KOFFIA 2010

Tonight Nugen and I attended the Opening Ceremony for the inaugural Korean Film Festival in Australia.

Although I would have preferred to try some Korean-inspired canapes, the seared salmon and roast beef wraps were good enough and the lack of 'Koreanness' was eased by the distribution of Korean raspberry wine. The wine was quite sweet but definitely worth a try.

They only served raspberry wine. No water, juice or soft drinks.

OK, let's skip the food and go to the best part of the night - the film, Mother.

Directed by Boon Jong-ho, the film encompasses everything great about Korean cinema - the amalgamation of drama, comedy, and thriller made every minute of the film enjoyably engaging.

Kim Hye-ja plays an obsessively doting mother (Hye-ja) to her mentally challenged son, Do-joon (Won Bin). After Do-joon is accused of murdering a local schoolgirl, Hye-ja takes it upon herself to prove her son's innocence. Hints of insanity seep through the mother's eyes as she refuses to accept a life without her beloved child. Hye-ja's investigation gradually unveils dark secrets among the community; secrets that lead to an unwanted revelation.

On top of the suspenseful story line, the acting in the film makes it easy to understand why it has been award-winning. Not only was it honoured with Un Certain Regard at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, the film was also elected as Korea's submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 82nd Academy Awards. And while all the performances were exceptional, Kim Hye-ja's emotional portrayal of a desperate mother won her Best Performance by an Actress at the 2009 Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

I don't want to go on for too long about the cinematic merits of the film nor reveal too much of the plot so my parting advice is simple: go see it.

Visit www.koffia.com.au for more details about other great Korean films that you can see.