given acknowledgement as well in his role as Yuna's uncle, and as the antagonist of the film audiences are guaranteed to be frustrated by his thoughts and tactics, cheering for Yuna every step of the way.
The plot (and side-plots) never feel straightforward in ‘Mother's Place,' and that's totally OK; family issues rarely are. Not everything feels fully resolved by the end of the film, and yet the viewing experience feels more about the journey watching Yuna and her siblings try their best to resolve their problems. Regardless of whether viewers of ‘Mother's Place' enjoy family dramas or not, ‘Mother's Place' is well-acted and well-directed, and offers an intriguing glimpse into the traditions and perspectives of a Korean family who are dealing with untimely death.
