03/27/2010 - Bong Joon-ho's Mother Now Showing
The latest film from award-winning Korean director Bong Joon-ho (THE HOST), MOTHER is a unique murder mystery and tale of primal love that Vogue calls “…riveting and darkly funny…” The film served as South Korea’s official entry for the 82nd Academy Awards® in the Best Foreign Language film category. Mother (Kim Hye-ja - THE RUSTIC DIARY) is a devoted single parent to her simple-minded son, Do-joon (Won Bin). His foolish behavior is a constant source of anxiety for Mother and one night, while walking home drunk, Do-joon follows a school girl a ways before she disappears into a dark alley. The next morning, she is found dead in an abandoned building and authorities accuse and soon convict Do-joon for the murder. Mother refuses to believe her son is guilty and immediately undertakes her own investigation to find the killer; in her obsessive quest to clear her son’s name, she steps into a world of unimaginable, shocking chaos.
05/24/2006 - The Host Popular at Cannes
The latest film from director Bong Joon-ho of Memories of Murder had its world premiere at Cannes International Film Festival. With most of the film selections in competition being rather lukewarm to disappointing, audiences that caught the two screenings of The Host (괴물) found themselves enjoying a rather unique breed of monster film. It is said to be darkly comic, genuinely horrific, thrilling, and comes with a social commentary relevant to the Korean society. It's too bad for the programmers at Cannes for choosing to put the film out of competition.