‘The Mother and the Bear’ follows a mother from Seoul to Winnipeg as she makes countless mistakes trying to care for her hospitalized daughter.
Parents have varying levels of involvement with their children’s lives after a certain age. While some may agree on the amount of time they spend together and/or the degree of input they have in each other’s decisions, it can also be a source of conflict. Free of their home and rules, some adults feel minimal contact equates to a better relationship with their parent(s). Conversely, some parents may feel their children cannot live without their guidance, and feel offering it freely and frequently is the best way to ensure they always have it. The Mother and the Bear features both of these scenarios, resulting in some startling discoveries.
Sumi (Leere Park) left South Korea and moved to Winnipeg, MB, where she works as a piano teacher in an elementary school. She regularly ignores her mother’s phone calls, resulting in long voice messages containing unanswered questions. However, when Sumi is placed in a coma after a supposed encounter with a bear, her mother, Sara (Kim Ho-jung), flies to Canada to be by her side. Sara stays in the apartment Sumi recently rented, gradually learning that she knows nothing about her daughter’s life. Determined to ensure there’s someone to take care of her, Sara signs her comatose daughter up to a dating app in hopes of finding her a nice Korean man.
This movie takes on a number of different genres, including family drama, fish out of water, romance, self-discovery and fantasy. Sara’s arrival is aided by a relative, but she’s quickly left to find her own way, desperately seeking community to help her navigate the strange, wintery city. Luckily, at a semi-Korean restaurant, she finds an elderly man (Won-Jae Lee) who immigrated years earlier and is happy to help her. Then there’s the morally objectionable online dating that Sara partakes in on behalf of her non-consenting daughter, catfishing anyone that might respond. In the process of realizing she may not know what’s best for Sumi anymore, Sara discovers she may not be living the life she wants either.
In spite of some of Sara’s unacceptable behaviour, her heart is in the right place and she’s not so stubborn as to ignore truths about her daughter or her own mistakes. Consequently, there’s a lot of humour mixed into the drama, incorporated naturally and often based around Sara’s unfamiliarity or determination to make Winnipeg feel remotely like home. While one assumes they know where the story is going, the conclusion is actually somewhat unexpected yet refreshing as it continues to follow the journey of a reluctant empty nester.
The Mother and the Bear had its world premiere in the Centrepiece programme at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Read other reviews from the festival.
Director: Johnny Ma
Starring: Kim Ho-jung, Lee Won-jae and Jonathan Kim
