First Images From Bong Joon-Ho's MOTHER

Could this be a return to Memories of Murder territory for director Bong Joon-Ho? After the massive success of huge budget creature feature The Host and in the lead up to the even huger budget post-apocalyptic scifi film Snow Train - being produced by Park Chan-Wook - it appears that Bong is taking a little breather with a couple of smaller pictures. First there was his Shaking Tokyo segment of the Tokyo! triptych film - my personal favorite of the three parts - and now he is in production on Mother.

This is the film that we covered a while back when Bong took it to the co-production market in Hong Kong to secure financing but for those who missed it then, here's the basic set up. The film revolves around a woman who lives alone with her only son, a shy and socially reclusive young man. When a murder occurs in their town the police are desperate for a conviction and so they pin the murder on the woman's son purely because he has no alibi. When the legal defense proves incompetent it is up to the mother to prove her child's innocence on her own.

Hmmm ... incompetent police and a botched murder investigation? There are obvious differences but this certainly sounds like a return to familiar ground for Bong and given just how strong a film Memories of Murder is that's a good thing, indeed.