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2009/07/04 (GMT)
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Directed by Bong Joon-ho (봉준호)
Screenplay by Baek Cheol-hyeon (백철현), Bong Joon-ho (봉준호), Ha Joon-won (하준원), Joo-byeol (주별)
•Action •Adventure •Comedy •Drama
119min | Release date in South Korea : 2006/07/27Synopsis
Gang-du is a dim-witted man working at his father's tiny snack bar near the Han River. One day, Gang-du's one and only daughter Hyun-seo comes back from school irritated. She is angry at her uncle, Nam-il, who visited her school as her guardian shamelessly drunk. Ignoring her father's excuses for Nam-il, Hyun-seo is soon engrossed in he... More
This year's Mise-en-scene Short Film festival will showcase a total of 120 films. The film festival whose focus is genre short films will feature films genres normally associated with feature length films. These genres include horror, fantasy, love and even action. It features 57 films in the official section and the invitation section for foreign films focuses on varied stories surrounding the topic of death.
Behind the scenes is a wealth of talent and Korean film alumi. The committee chair this year is director BONG Joon-ho ("Mother - 2009", "The Host") and head of jury is director KIM Dae-seung ("Bungee Jumping of their Own", "Blood Rain"). On the committee is directors PARK Chan-wook (The Revenge Trilogy, "Thirst"), RYOO Seung-wan ("The City of Violence", "Crying Fist"), KIM Ji-woon ("A Tale of Two Sisters", "The Good, The Bad, The Weird"), LEE Jae-yong ("Dasepo Girl", "Untold Scandal") and many other well known directors. The Mise-en-scene Short Film Festival opens Wedn...| More | |||||||||||||||||
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 "Mother - 2009", the latest film by Bong Joon-ho, has drawn 2.19 viewers in 11 days since its release on May 28, and the film is getting more controversial the more viewers it attracts due to the room it leaves for different interpretations.
Bong said, "I wanted many mothers to watch 'Mother - 2009', and I think my wish came true. There are many viewers during weekdays since most housewives have time on weekday afternoons. I think it will get a bigger audience than I expected".
The movie is about a mother with overbearing love for her son, who has been charged with murder. "I had a couple of chances to talk about the characters during press interviews and previews even before the release of the movie", says Bong. "The mother, the protagonist of the movie, appears to be unusual if you expect the stereotyped image of a mother you might have in mind. That seems to be a reason many viewers say it is terrifying".
He says the movie "is deeply focused...| More | |||||||||||||||||
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 The Korean weekend box-office saw peak traffic with BONG Joon-ho's latest thriller "Mother - 2009" facing off against Hollywood's Terminator Salvation. "Mother - 2009" emerged the winner, claiming over 1.4 million admissions in its first four days. BONG's fourth feature was highly anticipated by audiences after the director's previous hits "Memories of Murder" (2003) and "The Host" (2006) won him a broad domestic fan-base. "Mother - 2009" topped the chart, an impressive feat considering competition from Hollywood heavy-hitters, Terminator and Angels & Demons, which took second and third place. BONG's small town thriller dominated theaters nationwide, playing on 765 screens, with Terminator a close second on 716 screens, together accounting for over 70% of the nations screens. After premiering at the Cannes Film Festival earlier in May where it drew rave reviews from critics and ovations from audiences, "Mother - 2009" became one of the most talked about and eagerly anticip...| More | |||||||||||||||||
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| Bong Joon-ho does not need to compromise. As director of the acclaimed "Memories of Murder" and the record-shattering box office hit "The Host", he has earned the right to do whatever he wants. Yet "Mother - 2009", which he wrote and directed and is now showing in Korean theaters with English subtitles (see box), was reportedly specifically designed around star Kim Hye-ja. And Kim is no blushing ingenue, either - now 67, for a decade she has played the role of aging matron in cheesy TV melodramas. That makes Mother, a sympathetic yet blunt and disturbing examination of family life, all the more a revelation. Kim's performance is unexpected, complex and shockingly brilliant, at times recalling Helen Mirren's similar career-capping turn in "The Queen". Yet this mother is no royal. In a poorer provincial city (the movie was filmed in South Jeolla), Kim's character, known only as "Mother - 2009", lives with her son Do-joon (Won Bin) above the oriental pharmacy she runs. Do-joon su...| More | |||||||||||||||||
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| A highly anticipated Korean film directed by acclaimed Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho is now playing in local theaters and it is available with English subtitles at several theaters. "Mother - 2009", the story of a mother setting out on a lonely fight to clear her son of a murder charge and featuring veteran actress Kim Hye-ja as the mother, received a standing ovation after premiering at the 62nd Cannes International Film Festival this month. Hallyu (Korean Wave) star Won Bin plays the 28-year-old son Do-joon who has limited mental capacity and who happens to get caught up in a murder case. "Mother" is being screened with English subtitles at seven local theaters: five in Seoul and two in Busan. The five in Seoul are CGV Yongsan, CGV Apgujeong, two Cinus theaters in Myeong-dong and Gangnam and at Lotte Cinema Avenuel in Myeong-dong. The two theaters in Busan are Lotte Cinema Ansan and Seomyeon. Director Bong began to earn fame with his 2003 serial-killer mystery "Memo...| More | |||||||||||||||||
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| 119 min •35mm •Cinemascope (2.35) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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www.thehost.co.kr... (  Korean )
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| Videos - Trailer - Trailer - Interview - On the set video - On the set video - On the set video - Interview |
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| US$ 11M | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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