Bong Joon-ho Promises Something "Hotter" With "Mother"

From left, actors Won Bin and Kim Hae-ja and director Bong Joon-ho appear Monday at a promotional event in Seoul for their movie ``Mother,’’ which will premiere at the Cannes International Film Festival next month before its local release May 28. /Courtesy of CJ Entertainment

Filmmaker Bong Joon-ho promises something ``hotter’’ for his upcoming film ``Mother,’’ which will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival next month before its local theater release May 28.

``If movies could be measured by temperature, then I imagine that `Mother’ is much hotter than my previous works,’’ the director of the blockbuster ``The Host’’ and modern classic ``Memories of Murder’’ told reporters at a Seoul theater, Monday.

When asked if he felt disheartened about not being in Cannes’ competition pool alongside countryman Park Chan-wook, he said it was too early for him to compete against big names like the ``Thirst’’ director and Quentin Tarantino. ``But I am greatly confident about the movie’s solidity and artistry. Once it’s revealed to the world at the festival, where I’ve had experience with `The Host,’ I am looking forward to people’s reactions,’’ said the 39-year-old about the film’s invitation to the prestigious event’s non-competitive ``Un Certain Regard’’ section.

But Bong was more diffident than confident about the movie, saying he needs more time to figure out whether or not ``Mother’’ is a ``convincing film.’’

``I was shocked to hear figure skater Kim Yu-na say, after winning the world championship, that she gave a `more convincing’ routine for the first time,’’ he said. ``Whenever I’m forced to watch my own movies, I’m constantly regretting, `Why ever did I shoot that scene like that.’ I’ll have to finish post-production and look back at my work.’’

``Mother’’ stars Won Bin as a dimwitted young man who is erroneously framed for a neighbor’s death while South Korea’s veteran actress Kim Hae-ja plays his distraught mother who struggles to prove his innocence by tracking down the real murderer on her own.

``There isn’t a more instinctive word than `mother.’ We say `eomma’ (mother) when we’re surprised,’’ he said, explaining that he chose the phonetic transliteration of the English word for the title because there was already a recent movie called ``Eomma’’ (Long and Winding Road, 2004) starring Ko Doo-shim. >>More