Ineo gongju

This is a really remarkable movie about the relationships between parents and children, about time and loss, and about understanding others. Na-Young works in an office and lives with her ineffectual father and her relentlessly unpleasant, perpetually angry mother. She has no respect for her father and dislikes her mother, even though it's obvious that Na-Young is slowly becoming an unpleasant woman, too. When her father disappears, Na-Young goes back to the island where her parents met and her mother worked as a pearl fisher -- but somehow Na-Young finds herself face to face with the young women who will -- 30 years or so later -- become her mother. And no, this is not explained, and who cares? It's not like it's possible anyway. It happens. As her mother's life unfolds over a memorable few months, Na-Young is there as a friend. She sees her mother's aspirations and heartbreaks, and of course all that changes Na-Young's perspective.

But the film doesn't turn into Hallmark in Korean. There are no simple explanations for why we change as we get older, no miraculous reconciliations, no unconvincing character reversals. It's just a beautiful film about deepening our understanding of those who share our lives. It's gorgeous to look at, and the central performance -- the same actress plays both mother and daughter -- is pretty close to miraculous.

All in all, a wonderful film.

The title is misleading. It is tagged as a fantasy movie but it is a time travel movie not a mermaid movie. It is called "My Mother The Mermaid" because the mother was an ocean diver.

It's not very good for a Korean drama. In fact it is kind of obvious the film was trying too hard to get an award. More thought was put into trying to have impressive looking nature shots than trying to make an interesting film.

With the title being "My Mother the Mermaid" (aka "Ineo gongju") I must admit that I was expecting a more fantasy-styled story and movie. However, that turned out not to be the case. "My Mother the Mermaid" is a drama, pure and simple.

So with the movie being something else than I had expected, how was it? Well, regardless, I would have watched it solely for it being a South Korean movie, given my love and fascination with the Asian cinema. However, this movie was not really as impressive as I think it could have been. It seems that a lot of potential to the storyline was left behind by director Heung-sik Park. The movie definitely had lots of potential to be a real memorable movie and one that would be outstanding. However, the director failed to deliver on that aspect, and I must say that the overall result of the movie was bland and mediocre.

Sure, the movie had some really nice moments throughout the course of the one hour and fifty minutes that it ran. But the movie was simply too long, too slow paced and didn't have enough happening to keep the momentum and remain interesting. It felt like the air was slowly leaking from the movie known as "My Mother the Mermaid", and director Heung-sik Park didn't really do anything to remedy that.

The acting in the movie was spot on. Lots of really nice performances here by the cast. And they had managed to get together a nice group of talented actors and actresses to portray the various roles and characters. Just such a shame that they were given so little to work with in terms of a fulfilling script and storyline.

All throughout the movie, I was waiting for that glorious moment where the storyline would become exceptional and beautiful, perhaps even to the point where it would bring tears to the eyes. That just never happened, unfortunately. Director Heung-sik Park quickly settled into a very monotonous pace and never veered from that.

It should be said that "My Mother the Mermaid" is actually worth sitting down to watch a single time, because there are some nice aspects to the movie, and it is filmed and edited quite nicely. However, just don't go expecting a grand cinematic experience in South Korean cinema history.

This is one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen. The director made this film as an ode to his ( and all ) mother.

So, the movie shows us how a family lives and lived their lives, what's wrong on our behaviours, as parents or sons. This is a beautiful journey that you have, you need to take.

You will smile, mostly with that shy smile, that beautiful smile that we all have and can show at the theater, you will cry, laugh a lot ( OrAaAaite - Alright ).

You will think about your parents, about your daughters, sons.. Family. We only have one family. Please see this movie and embark in one touching and beautiful journey.. One of the best ever..

It starts off extremely slowly. There are some very heartfelt scenes in the film but as a whole, it could have worked better with a more credible script.

There was never really a clear explanation of the trip Na-Young takes and HOW she meets who she meets.

There are other moments in the film that lost me completely.

With that said, some of the photography was breathtaking and Jeon Do-yeon's performance was amazing! It took me 1/3 of the film to realize she was playing more than one role!

I give it a borderline recommendation because there are more hits than misses and can see some people liking this more than I did.