Mother

Colour, 35 mm
South Korea, 2009, 128 min
Section: Open Eyes

Synopsis

Hye-ja is a mother. This is the most apt possible description because her whole life revolves around Do-joon. Although her son looks like an adult, he is a child inside, totally dependent on his mother’s love and care. Then one day Do-joon is accused of murder.... Bong Joon-ho is undoubtedly one of the most significant Asian directors working today. Undaunted by any genre, he brilliantly demolishes entrenched conventions, proving that he is a master of the spine-tingling detective tale, horror film, or comedy. Although Bong’s last film was seen by thirteen million Korean viewers, he will not let his career get bogged down with huge budget film spectaculars – thus he opted for a highly intimate drama. As he himself has said, he considers it a great challenge to shoot a film about a character whom we all know intimately – a mother. "Everyone has a mother, and everyone has a precise idea of what a mother is. This is the person that cherishes each of us most, who is the most gentle to us, and the most irritating.... The figure of the mother has been seen before, it’s very banal, but I see this as a new approach, and I hope it will be perceived that way.” Bong’s brilliant film was among the jewels of Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section.

About the director

Bong Joon-ho (b. 1969, Seoul, South Korea) studied sociology and graduated from the Korean Film Academy. After shooting three short films, he debuted with the feature Barking Dogs Never Bite (Peullandaseueui gae, 2000). Although the film went fairly unnoticed at domestic cinemas, at foreign festivals there was talk of a talent to be reckoned with. His next film, Memories of Murder (Sarinui chueok, 2003), was presented in the Another View section at the 2004 KVIFF. Soon even at home the director entered the ranks of the most vital and original Korean directors of the new millennium. His third film, The Host (Goimool, 2006), today holds a top position on the list of domestic box-office successes, and the movie’s foreign engagements (festival and distribution) numbered in the dozens. Bong’s films competently combine generic constructs with social and political realities.