Mother
(Bong Joon-ho, 2009, 128 min, S. Korea, in Korean w/ English subtitles, Color, DVD)

Introduced by Prof. Nayoung Aimee Kwon, Dept. of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies!

When Do-jun, a young man who is mentally handicapped, is falsely accused of murder, there is nothing his mother will not do to save him. This is the story of the movie Mother, starring Won Bin (Do-jun) and Kim Hye-ja (the mother). Do-jun has beautiful deer-like eyes and is happy just running around with a stick. Even though everyone else might dismiss him, Do-jun is the center of his mothers world, and she never stops worrying about him. Then one day, her worst nightmare comes true, and Do-jun is arrested. Through the mothers unrelenting fight to prove her son's innocence, Bong Joon-ho's beautiful and moving film shows that a mother's love has no bounds.
-- Part of Korea Forum Presents, Cine-East: East Asian Cinema.

"Mother is a superbly-made thriller with some scenes which will make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck" -- Birmingham Post

"Bold, unpredictable and quietly devastating, Mother is Bong’s first masterpiece" -- Time Out

-- Winner for Best Actress and nominated for Best Screenplay at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards; winner for Best Film, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay at the 2010 Asian Film Awards!

Cost: Free and Open to the Public

Sponsors: Program in Arts of the Moving Image (AMI), Asian Pacific Studies Institute and Asian & Middle Eastern Studies