The Mother and the Bear is not what you’d expect. Going in, you may think it’s a light thriller about a South Korean mother investigating her daughter’s mysterious life in far-flung Canada. Or a twist on that internet debate, “Would you rather face a man or a bear?” It’s all that and more, throwing together different tones and ideas into a uniquely charming and occasionally surreal comedy about one woman’s quest to discover more about herself beyond her role as wife and mother.
Sara (Kim Ho-jung) is a typical ajumma or “aunty” from Seoul with a distant daughter in Winnipeg named Sumi (Leere Park). Even from afar, Sara tries to dictate her daughter’s life, leaving her an endless stream of voicemails everyday. When Sumi slips on some ice and ends up in the hospital under a coma, Sara flies over to be closer to her daughter. But she also begins snooping around Sumi’s life, meddling recklessly as she begins trying to find her daughter a suitable husband while she is still unconscious.
The ludicrous level of comedy that derived from Sara’s actions also lead her to Sam (Won-Jae Lee), a local Korean restaurateur, with whom she develops an immediate kinship. Blossoming into a sweet and heartwarming later-in-life romance, Sara and Sam find they both must learn how to let their adult children live their own lives.
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Kim is an extremely charming lead, capably handling the many strange situations and tones of The Mother and the Bear. Director Johnny Ma shows off the many delights of Korean culture and Manitoban life while also throwing in plenty of unexpected moments and bizarre music choices to keep up the film’s zany energy. What a surprise, too, to find that this movie was also executive produced by Pablo Larraín of Jackie, Spencer, and now Maria fame! The Mother and the Bear is full of curveballs.
