‘Mother’ named best movie at the Asian Film Awards

“Mother,” a Korean thriller directed by Bong Joon-ho, was named best film in the fourth Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong, event organizers said Monday.

The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society announced that the movie won a total of three prizes, including best screenwriter and best actress for star Kim Hye-ja.

Event organizers called Bong’s fourth movie a “strong Hitchcockian thriller” that was “worth acceptance to the official competition selection” at the Cannes International Film Festival last year.

Bong previously won best film at the Asian Film Awards for his acclaimed third film, “The Host.” Not only is Mother being well-received by audiences in Asia, it is steadily gaining popularity in North America.

Mother was released there on Feb. 12 and the film made a rapid leap from 50th to 41st place in two weeks.

Box Office Mojo, a Web site that tracks box office revenue in the United States, announced on Tuesday (Korean time) that Mother raked in $53,195 between Feb. 19 and Feb. 21. Accordingly, the accumulated revenue amounts to $106,772, a 48.3 percent increase from the previous weekend.

Currently, 19 theaters are showing the film, an impressive feat in light of the fact that only six theaters featured Mother on the week it premiered. The average weekend profit of Mother is $2,800 per theater.

With the film’s unexpected success, more theaters in the United States are planning to feature it.

Mother, the story of a typical devoted Korean mother ready to go to any length for her son, won numerous awards when the film was released in Korea in May 2009.

By Moon Dan-bee Contributing writer [estyle@joongang.co.kr]