Kim Hye-ja, a veteran Korean actress, plays an unnamed widow living alone with her only son, selling medicinal herbs in a small town in southern South Korea while doing unlicensed acupuncture to the town's women on the side. Her son Do-joon is a shy, quiet, and somewhat mentally disabled young man, whose Mother tirelessly dotes on and scolds for hanging out with Jin-tae, a local ne'er-do-well.
Short storyline
A high school girl is discovered dead on a rooftop in town, shocking the residents and pressuring the incompetent police to find the killer. With only circumstantial evidence placing Do-joon near the scene of the crime, the police are happy with their cursory investigation and arrest the boy. His defense attorney is unreliable, and the police trick Do-joon into signing a confession, leaving him facing a long jail sentence. The police could not figure out why and who would display the girl's dead body on the rooftop where the entire town is in plain view.
The mother, horrified and unconvinced that Do-joon is even capable of murder, gets involved in unraveling the details of the murder and the background of the victim to try and prove her son's innocence.
More info:
Runtime: 128 min
Release Date: 28 May 2009 (South Korea)
Country: South Korea
Box office: Budget: $5,000,000 (estimated). Gross: $547,292 (USA) (13 June 2010)