The domestic theatrical trailer for Mother has found its way over to Apple. The film is the latest from South Korean director Bong Joon-ho (Barking Dogs Never Bite, Memories of Murder, The Host).
Hye-ja is a single mom to 27-year-old Do-joon. Her son is her raison d’être. Though an adult in years, Do-joon is naïve and dependent on his mother, and a constant source of anxiety, often behaving in ways that are foolish or simply dangerous. Walking home alone one night down a nearly empty city street, he encounters a young girl who he follows for a while before she disappears into a dark alley. The next morning, she is found dead in an abandoned building and Do-joon is accused of her murder. Thanks to an inefficient lawyer and an apathetic police force, Do-joon’s case is quickly closed, but his mother refuses to let this be the end of the story. Trusting no one, Hye-ja’s maternal instincts kick into overdrive, and she sets out to find the girl’s killer and prove her son’s innocence.
The story is sort of the inverse to Memories of Murder, which followed police repeatedly attempting to match people to a serial killer’s profile and the limited circumstantial evidence. For those who care about such things, Mother is South Korea’s submission for the Academy Awards’ Best Foreign Language Film.
Mother is receiving a limited release courtesy of Magnolia on March 12th. I’m really looking forward to seeing it. It’s definitely my most anticipated release of the spring, though closely followed by the Red Riding trilogy and Shutter Island.
